Here’s another big lie that you’ve been fed all your life: there is no such thing as a stupid question. I can assure you, there is. Okay, let’s be a little less harsh and a little more PC. Perhaps there aren’t stupid questions, but there sure are useless ones. When it comes to technical support there is one question that you just don’t want to ask: Why?

Why not ask why? I just told you not to ask! But I digress. There are several important reasons why “Why?” is a useless and counter productive question.

Often, there’s no reason.Technology is a wonderful thing, but random breakdowns, errors and bugs occur frequently. Anyone who’s owned a car, a computer, or even an electrical outlet can tell you things just happen. It sounds like a weak explanation right? Well, in truth, it is. So if you ask your technical support guru why some breakdown occurred, the answer might be vague and disatisfying. You’ve just made that technical support person look dumb in your eyes, making you distrust his or her competency. It’s the first step on a road to disatisfaction that you’ve paved yourself.

If there is a reason, you probably wouldn’t understand. I’m not trying to talk down to anyone here but, let’s be realistic. If you’re calling tech support, it’s likely that you don’t have a full grasp on the product you’re trying to troubleshoot with. The important part about fixing a problem is just that -fixing it. With technology it’s often best to just get on with your life. Do you really want an explanation with words that will make your head explode? “Well, you see what happened is the flux capacitor beta you got here has a .0345% chance to react to a techtspiromatic part romulo in an adverse faction…” Woa! In all of my years as a customer support rep, troubleshooting cell phones, programs, computers and documents, I never once understood WHY a glitch happened – but I sure could fix the problem.

Playing the blame game. I get that having a problem occur with a bit of technology is frustrating, we’ve all been there, but some people’s aims at asking “Why?” is to assign blame. In the midst of the anger produced by frustration, it’s natural to want to blame the company that created the project, it’s just not helpful or logical. First off, it is likely no one’s fault. Consider the following coversation between an irate customer and myself when our program glitched out and caused her to lose an hour or so of work.

Her: WHY!? Why did this happen? Your program is a piece of crap.
Me: I apologize for the inconvenience mam. I can assure you that this type of issue is not normal. It appears to just be a glitch.
Her: Why would a program glitch unless it sucked?
Me: Well, just like any bit of technology, sometimes a part just bugs out. There’s no way to predict when or how it will happen, but it is typically just a one time occurrence.
Her: That never happens with technology. I love technology. It always works, your program just sucks!

Even if it was the fault of the company, no company has a 100% track record. Being run by humans, mistakes are made. If you notice a consistant downgrade in service and product from a company, by all means consider taking your business elsewhere. If the glitches are occasional and the downtime minimal, by logical, not emotional, standards, then just see it as it is: just another day in our technology happy society.