Diagnosticians?

a guy on a rant 😡

My mother worked in the medical profession, and had a colleague she once described as “The best diagnostician in the city!”. At the time, this meant very little to me.

Years later, I had a distressing call from my mother’s friend. She advised my mother was not well, and suggested I visit. I hopped on the next plane, and arrived at her door the next day. She had visited with me a month earlier, and although thin, seemed ok. Since arriving home, she hadn’t unpacked, and spent the entire month in bed. I made an appointment with her doctor, and took her the next day. She had lost a lot of weight, was terribly weak, and yet he was only treating her for high blood pressure. Not surprisingly, he was surprised to see me. Embarrassed perhaps. I told him something was seriously wrong. He replied, “I guess I had better get to work and do some testing.”.

What?

My mother had stage 4 cancer and died 2 months later.

Clearly, this doctor was not “The best diagnostician in the city!”. In retrospect, I should have sued him for malpractice.

I have an Apple TV that has not worked since I purchased it over a year ago. I had issues with wi-fi speed, and reliability. Last week, I upgraded the service, and re-connected the Apple TV. It worked. And, it advised that a software update was available. So, I updated the software, and it stopped working. Instead, I had that annoying blinking green light telling me the device couldn’t connect.

Hmmmm …

I immediately made an appointment with the “Genius Bar” at my local Apple store, unplugged the device, and took it to the experts. The Apple “Genius” reloaded the new software, but the device still didn’t work. The “Genius” advised it was a “hardware issue”, and since the device was no longer under warranty, I would have to purchase a new one.

What?

I declined. When I got home, my daughter’s boyfriend said, “Let me try.”. I had forgotten that young people his age are already Apple experts. He connected it to my daughter’s TV, and it worked. Then be brought it to my room, reconnected it, and it didn’t work. I said to him, “The only thing different is the HDMI cable.”. He went downstairs, got my daughters cable, connected it to my device, and guess what, it worked. Yes, it was a “hardware issue”. A faulty HDMI cable.

Clearly, the Apple “Genius” was not “The best diagnostician in the city!”.

Despite paying $60 a month for many years, I have not had reliable internet service in the house. I have called the vendor’s support line many times. They have remotely reconfigured the router several times and, on more than one occasion, changed the broadcast channel. Nothing seemed to help, at least for long. The service was slow, and unreliable. Last week, after I threatened to change vendors, a service technician was dispatched to the house. First, he changed the router, advising me the one provided was meant for a small room, not a house like mine.

What?

Next, he went outside to check the lines into the house, and discovered squirrels had chewed through the insulation on the cable letting water seep into the line which, he said “interferes” with the digital images and data.

What?

Then he discovered that a cable splitter, intended for indoor use only, was installed outside connecting the cable feed to several other homes, not just mine.

What?

Clearly, my wifi vendor was not “The best diagnostician in the city!”.

There is a moral to this story. It’s a simple one. Don’t trust your diagnosticians. Always, always get a second opinion. And, be persistent. Practice with your service providers so when the time comes to deal with the medical profession, you will be prepared to ask a lot of questions.

😡