January 4, 2007
Recently, my wife, Wendy, and I took it upon ourselves to get my 87-year-old father-in-law set up with cable broadband Internet service. His old dial-up service just wasn’t cutting it. Not only could we never get him on the phone, but the speed at which he could surf the Internet–which he pretty much does most of the day every day–was ridiculously slow. When I was helping him with another computer issue one afternoon, I told him he deserved the faster speed. He, being frugal and very low-maintenance, insisted his dial-up was fine. “I click on one of my favorites, and then I go and make lunch or clean the bathroom, and by the time I get back, it’s on the screen.”
But now he’s got broadband, and he’s lovin’ it. I’m glad we could help…though I was disappointed that he didn’t flip out more. He has a real reputation for resisting help and change. Wendy and I were so worried that he wouldn’t let us set him up that we did the installation when he wasn’t home and surprised him with it. I expected at least some toe-to-toe hootin’ and hollerin’…but all I got was thanks. What’s the world coming to when you can’t even get an in-your-face argument out of an 87-year-old father-in-law who hates it when people do things for him behind his back? (Remind me to tell you about the first time we met!)
