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Tech Support to the Stars
Carl Bialik writes "The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Prince, Snoop Dogg, Ludacris, Bon Jovi, and U2 all have used technical support when on the road, when their Wi-Fi or Xbox or Sidekick needs servicing. The Journal takes a look at the lives of the essential, if overlooked, members of the entourage, the support tech. Joshua Kapellen, of Best Buy's Geek Squad, has been on the road with U2 since 2004. From the article: 'Last March, lead singer Bono needed his Xbox connected while the band rehearsed in Canada. Mr. Kapellen got a call. He hooked up the contraption and a few minutes later was playing videogames with Bono. "It was one of the coolest things that has ever happened to me," says Mr. Kapellen.'"
It's bad enough having good natured people on the other end of the phone line, can you imagine what it would be like with a total ego-maniac? For sanity's sake son, run like hell.
Why on earth anybody, anywhere, in the history of the world, would ever care enough about this to utter "mrh?", let alone write a news story about it?
In other news: celebs are human!
In other news: celebs take dumps!
In other news: celebs eat food!
In other news: celebs breath air!
In other news: celebs use tech support!
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I'm not sure I'd want to be doing tech support for this guy.
... turning to the 3-D map, we see an unmistakable con
I bet that there were strings attached when Bono played Xbox with that guy:
Bono: It'd be pretty cool if you could play this with me, right?
Kapellen: Yeah.
Bono: Alright, then we'll play -- but you have to promise to cure AIDS as soon as we're done.
Kapellen: (mulls it over for a minute) Yeah, okay.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is a socially constructive application of the power of celebrity. I bet that Kapellen guy is half way to a bachelor's degree in Biology by now.
... turning to the 3-D map, we see an unmistakable con
I am sorry, but defining a few minutes with a celebrity as one of the best times in your life is just pathetic. Stop living off other peoples' lives. The tech support probably required more brains and talent than most celebrities have...
Some celebrities do good things, but most "ordinary" people do way more useful things. When is the last time you described spending time with someone like a doctor or nurse as an amazing time? To me, they are way more important people than any celebrity.
Seriously, what's people's thing with celebrities? What, exactly, lends a higher level of "cooleness" to playing a video game with a celebrity? Is there something about the way an over-the-hill rocker says "bastard!" when you steal the ball in NBA 2K6 that's significantly better than the way your friends do? Is there something about being in the presence of giant egos that makes the mundane feel exceptional? I end up working for a lot of film and TV people at work and frankly, if it wasn't for the fact that they pay well (and reliably), I wouldn't work for most of them. In fact, we won't work for Nicholas Cage again because he's an annoying nutcase. Maybe it's just my proximity to them that lets me see what bratty, childish gasbags most of them are. Do people in "flyover country" really go this ga-ga over these folks?
Conclusion: the Empire squashes the Federation like a bug. Accept it.
I used to work at the studios for a major TV station in NYC and I'll tell you, the "talent" are easygoing and are easy to deal with. Its the over-eager assistants that will drive you insane. I believe that the people right under someone "important" (including people right under executives) make dealing with the "stars" a lot more headache-inducing than it needs to be.
Sound waves should be free!
It is pretty sad when one of the coolest things that has ever happened to you is working for someone else fixing a irrelevant video game system.
When I worked at Apple tech support (for all of three weeks) many years ago, there was dozens of celebrity names in the database that had called in for help. It's just a name, folks. Why aren't we hearing about how Snoop Dogg calls the plumber, too?
For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.
It would be one thing if these guys were trying to swap service-for-service. But, inevitably, they want tangible assets.
By the time you've been offered 2 front-row tickets in exchange for product, you wish the wrath of the IRS on them.
Too close to John Lovitz playing Picasso in the SNL sketches where restaurants get napkin scribbles instead of cash.
Caveat emptor, Bono. I wouldn't let those Geek Squad guys within five hundred yards of my computer: "Here's why it won't boot, dude, it needs a new ATI Radeon X1900 XTX 512MB graphics card. We sell 'em with only a 400% markup."
// This is not a sig.
Oh, that's why we created HDMI... just one plug, only goes in one way. But you know someone's going to try and force it in backwards and then complain that it won't work.
How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
"Let's face it, computer repairmen are at the bottom of the food chain," Mr. Stephens says, but these glamorous job opportunities "give hope to every geek out there."
Right... Any geek with an ounce of brain would realize that the slim chance of "glamor" does not justify the low pay. Let's pretend that 100 celebs go to the Geek Squad. The chances of being one of those servicing a celeb is still less than 1%. And how much is the chance of playing the XBox with Bono worth? No thanks. I'll take a 6 figure salary and no chance of working for a celeb. It's kind of sad when the coolest thing to happen to Kapellen is playing XBox with Bono. Are geeks that desperate for recognition and popularity?!? Sorry Mr. Stephens "these glamorous job opportunities" does not give this geek any hope. Working for a cool tech company or doing cool research might.
EvilCON - Made Famous by
Indeed. It's not just television stars. It's the same with vice presidents and other high-level underlings in corporations.
Often times CEOs are very intelligent, good-willed people who are easy enough to deal with. It's those under them who make it difficult. Sometimes the best thing to do with those type of people is to tell them flat out, "Fuck off. We have serious issues to deal with. We don't have time for your political shenanigans. They do not improve the efficiency of our firm."
Nothing scares such management more than the idea that they're impeding the financial success of their firm, especially if they're fairly high up in management.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
No its not. And this is not one of the coolest things.
This guy is at the beck and call of people to plug their consoles in, how is that glamorous or cool.
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
Am I the only one who read the title to this article and though this would be about space and tech support? I was thoroughly dissapointed when it turned out to be just about Bono having to call someone to plug in an X-Box...
The wii is the revolution, comrade!
I've had the 'pleasure' of providing technical support to several high-profile personalities. In some cases, I dealt with an assistant and in others, with the actual 'star'. In both scenarios, I was promised payment by submitting an invoice to the appropriate person or agency. Good luck trying to collect on those invoices; while I billed at an hourly rate that I would any other client, it has been close to impossible to collect payment. I'm tempted to chalk it up to typical 'star' arrogance, but I'm just plain pissed that they feel they deserve free services simply because they are well known. If they asked for a favor, I would have done so, but in every case, I was promised payment. You just gotta wonder...
Wait, wasn't tech support (or someone posing as a tech claiming to support her) why we got to see even more embarassing pictures of her anorexic bod, plus got to learn Fred Durst's home phone number?
I've worked for a major ISP before and now schlep for a cellular provider. Calls from government wigs and celebs (rather, their right-hand people) are nothing new... you get the wheat with the chaff.
And yes, I do have a signed photo of Jack LaLanne because of my old tech support joint.
Laughter is the Spackle of the Soul.
I will laugh so hard when one of these celebs have to call the Geek Squad because he/she gets locked out by the DRM on his/her own songs, movies, etc.
EvilCON - Made Famous by
for the time I spent working tech support at a college, all I know is that some of the faculty teaching computers was more computer illiterate than a lot of the students. All the faculty knew how to do was teach from a book, nothing more.
For example, one graphics arts teacher who taught photoshop thought that our server was just a group of files that we copied to each computer and assigned that group of files a drive letter.
Another ( I am not joking ) Assumed that email was printed out and delivered to various faculty on campus by the recipients secretaries. (His, actually did that from time to time.)
Then the Dean of Information Technology would tell one person to do something, turn around and tell another person to assist but what they told the person who was supposed to be assisting was two completely different things, and latter one of the two would get asked why they didn't do what was asked of them.
With as much moolah as some of these stars rake in, I am seriously surprised that they dont retain their own tech support to go with them and live with them.
Who needs technology when you have someone to do it for you.
Am I the only one that thinks that seems a bit strange? IT is really all you need for standard technical assistance. CS tends to deal more with the code and mathematics/science behind the code (not pretty), and unless he's writing special software for Ludacris, it would seem unnecessary. Although a CS person can do stuff like that (and IT can do basic programming a lot of the time), I would think he learned more then he needed to know. Oh well. Maybe it was just a general word, and he meant IT courses (I've seen very few if any courses that would help him with basic tech support in my uni's CS curriculum (fairly large)).
In undeveloped countries, the consumer controls the market. In capitalist America, the market controls you.
I helped Steve Ballmer hook up his xbox, and all i got was this lousy chair!
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
Tech Support to the Stars
Damn, and I thought outsourcing to India was bad enough!
Yeah, you'd be rolling in money at $15 an hour...
I used to work at a big BIG computer store right next to all the LA studios, back in the late 1980s, we were known as "the Computer Store to the Stars." But that was mostly because we had a good reputation for treating the stars like regular people (there is a fine line between being polite and being obsequious). Plus we were discreet, we kept everything strictly confidential, no matter how outrageous (like for example when I attempted to recover data from a famous scriptwriter's floppy disk that had a hole burned through it from a piece of crack that flew out of the pipe's bowl).
But, you have to draw the line sometimes. Anyone below the level of Producer was almost guaranteed to be a nice, normal person that you could work with easily, but above that, egos are totally out of hand, and I wouldn't hesitate to tell them to get out of my face. I call this problem "Producer Syndrome." Producers that have the power to order people to set up $2 million in equipment in a corner of a building, and who lose tens of thousands of dollars per minute for production delays, tend to lose perspective.
Totally.
I don't understand why they do that, either.
Obviously they have never had a REAL technology problem or the Geek Squad guy would be in way over his head.
First you don't want to provide the camel and now you want to get his goat!? *shock*
:)
My oh my life must be hard in Prince World (formerly known as lala-land)
--
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The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Prince, Snoop Dogg, Ludacris, Bon Jovi, and U2 all have used technical support when on the road
Used tech support? With all their money you'd think they could afford new tech support.
"Grab them by the pussy" -- President of the United States of America
That just happened, IIRC. I think it was Spielberg over in Europe for one of the film festivals. The movie review samples they were distributing failed to work on the reviewers' machines because of the DRM. They had to order a whole new batch without the DRM.
Many bands are pissed off that their fans can't play their music on their iPods or whatever. A couple of them have stood up to their labels and said, "No DRM on our stuff!"
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
If I had just "made it" as a star, or more likely as some rich guy in the public eye, I would be very angry if my tech support guy told a newspaper about his experience. Especially if it made me look dumb. Doesn't his company have a privacy policy? I'm pretty sure the privacy policy (if it existed) was violated for the purpose of writing a "fluff" news story. If I were a manager, there is NO WAY I would let an employee talk about all the famous people they have served without prior permission to do so. Just imagine the consequences if that was permitted.
Personally I think the article was made up. That's because I'm generally a cynical bastard, and it's also a fact that sometimes there are slow news days.
To be pedantic, Joshua Kapellen is Canadian, not American.
Don't you mean North North Dakota?
They could have found better tech support. Although the geek squad has just enough knowledge to hook up a a/v cable to a xbox so I guess it works out.
"Hello Geek Squad? This is Brittney Spears, I need to hire someone to turn my TV on and off."
I don't need a crystal ball to tell me you will die young.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Yeah, yeah... listen to you...
"I work with celebrities--but I don't like it. No, sirree. I don't like working with celebrities... Like Nicholas Cage. I don't like working with Nick. He's kind of clingy and he keeps asking for my autograph. Did I mention I work with celebrities?"
I work as a techie in NYC. Since the late nineties the starting salaries in NY were $55k a year! My last job lasted 5 years and I ended up making $65 a year.
"Technicians like Mr. Kapellen are paid about $32,000 a year, the industry average for computer technicians, according to the Association of Support Professionals.
Could this be a regional issue? Or is $55 the norm for computer lackeys in the Big Apple because soda in 20oz bottles go for $1.50 a pop and generally that's an analogue to how expensive everyithing else is making the same work provide the same quality of life (virtually speaking) in NYC as it does for the Geek Squads in Demoins Iowa? Or are the Geek Squads just generally extremely underpaid.
I'm on the job hunt now and have had some balk at $65, but just recently dropped my price by $10gs just get hired. At the $55 level, people don't even blink. The only reason my my compensation rose so high was because I'd mastered an arcane level of Ghost on the Enterprise level which streamlined efficiency to a high degree. But try explaining that to a shop that has never used Ghost and they just go..."Uh huh".
But what puzzles me is that $55k seemed the norm in 1998???!!! So, how can it STILL be the norm starting price, in addition to all the experience I've gotten since then be priced at that level? That doesn't even keep up with inflation!
And added to that, wouldn't anyone feel underpaid for this stressful job at merely $32 a year? I understand there are different costs of living around the country but this seems like a dramatic difference!
Quod scripsi, scripsi.