Patti Payne: How Geek Squad saved my computer tech meltdown

I have used my computer for years, and Microsoft and Outlook have never failed me, at least not to any horribly scary extent. And I rely on the computer for my broadcast work, for my website, for scripts I write for galas that I am emceeing, for serving my clients. It’s a significant communication tool, right?

So I’m sitting there working, and the whole system starts blinking. Then, the monitor goes black — nothing on the screen but darkness. The monitor light is on. It’s still working, but the computer driving it dies.

I called my genius computer-savvy friend, and she said she could not help me as she was right in the middle of her 160 employees gathering for a meeting she called.

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I had seen Geek Squad through advertisements and their vans, so I reached out to them. I got a really nice guy who remotely connected to my computer, and after two hours of poking around, he gave up and suggested I call the nearest Best Buy and see what they could do in person.

By that time, I’m a wreck. In tears. Feeling helpless, totally incapable and stupid. Beyond frustrated. So I called the Lynwood Best Buy, and a friendly female voice calmed me down and said they could send someone out in two days. That was the soonest. I waited and they came out. They being a guy named Jonathan Corn, accompanied by a man named Casey. Corn had a confidence about him that I wanted to bottle!

He worked for hours to unravel the mess. It was complicated. It was a 2013 system and it turns out that Microsoft no longer supported that version of Outlook. It was out of date, but still, he tried to make it work because he could tell installing something brand new and unfamiliar would be a big challenge for me.

Long story short, he had to go that route. And I actually was up for the challenge because it works! Yes, it’s strange and unfamiliar and a pain in the bazooka, but I owe Jonathan Corn and Best Buy — and its subsidiary Geek Squad — a massive debt of gratitude.

Yes, that’s what they do for a living, but the kindness and the patience Corn showed me was incredible, as was his whole level of service.

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He got into this business nine years ago because he’s been on computers from the time he was a young kid, playing video games. He was always around the culture, he told me, and before you know it, you find a job like Geek Squad and there it is, he said, it fit like a glove.

It’s working one-on-one with people that he likes best. That and the education he is able to impart. He told me he’s developed an absolute joy for the coaching part of it, which he thinks may have also come from his years being a personal trainer before this tech career.

The people he helps are of all ages, but a large percentage are 45 and up. And they usually pepper him with a laundry list of general questions. How to do this, how to do that, etc.

The most frustrating thing for people, he said, is not understanding the abilities of computers. It’s all cloudy, and that causes worry and stress, and they think a worst-case scenario is happening.

I certainly did.

They think if they click one thing, everything will be deleted and it’s irreversible. But Corn said computers nowadays never totally delete things without making sure three times over that’s what you really want to do. Relax, he told me. You can be a bit more adventurous with computers now.

I asked him for more tips to share with you, and he said security awareness is at the top of the list.

Make sure emails are not contaminated before you open them. He goes out on many calls where there have been hacking attempts. The most important giveaway? The email does not match the name of the sender.

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More tips from Corn and Geek Squad

• Scammers are getting really good actors pretending to be someone else
• If you get a call from your bank or other company, it’s vital that if you are ever unsure or uneasy, you are always free to hang up and contact the company they are pretending to be if the person on the phone or the computer tries to prevent you from doing that. Banks encourage you to check, so never be afraid to hang up. They know this happens all the time. Their desks are piled high with cases of fraud. Don’t let it happen to you.
• If you ever hear “gift card” as any form of payment, hang up.
• If you get a membership charge you’re not familiar with, never call the number on the email.  Never reply. Those numbers, Jonathan said, are always scammers. And they’re good at what they do.
• All great tips from a guy who came out to unravel my crashed computer. Hats off to Best Buy and Geek Squad for having folks like Jonathan Corn on their teams to help computer-challenged people like me.
• AMEN!

I’m Patti Payne, and that’s my perspective.

Patti Payne is a Seattle-based media personality and a contributor to “Seattle’s Morning News” on KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of her commentaries here.