India Calling

Wonder why companies are moving their support centers to India? Which other nation's people have the patience to deal with customer queries like these:

Tech support: What kind of computer do you have?
Customer: A gray one.

Customer: Hi, I can't get my diskette out.
Tech support: Have you tried pushing the button?
Customer: Yes, sure, it's really stuck.
Tech support: That doesn't sound good; I'll make a note.
Customer: No, wait a minute. I hadn't inserted it yet; it's still on my desk. Sorry.

Tech support: Click on the 'My Computer' icon on the left side of the screen.
Customer: Your left or my left?

Tech support: Good day. How may I help you?
Customer: Hello. I can't print.
Tech support: Would you click on 'Start' for me and...
Customer: Listen pal; don't start getting technical on me! I'm not Bill Gates!

Customer: Hi, I can't print. Every time I try, it says 'Can't find printer'. I've even lifted the printer and placed it in front of the monitor, but the computer still says it can't find it.

Customer: I have problems printing in red.
Tech support: Do you have a color printer?
Customer: Oh.... thank you.

Tech support: What's on your monitor now, ma'am?
Customer: A teddy bear my boyfriend bought for me in the supermarket.

Tech support: Your password is the small letter 'a' as in apple, a capital letter 'V' as in Victor, and the number '7'.
Customer: Is the 7 in capital letters?

Customer: I can't get on the Internet.
Tech support: Are you sure you used the right password?
Customer: Yes, I'm sure. I saw my colleague do it.
Tech support: Can you tell me what the password was?
Customer: Five stars.

Customer: I have a huge problem. A friend put a screen saver on my computer, but every time I move the mouse, it disappears.

Tech support: How can I help you?
Customer: I'm writing my first e-mail.
Tech support: Ok, and what seems to be the problem?
Customer: Well, I have the letter 'a' in the address, but how do I get the circle around it?

A woman customer called the Canon help desk about a problem with her printer.
Tech support: Are you running it under Windows?
Customer: No, my desk is next to the door, but that is a good point. The man sitting in the cubicle next to me is under a window, and his printer is working fine. » Continue reading

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Four ways to reduce drug costs without risking your health

Look into "me too" brands. Brand names often rule drug prices. For instance, the antibiotic ofloxacin marketed under the brand name Tarivid, is priced at Rs.53.14 per 400mg tablet; as Oflin it costs Rs.14. But as Floxur, it costs just Rs.9.60 per tablet! Ask chemists for less expensive alternatives. "But buying the cheapest," warns Dr Satbir Singh of New Delhi's Govind Ballabh Pant Hospital, "may not always be safe, since quality can vary." So, consult your doctor too.

Avoid unnecessary multis. "If your doctor prescribes vitamin B-complex, don't buy multivitamin capsules as many patients do," advises Dr Yatish Agarwal of New Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital. Plain B-complex pills are cheap, while multivitamins cost much more. Components other than the B vitamins loaded in multivitamin capsules are required only in special cases and may be useless for you.

Asthmatic? Get the economy pack. Asthma patients who use inhalers should know that Cipla now markets Asthalin inhalers in a pack that gives 200 puffs for Rs.77. There's also a 400-puff economy pack for Rs.96, which could save you about Rs.425 a year assuming you average eight puffs a day.

Find out about freebies. Pharmaceuticals regularly give away large amounts of drugs as "physician's samples," to doctors -- all meant to be distributed free among patients. So before going to the medical store, ask your doctor if part of the prescription can be had for free. » Continue reading

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Blood Pressure Monitoring with a Wrist Monitor

Your blood pressure read at a clinic provides a somewhat blurry snapshot of this temperamental measure. Worse, many people get white-coat hypertension -- their pressure jumps in a doctor's office! For a clearer picture, you need to take a series of readings -- a must for people with hypertension and those at risk of developing it.

Omron's Ultra Compact Wrist Monitor fits around your wrist and inflates with the push of a button. It makes tracking your blood pressure as easy as telling time. (People with severe circulation problems should check with a doctor first.) The monitor also stores readings so your doctor can look for patterns. It can be used anywhere without a white coat in sight.

» Continue reading

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How to Tone Up Your Image

Exercise -- and you are better person. That's what university students thought when they rated characteristics of people they believed worked out. In a recent study, the students read profiles of fictional subjects described as "average looking." Some were supposedly exercisers and some non-exercisers -- but in other ways identical. Exercisers got higher rating for strength, health and attractiveness as well as for confidence, self-control, independence and hard work.

Kathleen Martin, author of the study, thinks the messages in the media and from doctors about physical fitness have got through. "If you're tyring to decide whether to start exercising," says Martin, "this might be an incentive. You don't have to be the world's greatest athlete. Just by virtue of exercising, you'll benefit from a social perspective."

She encourages people to talk about their workouts. "Tell people, definitely. It does make a difference in how they see you." » Continue reading

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Healing power of Music

By the time Debbie Clark took Adam, her autistic three year-old son, to a music therapist, he could barely speak. At the music-therapy clinic at California State University in Northridge, USA, therapists encouraged the autistic child to express himself by playing instruments and beating out rhythms on drums. They put conversations to song in order to get Adam talking.

"In tree months, the change was phenomenal," says Clark. "Before, Adam would never look a stranger in the eye, let alone speak. Now, after his music therapy session, he waves to the therapists and says, "Bye, Jim. Bye, Ron. See you next week." Believe me, that's music to my ears."

Music, researchers around the world are discovering, can help healing in a variety of ways. Burn victims encouraged to sing while having their dressing changed experience less pain. Cancer patients who listen to music and practice improvising on instruments, for example, see their levels of stress hormones drop and their immune systems get stronger. Part of music's power comes from ability to relieve anxiety, which can suppress immune defenses as well as intensify the experience of pain. Music, especially singing, takes a person's mind off the suffering and soothes tension. "By helping patients relax, music eases pain and may even speed recovery," says Richard Fratianne, a noted professor of surgery. The experiences of autistic children like Adam Clark suggest that music's effects reach deeper, even influencing brain development. The therapeutic use of music seems to activate different parts of the brain, including networks associated with motor control, memory, emotion and speech, explains neuroscientist and musician Michael Thaut. In his own work, Thaut is using the close link between music and movement to help people slowed by strokes, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and Parkinson's disease.

Says Northridge music therapist Ron Borczon: "Traditional healers have used songs and drumming for centuries. We're simply rediscovering what they always knew -- that music, through its profound effect on mind and body, can be a potent way to help people get well."

Also read
Healing Power of Laughter
Healing Power of Forgiveness

Coming shortly...
Healing Power of Sleep » Continue reading

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Do your kids have dinner with you?

If so, they probably eat better than those who don't dine with their parents. In a recent Harvard study of 16,000 children ages nine to 14, 24% of those who dined daily with their family got the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables, compared with 13% of those who rarely or never shared meals at home. They also ate less fried food, drank less aerated drinks, and consumed more calcium, fibre, iron and vitamins C and E. Says Dr Matthew W. Gillman, lead investigator of the study at Harvard, "There are two possible explanations. When kids eat with their parents, there may be more nutritious food on the table. Or maybe there's a discussion of healthful eating." » Continue reading

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The Bedside Gift Guide

Visiting a friend or relative in the hospital? Here is a list of gifts a patient will love you for.

• Face, lip and body moisturizers, and bottled water. many hospitals are too hot and dry.
  
• Scented candles. You probably won't be allowed to light them, but they'll still help overcome that distinctive medicinal odor.
  
• A newspaper or magazine.
  
• Flowers are lovely, but they die quickly in a warm hospital room. A small plant or orchids will last.
  
• A book. Always take into consideration the taste of the recipient, but steer clear of heavy philosophy.
  
• A good small reading lamp. This tames the pallor of the overhead fluorescent lighting, and if reading is the patient's primary diversion, he or she deserves a great bedside light source.
  
• A portable tape or CD player and a tape or CD of your friend's favorite music.
  
• A notebook or journal to jot down telephone numbers, thoughts and messages.
  
• Tweezers. My sister made me promise that if she was ever in an accident and went into a coma, I'd come in and tweeze her eyebrows.

» Continue reading

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