One of the street guides for next year's vacation arrived today. Of course it is the old edition. I cannot blame the book store, because they had to order it from the distributor themselves. Luckily, US maps don't change that much compared to German maps. And strictly speaking it is valid until end of the year. However, a newer edition exists and I hate to use old maps. Yet, the distributor apparently thinks that it is okay to sell old maps. There is no way to get the current (last year's!) edition in Germany. I could mail order the current edition from the publisher, however handling and shipping is almost as expensive as the map itself.
Also, Japanese customers make me furious. No, the feature they request is not supported. It doesn't work and it quite likely will never work. Granted, this isn't documented, but we simply cannot make a complete list of things that aren't supported for an entire operating system along with thousands of applications. Additionally, what they want can be achieved even more elegantly by clearly documented, supported and proven-to-work means. What the hell am I to do with the reply "the customer does not accept the solution"? I'm really tempted to say "okay, then... GET LOST!", but of course that's unacceptable as well. I'm a tech supporter dammit, not a kindergarten teacher.
Comments
lynard-.livejournal.com 16 years, 7 months ago
Your japanese customers still dont understand the problem.... i am thinking... wasn't it mmc you first told me about them?
Link | Replywoelfisch.livejournal.com 16 years, 7 months ago
Different problem this time, and positively no reason for them to react that way.
Link | Replyaeto.livejournal.com 16 years, 7 months ago
If you're looking for a current US street guide, I could go by a bookstore and see if they have it...
What are you looking for?
Link | Replywoelfisch.livejournal.com 16 years, 7 months ago
Thanks, but I think I'm going to keep this one, even though it is the previous issue.
I'm using Hallwag Road Guides, formerly distributed by Rand McNally. Those are regional maps (opposed to maps for just one state) with a reasonable scale and based on topographical maps. I've looked for other maps, both here and in the US, but either the scale is too large or the map is just for one state.
It just annoys me that bookstore distributors rather sell their stock of ancient maps than providing current ones. If it were a 2005 issue of a map of Germany I would have sent it back right away. It would be totally useless. Fortunately, there aren't that many changes for the US West and updates don't happen very often anyway — the material the maps are based on sometimes goes back to the 1950th...
Hint for buying maps: if there is a year printed on the cover, it is the year the next issue will be published. A map for "2007/2008" would a 2005 edition, at best.
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