GhostNomad.com

The Recap

Two carnival workers called the police for directions across town after the carnival they were working for left town without them.

The Lesson

It seems a bit extreme to call the local police station for directions. I mean, there are plenty of places these two people could have walked to ask for directions. Instead they did the simplest thing they knew to solve their problem, they called 9-1-1. Who knows a community better than the police department right? It should come as no surprise to us then that when people have issues with their computers they call the first person that comes to mind. As security or technology professionals we are the stewards of that which we work to maintain and defend.

It can seem tedious sometimes when we are asked to help with those “help desk” tasks, but in doing those little things we go a long way towards making people comfortable with technology. We ask family, friends, and co-workers to trust us and take the steps we suggest to become more secure. In doing so we have to build a trust, and sometimes the best way to build trust is to help with the little things first. Not only do you build trust, you build confidence in people so they feel like they can handle what they don’t understand. Calling 9-1-1 for directions is not advised as it takes resources away from the real emergencies, however to the two people left in a strange place the idea of emergency probably jumped out the window. If we help with the little things, we may get help solving the bigger issues.