I’m often amazed when I fly how people don’t pick the exit rows on their own. I find it amazing how on most Delta flights I can book a ticket 10 days before traveling from Atlanta to somewhere (New York, Chicago, Columbus, Denver, Seattle, etc.) and still get an exit row aisle or window seat. Typically these flights will have 30 to 50 (New York will have 100+ occasionally) Medallion members vying for the preferred seats and yet almost invariably I get that exit row seat.
The amazing part is that Delta’s website makes it very easy to pick your seat. Whether you buy the ticket on your own or through a travel agent you can go in and choose a seat that is currently unassigned. It can’t get much easier. Yet most people don’t go in and choose their seat. They don’t take the two minutes of effort to make the two or more hour venture more comfortable for themselves. Amazing (but good for me)!
The same thing is true with technology. Too many people assume they can’t do it and simply drop the problem on their IT person to fix. Nevermind that he won’t be able to get to it until tomorrow because everyone else does the same thing. I’ve solved enough problems for others to know that 85% of the time the first Google search for the problem gives you a step by step guide for a solution (usually something simple and not overly technical). Taking five minutes to do some basic digital research would save them a full day of hoping that it gets fixed by someone else.
It comes down to confidence I think. There are those that feel they have the ability to dive into a situation and just come out ahead and there are those that think they’ll just make it worse – kill their computer or cancel their plane ticket.