Email, Google and Motorcycles?

When I started this job I would never have guessed that the first thing that I helped someone do on a computer was buy a motorcycle online. In a town where the majority of CAP users are seniors I was expecting questions about emailing or Microsoft office and was pleasantly surprised when the first person that walked in my door wanted to know how to use Kijiji. Having used Kijiji in the past I knew how to maneuver the site and while showing my visitor how to use the search options to narrow down his findings I asked what it was he was looking for. I figured he must be interested in purchasing some new furniture or maybe just wanted to see what the site was all about but was clearly mistaken since it turned out he wanted to buy a new Harley Davidson to ride around on during the summer.

I had other people in during the week but this particular visitor stood out from the rest. It was nice to help someone learn how to use the website but what made it memorable (aside from the fact that he was buying a motorcycle) was the fact that this was just some website my visitor had heard about in passing (he didn't really know the name at first just that it was "like eBay but different") and decided he wanted to learn more about it.

The fact that people can drop by and ask questions about absolutely anything to do with computers is really what makes the CAP program so great. Its nice that people who have little or no previous technological experience have somewhere close to learn more about whatever might interest them. I know my visitor was happy to learn more and I hope that I can help many more people accomplish their computer goals over the summer.