Susan stood at her living room and gestured to the curtains, which refused to close. It seemed that they were waiting on her WiFi network’s apology for yesterday’s signal loss. Her smart home went rogue. It is the convenience tax that we all have to pay because our assistants think they are better at knowing us than their own mothers. Read more now on intellifix

Alexa is a great way to dim the lights or play childhood music instantly. But, what happens if the device decides to ignore you? Instead of a virtual embrace you receive nothing but digital indifference.

John, for example. He was panicked when his smart fridge began to speak in tongues. The problem was solved by a software update! But the manual was so confusing that it could as well have read like hieroglyphics. If you want pancakes, there’s no point in trying to understand Shakespeare. It’s easy to forget how complicated these fixes can be.

“Have I tried turning it on and off again?” I joked. John’s voice was heard through the phone. It is the obnoxiously popular advice that works 70 percent of the time. Some people, even the most intelligent ones, are hesitant to plunge into an electric abyss. It’s not just the obvious tech circus in the background that needs taming.

As familiar as catching an animal in the wild, diving into the worlds of smart home maintenance can feel. All the messages about updating, connecting to cloud services, and syncing your devices can make a person go crazy. Most people see their smart home as an orchestrated dance. That is, until someone starts playing the wrong sheet music.

Lisa is an acquaintance who has a lot to teach Encyclopedia Britannica. Yet, she was stumped when it came to her smart-doorbell. Debugging these gadgets was like juggling with eggs while on a tightrope. The best tool is to balance patience with madness. I told my friend, “Listen. The doorbell you have is very good at keeping secret. You could need to be a technology detective.” I swear that I heard an eyebrow rise over the phone.

I’m not even going to get started on the mysteries of smart locks. Imagine locking yourself outside because your door has decided it wants’me time. You begin to question if you’re dealing with a modern technological upgrade, or a plot straight from a spy-thriller.

You can see that these challenges often require more creativity than complex tools. Imagine having to call a plumber when your AI connected toilet starts rebelling. Perhaps your voice-controlled cooker thinks that it is smarter and more capable than Gordon Ramsay. Siri will sometimes give you an error message if you ask for something very simple. It’s a bit like talking to a sarcastic high schooler.

But these tales of digital errors and heroic fixes only cover half the journey. There’s an interesting twist, though: many problems are due to human error instead of machine-generated nonsense. Michael, the IT genius across the road, confessed to having forgotten to charge his speaker. It was sent to a premature digital grave due to a dead batteries. I joked that he should send the battery a get well card.

We should embrace this technology obstacle course. Aren’t glitches, and the occasional trip along the road, the spice of our lives? It may take more patience and understanding to build a relationship with your tech than you expected. It’s a flirtatious notion, isn’t it? This kinda makes you wonder.

Remember that you aren’t alone the next time you face a sassy, stubborn thermostat. The misbehaving of smart devices is a test for both your patience and sense of humor. Your sense of humor can be your best tech tool.