Adventures in Tech Support - NEW Episode!!!

[BehindBlueI's]

You have to answer to too many people who are uniformed about their issues and what you can reasonably be expected to do about them.

Wow, that sounds familiar.

 

[wtburnette]

I don't disagree. Nevertheless, sometimes you have to suck up a crappy individual to keep the customer. It's a lucrative contract, it's just this one guy there that's a toolbag.

Well, if that's the situation, I hope management points out to this customer how much the toobag is costing them. At least I hope they itemize the billing and there is cost they can see associated with a guy who makes the support company take an hour (with travel) for a problem that would have taken 5 minutes if they had explained the situation and allowed you to remote in. I know I've been in the same boat. We were able to show our customers the "problem children" causing them to spend excess money and the situation corrected itself

 

[jsgolfman]

Sounds like an episode of BOFH

Data Centre » BOFH ? The Register

 

[Scutter01]

Well, if that's the situation, I hope management points out to this customer how much the toobag is costing them. At least I hope they itemize the billing and there is cost they can see associated with a guy who makes the support company take an hour (with travel) for a problem that would have taken 5 minutes if they had explained the situation and allowed you to remote in. I know I've been in the same boat. We were able to show our customers the "problem children" causing them to spend excess money and the situation corrected itself

Don't take one or two snapshots with incomplete detail to be indicative of either my company or theirs. This sort of thing is not the norm (although being in IT yourself you know that the abuse can be). That said, the most annoying thing about going out there was not the 5-minute fix. What's annoying is that I'm not a hell desk jockey. I'm a tier 2-3 engineer and I have much more complex things that need my attention that have to be sidelined to deal with stuff like this. You know how it is, though. No matter how far you get in IT, you still have to deal with calls like this from time to time.

 

[wtburnette]

Don't take one or two snapshots with incomplete detail to be indicative of either my company or theirs. This sort of thing is not the norm (although being in IT yourself you know that the abuse can be). That said, the most annoying thing about going out there was not the 5-minute fix. What's annoying is that I'm not a hell desk jockey. I'm a tier 2-3 engineer and I have much more complex things that need my attention that have to be sidelined to deal with stuff like this. You know how it is, though. No matter how far you get in IT, you still have to deal with calls like this from time to time.

Yep, you never can quite get away from it.

 

[looney2ns]

Back in the day, sometime during the stone age when fax machines were all the rage. I had an employee that needed to send a fax. She had been shown how numerous times. We go to fax machine, I once again show her the steps. When the fax was successfully sent and the original exited the fax machine, she exclaims "WOW, look how fast we got that back!"
No blonde hair involved.

 

[Scutter01]

I wish fax machines would die. I can't believe they're still a thing. It seems like it's only the legal and medical community keeping them alive at this point. I actually had a judge tell me that he uses them because (and I quote) "You can't forge a signature on a legal document with a fax like you can with an e-mail".

 

[jamil]

Back in the day, sometime during the stone age when fax machines were all the rage. I had an employee that needed to send a fax. She had been shown how numerous times. We go to fax machine, I once again show her the steps. When the fax was successfully sent and the original exited the fax machine, she exclaims "WOW, look how fast we got that back!"
No blonde hair involved.

I wish fax machines would die. I can't believe they're still a thing. It seems like it's only the legal and medical community keeping them alive at this point. I actually had a judge tell me that he uses them because (and I quote) "You can't forge a signature on a legal document with a fax like you can with an e-mail".

I always like to ask people like that, how do they imagine those things work? My mother-in-law is a constant source of entertainment.

To keep sane, you have to look at it as entertainment. All these "idiot" stories give you something to tell.

Not that they're all really idiots, though I suppose some are. It's like I told a young guy I knew who worked for a tech support company after he bragged about how he put an MD in his place for being so ignorant about some simple computer matter. I asked him if he had to go to the ER and it turned out to be something ridiculously simple, would he like the MD to lecture and belittle him on how little he knows about that? We specialize for a reason. We can't all know everything...well...except for findingZzero.

But there are some pretty special kinds of people with active imaginations who conjure the most wondrous inner workings of things they don't understand. I really want to know how the judge and the fax lady think that fax machines work. I'm sure their explanations would be entertaining.

 

[Scutter01]

Not that they're all really idiots, though I suppose some are. It's like I told a young guy I knew who worked for a tech support company after he bragged about how he put an MD in his place for being so ignorant about some simple computer matter. I asked him if he had to go to the ER and it turned out to be something ridiculously simple, would he like the MD to lecture and belittle him on how little he knows about that?

Exactly why I said that I don't expect them to be computer experts, just to have a working knowledge of them if it's a significant tool for their job. If you're a secretary and you can't figure out how to turn on your computer, then you're not qualified to do that job. But I don't expect you to be able to figure out why you're seeing packet loss on your network connection. That's an unreasonable expectation and THAT is what people like me should be there for. Not to refill the paper tray in the printer. That is a waste of my time and your money.

 

[HoughMade]

I wish fax machines would die. I can't believe they're still a thing. It seems like it's only the legal and medical community keeping them alive at this point. I actually had a judge tell me that he uses them because (and I quote) "You can't forge a signature on a legal document with a fax like you can with an e-mail".

TELL ME ABOUT IT.

In our office, every fax we get is automatically converted to a pdf and e-mailed to the recipient. Now, tell me how efficient that is. The only time I use a fax anymore is to a court or to a client....and almost all of my clients are healthcare providers.

As to that signature thing, in federal court, we've used electronic filing for years and every attorney's signature looks something like this:
/s/ James L. Hough

All that rampant fraud we have in federal court is amazing!

 

[jamil]

Exactly why I said that I don't expect them to be computer experts, just to have a working knowledge of them if it's a significant tool for their job. If you're a secretary and you can't figure out how to turn on your computer, then you're not qualified to do that job. But I don't expect you to be able to figure out why you're seeing packet loss on your network connection. That's an unreasonable expectation and THAT is what people like me should be there for. Not to refill the paper tray in the printer. That is a waste of my time and your money.

I agree with that. Especially if the people who don't know how to turn on their computers yell at you as if it's your fault. But if you can't control what other people do, what else can you do? Might as well tell the story, enjoy the community support, and have a good laugh.

When I used to work in tech support we had to fill out a corrective action field on the ticket before we could close it, to suggest how that call could be avoided in the future. Nearly always I put "user training". Didn't help.

 

[WebSnyper]

Who speaks for the user..................

They usually speak for themselves, far more than they should...

Computers are so easy now that even stupid people can use them, and unfortunately the frequently do

I drove 50 miles round trip for that. I could have solved it in two minutes without leaving my office and I could have done without being belittled for trying to help.

I would have had to determine if there was a gun store along the way. That usually makes the trip a bit more bearable

 

[churchmouse]

They usually speak for themselves, far more than they should...

Computers are so easy now that even stupid people can use them, and unfortunately the frequently do



I would have had to determine if there was a gun store along the way. That usually makes the trip a bit more bearable

I am stupid. Google-Fu very weak. I have a computer. I do not have Scutter's e-mail.......

 

[findingZzero]

Dear computer guy. Please fix me.

I use to hang with the IT guys in the early years because they had the best graphics rigs. I remember installing DOOM on a rig that controlled an HPLC (analytical chromatography) instrument. During boring times I would run amok with the BFG 9000 (5000?). Then I'd call the IT guy to fix the conflicts..(just kidding).

CM, my google -fu is strong. I can find a zero in a tunnel full of 1's and zero's.