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Tech Stories Archives - June 2002
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1.
I'll Probably Get Fired, But...
Someone has to know about this. I don't work directly for AOL, but our outsourced center takes tech calls for them. Recently, they put a center in India. Since then, I haven't had a day where a member hasn't complained with "Thank God, you're the first person I've gotten who speaks english." Normally not a big deal since they're so appreciative. But today I got the worst news ever. In some sort of boneheaded move, AOL has decided to shift ALL of their tech calls offshore to India. Why? Because techs like me who earn $1.25-$2.50 per call are more expensive than techs who will gladly suffer for $2.00 per hour. As of July 31st I and two of my room mates will be unemployed, in addition to 147 other people. Not a big deal in a big city, but this is a small town of 10,000. On the plus side, my last week will pretty much consist of saying the things I knew would get me fired a few weeks down the line as well as dropping calls and lying to customers. So, I know a rare few of you probably use AOL, but if you do, I urge you to lodge a complaint or cancel your service. You can do way better with a small local ISP. If you know someone who uses the service, inform them and suggest the same. Regardless, this is crap. I hate the members, but I'll never find a job that works around my college schedule and pays so well. On top of that, it's really not that bad. Anyway, spread the word: AOL not only has s***ty members, but also s***ty management. They screw their members and they screw their employees. Show AOL that they can't do this. HELP!!!2002-06-01[By: SoCo Joe / 2002-06-01]
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Dude sorry to hear about that..Apparntly AOL upper managment doesn't read a news papers. The way things are going in india right now I reconsideing haveing any kind of call center there, let alone the whole thing. -nascar
That's a mistake that a LOT of companies sending tech support overseas are going to regret when, not if, the balloon goes up over there. -MadJack
Wow - I had that happen to me in the electronics repair sector a few years back (except it was Matamoros MX that got the largesse of $2.50/hr salaries when the local facility closed)...never figured anyone would be stupid enough to do it in the area of tech support. Guess I heard just about everything now... -hkypipe
Yeah the company I work for also have call centers in India...if things keep going like they are going those call centers will not be there much longer. -TheOperator
I just copied your post and told my mom to send it to her friend who uses it. If she%27s still dumb enough to stay with them now she deserves what she gets. -Froggy
Seldom am I in favor of encouraging spam, but I had a thought. If we all create an e-mail that informs people that what AOL is doing, all of us must have someone in our address book who annoys all of their friends with spam several times a week, and we can do our best through them to shut down AOHELL -Disallowed
Ladies and Gentlemen(using that term loosely, I realize,) I've been reading your board for quite a while longer than I've actually been a member of it, so I'm not too well known here,(Which is actually personal preference.) This type of thinking is very typical of management.We live in a world sold out to the lowest bidder. Yes, they'll do it, yes they'll get away with it. Why? because if they persist long enough, the masses will give in, and eventually forget there was ever a better option. This mentality applies to customer service as well as consumer goods and products."Cost-Cutting" is something that 'bad' corperations do in a TV serial, and its passed off as fiction. Bull$41T. To the people in charge, the only concern is FULFILLING THE CONTRACT. Not doing it well, or realistically. I'm sorry if I've offended anyones sensibilities here, but I strongly feel it had to be said. Because its not just any one company, its any and all of them. Once upon a time banks gave you interest on your money in account no matter the amount. Now you have to be over a grand for thirty days, and they charge you for holding your money. Quality control is a thing of the past. Welcome to the new Millenium. -SynSeer
Unfortunatly I have to agree with SynSeer. for those of you who are interested, he works at the same company i do but he is a supervisor for the Cable TV side, but hangs out with us because computers are his interest. Call Center managment doesn;t give 2 shits about their employees no matter what they say. all they care about is getting more money in their pockets (ie they see employees as numbers, not people) its bullshit, but thats reality. I hate my job. -Lordpryo
I think that my desktop background says it all, "15 Days left of hell" w00t! Only 15 more days and I can say good bye to this type of management. (I only hope that I don't find myself in another job with similar management tactics.) PS, I hate AOL. -TheDarkPenguin
Apparantly Hell has been doing this, and I have already express my displeasure to my sales consultant. Now, if I were an average joe, buying a computer here or there, that wouldnt matter. But I buy computers for the second largest community college district in the country, the largest in Texas. So, hopefully, they will listen. If not that, then the nukes will take care of it. -psxdefector1
You got that right, psxdefector. Bad news, Memphis is closing entirely, the Triage team is coming down here (good for us, bad for them. Solhecktron's gonna turn our building into a warehouse before long. Got any openings? -MadJack
I used to do "Tech" Support for and outsourcer of the cable modem service that went bankrupte a few months back.
The outsourcer's big thing was finding bodys to pad their stats. They had thing about changeing your shift less then 48 hours before it took effect. I came in on a friday, and they had changed about 50% of the center shifts from a day shift to a nightshift that would start the following sunday. The general reasponse of the call center was was "if you don't like your new shift, go work at the Mcdonald's in the parking lot". I think over 100 people ( including myself, and my wife) quit that day..I stil have some freinds that work there(same job,just outsourceing with the cable co, and not the modem service) and they tell me it was gotten worse.
-nascar
I work in a call center that just opened a location in India recently...I am just thankful that I do not work for AOHELL. I am always getting people yelling at me as if I am responsible for crappy service from them. But I am sorry that they are doing that to you. Hope that things work out for you. -lossofsleepzzzz
Unfortunatly I am a member with AOL for last 6 years (don't ask me why). I agree with you guys that the service is hell. On top of it I worked as a tech support with convergys for 4 years on the floor and as a supervisor. Now let me tell you why I am writting this, whenever I called AOL customer service someone answered who sounded like that he OR she is forced to take the calls. Like they didn't want to be there and very rude. I am not talking about one incedent when you are with AOL that means you called the tech support quite a few times. Utill my last few calls. Which made me stay with AOL was my last call to the tech sopport and someone i get with heavy Indian accent. I was nice enough to continue my call (even though I had problem understanding few words) but the guy was most down to earth, upbeat and respectfull. Like he was waitng for all day to get to work. He was very very very knowledgable and helped me in more ways than one i also find out that he has a masters degree in computer scince. I am from the same feild of tech. support and I was just impressed. So for companies not only it cheaper but quality is million times better. And talking about the accent after 3 minuts it was not a big deal and he made it up for that in otherways.
THe secret is better, faster and cheaper. This is todays world. After few calls to the AOL tech support I think they are improving. Now American companies have to compete and that is gonna make the system better for the consumers and the companies. GOD BLESS AMERICA -workout228
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2.
Talking with EU & Reseller same time
First of, let me apologize for my English, it's not that good.
Anyway had this call for a while ago when the EU was furious about that his printer did not work. And he told me that he got bad treated by the reseller and DEMANDED that i called the reseller and sorted out the problem.
This is was a DOA case, and it's the resellers responsibility to exchange the faulty unit not me!, anyway the EU was angry and on top of that he seemed to have some problem with his mouth or something... he just sounded wierd when he was talking, like having the lips torn out or something.... I tried to explain to him that this is the resellers responsibility but he again DEMANDED ME to call the reseller! Well, i cannot do it i told the EU.
So, the EU told me to hold on, and then he called up the reseller and connected him into our call, so, it was me, the fucking looser on the phone, and the reseller.
Then i didn't have so mutch choice, told the reseller that this is a DOA, and have a nice day. *CLICK*2002-06-01[By: Strukt / 2002-06-01]
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oh ya. I HATE it when customers conference call us with the vender. It doesn't happen too often but...if we band together can we force the telco to revoke the user's 3-way call rights?? -NetGuru
What's wrong with your English anyway? Hopefully your soccer is worse... -DavidHM
I havge had one situation like that before. The customer had called me while on the phone with his OEM. I told them the issue, and they both were telling me I was wrong. It is times like that, I wish that I could tell them exactly where to go and how to get there. -lossofsleepzzzz
I do tech support for computer games and sometimes wish that we could do a three way call with the OEM - it would make getting people to update drivers easier! -setupexe
i hear you man. i hate that 3 way call. i just got off one with a luser and a microsoft rep both of them whineing about how AOL was crap and it wasnt letting this lady surf thru internet explorer after argueing with the 2 of them i had to go to the MS web site and give the MSrep the exact case id from his own database before they'd get off my phone...15 minutes of my life ill never get back -GefahrMaus
Ive confrenced in AOL when I was working for the SS before. Most of the time, DUN worked like a charm, TCP/IP was happy, and the modem worked. So I never figured out why AOL would send us calls when its not our software? -psxdefector1
Anybody doing OEM support that's never conferenced with M$? -MadJack
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3.
You may be a DSL junkie if...
ME: thanks for calling (DSL provider) this is me, how can I help you? USER: Our phone has been out for a week now ME: M'am this is the DSL dept. is your DSL working? USER: yes ME: Well m'am, you'll need to call 611 then. USER: I already have. ME: And what did they tell you? USER: A phone repairman has already been here, he says when he disconnects the DSL at the NID, we can use the phone, but when he plugs it in we can't... ME: Well since you're talking to me, I guess your DSL is down right now... USER: No, I'm at my neighbor's, we had him hook the DSL back up... Wow, talk about being a DSL junkie...2002-06-01[By: MooPig / 2002-06-01]
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Once you get high speed....need I go on? I had to cut all my extraneous services to cut costs with the hour shortages, needless to say I'm back using NetZero again. I need my 40 hours a week! I miss my DSL! 10 free hours a month, pah. If you pay for it, you might as well get what you pay for, but the way things are, who can afford it? -MadJack
he probably didnt have the filters put on his phone jacks. phone is pretty useless if you have dsl and no filters -Grembo
mmmmm,....the signal on the line comes across 'staticy'(sp?) but it can still be heard, without the filter,...From the perspective of the line repair tech, that IS Weird,.. -SynSeer
We had the same problem back in October of 2000. For a while the phone was fine, but the DSL wasn't working. Then the DSL worked but not the phone (filters in place). Then they were both working, but the phone wouldn't ring. We could call out, but if you called us we wouldn't know. I think it was just that Qwest sucks and can't get their crap together. Eventually (read as 2 months later), everything worked right. -Burzmalli
Hell there are enough phone call programs on the net... use them AS the phone..*L* -WarTyger
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4.
of COURSE your computer is psychic...
...and so is our software! I work for an ISP which is migrating customers over to a new system. my last call was helping a woman who was in the completely wrong place in the installation because she clicked on everything that was outline. example: "do you already have a user id?" yes or no. her response? "oh, well i do have an id, but "no" is selected, so that must be correct. i won't change it." That was her decision making process. even when i was on the phone, tech:ma'am, pick yes on that one. user:i can't. tech:it doesnt give you a choice?? user:no, but "no" is highlighted. tech:pick yes anyways. user:click yes? tech:yes. user: but no is highlighted. tech:click yes anyways. user:even though no is highlighted? tech:yes user:yes,no, or yes,yes? tech:whaaa? user: so i pick no? tech:no, yes. no...i mean, pick yes. user: i picked no. okay? tech:no! user:pick no, or no it wasnt okay. cuz i already picked no. tech: hit "back". user:you said hit yes, not "back". tech:aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHhhhh. 2002-06-01[By: Pepin / 2002-06-01]
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I once had to walk a customer through a series of options and had a very similar conversation.. finally I ended up telling them "click the little circle next to the word YES",etc.. it sounded like I was talking to a three-year old. THEN the customer got upset and demanded my supervisor so I could get in trouble for being 'patronizing'. Luckily my supe had been monitoring the call and when the customer complained about my tone and the way I spoke, he replied "Well you weren't giving my tech much choice, especially after the third time you asked if the Next button was the one that said 'Exit' on it". -BStorm
"WHo's on first"
"I'm not askin ya who's on first. I want to know what's the Pitchers name"
"What's on Second"
"I'm not askin ya who's on second"
"Who is on First"
"I don;t know."
"Third Base." -WarTyger
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5.
hrm...
Me: do you have your acct number? L: No... Me: OK whats your phone number please L: (gives address) Me: erm.. no your phone number L: my what??? Me: your PHONE NUMBER PLEASE! L: oh.. I dont have one of those... Me: OK... you have a phone? L: yes.. Me: So whats the number people dial to speak to you on your phone? L: OH! you mean my telephone number (gives phone number...)
Like getting blood from a stone I tells ya...2002-06-01[By: Otaraboy / 2002-06-01]
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"Oh, you mean my telephone number?" What the heck other phone number do they think we're asking for? A xylophone? -BStorm
I've benn known to ask "how many other phones in your house have numbers?" when they do that... -obie099
It's hard to believe isn;t it? They are just too stupid. MadJack hasn't finished that marketing scheme for the Bios Test yet!! -WarTyger
Almost there. Contacts welcome! -MadJack
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6.
Click on Start? Its already on...
Sometimes you just wanna say WOW. EU:I don't know how to get my email. Me:Okay open your Outlook Express. EU:I don't know where that is. Me:All right, click on your start button and go to programs. EU: Click on Start? My computer is already on. Me:No, click on your Start button in the bottom left corner of your monitor. EU: You mean click on the Start button or on the clock? Me:On your start button.....ten minutes later we are setting up email....Me:Okay, type your name in the box that says display name. Eu:In the box? Me:Yes. EU:There is already a name there, should I delete it? Me:Is it your name? EU:No, but I don't think I should delete it. Me:Is it your name? EU:No. Me:Is this your computer? EU:Yes, of course it is. <right just has someone else's name in it> Me:Then delete it and type your name in the box......we played this same little game on the next screen with filling in the email addy. Yeeehaw2002-06-02[By: andy1179 / 2002-06-02]
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sometimes, you just wanna kill yourself. -hollywood
And sometimes you wanna kill the EU. -TechnoVampire
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7.
I couldn't help it.
I know it's a bad thing to do, but I just couldn't help it. I was having a bad day with horrible lusers. Got a person whining because his computer was running slow. Win98 on a celeron 900. Cleared out MSConfig and did the 90% fix. Because I was certain that this would solve the problem (seeing as how he had 50 things in his startup group), in system.ini, I had the luser add another line that said "rem works=yes bugs=no". I knew I wasn't being monitored, and I just felt like screwing with someone. He restarted the system, and it booted up in a fraction of the time that it used to. The Luser was so happy, he told me that he was going to tell his friends to add that line to their computers, and then he gave me a kudos for it. Go fig.2002-06-02[By: DellTechChick / 2002-06-02]
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What does that line do? I have never heard of that line before? -TheOperator
I take it the line does nothing because it begins in 'rem'. It will trick the customer into thinking the computer will always work because it reads works=yes (the computer will work!) and bugs=no (no more bugs!). Because it is remed out, the computer will ignore it. Is ignorance really bliss? I wouldn't know *cries* -paul
Sweet! I'll need to remember that one.. -hkypipe
Those of you who aren't familiar with the rem statement must be extremly young. If you've ever used a bat file or, heaven forbid, qbasic, you'll know it forces the computer to ignore the following line. Either way, congratulations on a wonderful fake fix. It's like adding AT&FX init string to customers who wanna see a connection speed higher than 56k so it echos connected at 115200. Ignorance is bliss, and our customers are the happiest people on the face of the planet. In regards to fake fixes, wish we could find this hidden window: http://pages.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/~saul/hci_topics/bad_interfaces/word_hidden_settings/word_hidden_settings.html -Disallowed
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8.
Anything more simple than phonetic?
Me trying to make it as simple as I can for this idiot, "Now type C as in Charlie." Her: "Okay, E as in Charlie." Yea great now type F as in alpha.2002-06-02[By: n8 / 2002-06-02]
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I get "Ok..That is "s" is in frank on a daily basis.
-nascar
Like whenever I say B as in Boy, they often say "D?" Yeah wiseguy, I said D as in Doy! Oh and some people like to say "Z as in zero" when reading a serial number or something. I always have to think a minute about that one. -SparcMan
That's A as in Are, E as in Eff... -Disallowed
Try this phonetic alphabet!
http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/cockney.htm -madonnac
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9.
Mel?
I was reading some stories about the infamous 'Mel' that plagues all us techies and remembered an encounter me and a buddy had at work one day. Older middle aged guy comes in, asks some questions, and mentions something about his buddy who 'knows a lot about computers' couldn't quite fix his problem. My buddy spoke up and said "Is his name Mel?" The customer looked dumbfounded at him and said "My name's Noel." My friend replied with "Oh, ok" and proceeded to answer his questions. We shared a good laugh afterwards.2002-06-02[By: paul / 2002-06-02]
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Noel? Coward. -MadJack
oh, mad jack. that was low. your 'design for living' must be suffering after all this teching issues. -Pepin
Not too far off the mark, as you can tell when you read my other comments and stories. I'm using this site for the same reason as hkypipe: to let off enough steam to avoid a rubber room. I have days where I hate the job (most of them) but it's better than not working at all. Problem is, jobs like this are not ones that Desert Storm vets with anger issues like myself should be doing. Still, ya do what ya gotta do to live. I've been a techie all my life, just about, and I'll be one till the day they drape my flag over me. -MadJack
BTW Pepin: I take it you've never heard of Noel Coward? Bwahahahaha! -MadJack
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10.
B*llocks Sh*tty B*llocks
Cust comes on, she's friendly bubbly and amusing, she'd had like a million calls in so I'm like "OK I'll call you back at our expense" and try to resolve the issue... of course it's some disgusting error message like 678, or she can't browse, the sort of call where you wished you hadn't called her back... but 2 hours into trying to solve the bloody thing, she sniggers and says "you can't fix it can you" and starts laughing at me "I say with a slight sob in my voice I can, it's got to be something simple", she laughs again and says "you don't dare swear either because you're on a helpdesk"... at this point I must have cracked, cause I just shrieked "B*llocks... F*cking B*llocks, t*tty sh*tter"... She was roaring with laughter and I fell under my desk in defeat also roaring with laughter... No supervisor trouble no nothing... might swear more often, it was definitely a release!!!2002-06-03[By: mrwolf11245 / 2002-06-03]
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Good for you, I have a supervisor who gets bent even if you use a mild swear and you are only talking among yourselves with no customers on the phone. -Bluetech
There are SO many times where i just want to curse to my heart's content. Kudos to you for swearing and not getting in trouble... =) -lossofsleepzzzz
We can say anything we want, as long as we hit mute first. -Yoda47
We need a tech center where we can swear all day. We will live like kings! Hell damn kings!!! -psxdefector1
I second that motion, there have been many a time where my face turned candy-apple-red because I could not release my frustrations with a few cuss words :) -BluRaven
And they write you up because somebody else is to thin skinned to listen to any beefing and moaning (and how do they let off THEIR steam?), and run to HR and say "He cussed! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" "Ya got a problem with that? Well maybe I gotta problem with your whining and baby attitude." Get a life. -MadJack
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11.
write click?
one time there was this woman who called me up and once again she was very pleasant and quite amusing to talk to but obviously totally brain dead, she admitted to me whilst on the call to being "stoned out of her face"... I was trying to get her to 'right click' on the dial up networking connection "temp" I had created for her and go down to properties, she muffled and mumbled for a while and then comfirmed she'd done it, then we baffled through some more confusion and I ask her to double click on the "temp" icon that I had created, "there isn't one" comes the reply, I assume she isn't in dial up networking anymore so say "what can you see", "there are two icons, 'make new connection' and 'click'" she retorts... "click???? (wtf)"... "that's the one you told me to write click on"... How anyone could be smart enough to rename an icon but not smart enough to follow the simple instruction of right click I'll never know... 2002-06-03[By: mrwolf11245 / 2002-06-03]
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I love it when you say right click on the desktop and the customer asks you to hang on while they get a pen - I'm never quick enough to stop them!!! -setupexe
I am amused every time I tell a (l)user to right click on something and they respond" where do i write click at there aint no space to write it in"
amusing hicks heh -undeadgothslave
I had one like this last week. I've been doing tech.support for a long time and it's the first time someone did that-I hardly had time to hit the mute button when I realized what she was trying to do. -n8
I just phrase it differently, never fails for me - use your right mouse button to click on... -GOD
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12.
Exuse me?
I was on a very diffcult call one night. The customer needed his drivers ripped/reinstalled for his NIC. We tried to get the computer to find the drivers from the disc, but it could not no matter what we tried. I said that I needed to send someone to help him, or get him a proper disc. He got very angry and would not accept my answer, that the guy he laked to last time he had this problem was able to fix it. I said that there may be something else wrong with the NIC then, but I still needed to send someone out, I had no other option. He got even angrier, and said, "Can I talk to a man now?" I was not impressed at all, so in the most sickeningly sweet voice I could make, I said, "Oh, I'm sorry, but in order to speak with another technitian, you will have to call us back, ok?" *CLICK* Just because I have a chest, does NOT mean that I don't know what the heck I am talking about. Oh well, some people are just plain RUDE!2002-06-03[By: lossofsleepzzzz / 2002-06-03]
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True... And it isn't YOUR fault he doesn;t know where his drivers for the NIC are either... USUALLY folks save what they download or at least have a disk when they purchase something. Besides, for some reason, if I have a tech issue, I prefer to talk to a woman.. guess it makes me a little more at ease. But talk to them in a bar? nope.. too shy. Go fig...*L* -WarTyger
Look under User Types under "The Klansman"...describes the putz perfectly... -hkypipe
What was that? I was too busy staring at your CHEST to read your post. >:D -rootMonk
if he had this problem before, then why cant he fix it on his own? -Grembo
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13.
free @home?
I had a customer call in last year sometime stating that he was going on vacation and was wondering if he still had to pay for our service. Gee I dont know, if I didn't have to pay bills when going on vacation, I think I would take a permanent vacation. Some people are so intelligent.2002-06-03[By: rednecks / 2002-06-03]
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14.
EU has mouse issues...
We had a client call in one day, and i am a L2 tech for a certain bovine influenced OEM. Well, here's the thing, she starts the call with "i just had a seizure and almost died"...(methinks this doesn't bode well). Well,it appears, from what she's told us, her mouse has stopped moving, and she has lost her reason to live. (at this point i am inclined to agree with her and authorize the tech to send out a 50ft crossover cable from parts pull, along with instructions on how to tie a noose). well, i guess she didn't want to troubleshoot. she had a document open, wouldn't reboot, wouldn't reseat cables...wouldn't cooperate. well, not only this, but she claimed that we owed her a tshirt and a $25 check. And furthermore, she didn't want the tshirt with the cow, but rather, the one with the alligator. (THE ALLIGATOR??? We're %#$#ing GATEWAY!!! WHAT ALLIGATOR??!?!?) well, we managed to placate her by sending her a mouse, and a cow spotted mouse pad. i have to wonder sometimes...."WHAT THE *#%$^# are these people ON??"
2002-06-03[By: Saxon / 2002-06-03]
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An Izod from Goatway. Might as well ask
for 'the farmer in the' when calling Hell. -MadJack
She probobly didn't have a problem, and just made up the call to get some free stuff. -Yoda47
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15.
You wish...
I had a customer call to check out our pricing plans. I asked him what he was interested in and he goes "Do you have anything where I can get unlimited access for free indefinitely?" Um, no...2002-06-03[By: Razordance / 2002-06-03]
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Sure. I just need a credit card number to verify your age. And what was the expiration date on that?. Great, Thanks. lemme hook you up. (Cruise over to E-Bay and start checking the listings for HDTV's and Pentium IV Xeon Dual-CPU systems.) -TechnoVampire
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16.
Cell Phone Trouble...
I was dealing with a customer issue, during the call I was required to confrence him with another agent to deal with an issue. The caller was on a cell phone, cutting out once in a while, but usable. While he was dealing with the other agent, the phone really cut out, with about 45 seconds of static. After that time the signal appeared to clear up. Just one problem, it was not the same phone call! We could hear the phone conversation of someone else(hearing some stuff we should not have I think) and they could not hear us at all, despite repeated attempts to get them to hear. The new call was almost done and when he hung up it disconnected like normal. This was weird...2002-06-03[By: GOD / 2002-06-03]
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That used to happen to me quite a few times when I lived in a rather old apartment building. Didn't matter if the call was from a cell or landline, sometimes I'd just all of a sudden be listening to... well,... let's just say it was "interesting". And on top of that, people kept calling looking for somebody named "Lola". enh.. *shrug* -Sky42
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17.
Much needed tool for the phone tech
I have been released from the firey depths of hell. Got laid off from the international computer company on 5/24/02. However, I still have this little device that was so helpful to me in my most difficult calls, the Sarcastic Ball. Like a the Magic 8-ball, but it give you the appropriate answers for these (l)users. LU:So you are gonna give me free service on my PC as long as I own it? *Shake ball* Answer: As If. LU: I am a MCSE with 10 years experience and can get your sorry ass fired if you don't connect me with the engineer who designed this piece of crap! *Shake ball* Answer: Yeah and I'm the Pope. 2002-06-03[By: ab1normalh / 2002-06-03]
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At least you're free of Hell. Best of luck. -MadJack
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18.
What troubleshooting?
I work as a 2nd level tech, and if one thing is more depressing that clueless users, its clueless helpdesk agents. I just got off a call that went somthing like this: 1st level agent: The user can't connect to his shared drive. Me: Do you know what error message hes getting. Agent: No Me: What happens when he tries to map to it? Agent: I dont know. Me: AAARRRGGGGGGG2002-06-04[By: Yoda47 / 2002-06-04]
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I get this sort of stuff all the time! Usually the ticket is something like..."User unable to connect to network through VPN." and there's no user ID or name, phone number, error message. I hope this is just because they're so damn busy! Got to hand it to them though, they take more Sh!t from users than anyone :) -Alistir
Having been a techgrunt for years, and also having worked as one of the elite in several places (including currently) I can see both sides of the story.. and I have to say that I hold little sympathy for the occasional twits who can't seem to get the hang of even basic technical concepts such as "Is it turned on?", "What error message does it show?", and "What is your name/email/account#?". -BStorm
I used to work for Dell as a first level tech, and I know that at some of these companies, they don't train the first level techs that they hire very well. In fact, Dell used to just hire everyone that came in the door, whether or not they knew how to use a computer. They even hired my father, who hadn't used a computer since the 80s! Maybe you should talk to someone there about the hiring and training of the 1st level techs. -dumbtech
Yeah, they only get 4 days of training before being put on the phones, compared to 3 weeks when I hired in. -Yoda47
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19.
I am Canadian...cool
I had a call from a guy who was wanting to fix a problem with his browser. It was a very simple procedure and does not take long to do at all. He had to conference to the place with the problem computer, and the troubleshooting only took about 4-5 minutes to do (including time waiting for someone to answer on the other end). Once we were done, he asked me if I was Candian. I said yes, and he said that he could tell. After that for the next 6 minutes or so he went on about how much he loved to watch and play hockey, and how long he has been playing it. He also asked if I played. Then he went on to tell me about how us Canadians are just SO cool, and that we rock, and on and on. The only reason why I didn't stop him, is beacuse I was trying SO hard not to laugh. It took all my self controll, but at the end, I maintained my composure, and I simply said thank you, then said my exit, and when I was sure that the call was done, had to take a short personal so I would not be laughing in hysterics when I got another call. I only wish I had more calls like that one. =)2002-06-04[By: lossofsleepzzzz / 2002-06-04]
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Proud to be Canadian too, even though I had to move to the U.S. and get married to find a job in support! I had a call similar to yours the other day with a british woman. She was trying to figure out my accent because she didn't think I was from Maine (otherwise I'd be talking about the Stah-t button and pah-king my cah). She told me she's a great fan of Canada and Canadians and that she really doesn't like the U.S. a whole lot, so I agreed with her and had a great call. :) Going up to Nova Scotia for 8 days to visit my parents on Friday, it'll be nice to be back home. :) (And it'll be nice to not deal with lusers for over a week.) -Dslfan
CANADA RULES!!! -aliek@t
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20.
ma'm, that's not the computer
oh my god, it's amazing this lady didn't kill herself. she called me up on sunday night and asked if we could help her intall a burner in her system. i politely told her that we do not assist w/ 3rd party hardware. so if she would like to have her r/w installed she'd have to take it n2 an authorized service center. well, she just needed to know where to plug the ribbon cable in. then she starts bitching about how hard the case was to take apart and how scared she was of the glass breaking. turns out she had one of those all in one slim designs and had taken the monitor apart. my jaw dropped. i couldn't do anything but gasp at her stupidity. common sense should tell you where to start when dismantling the case. dear god, this job is nothing more than my bad karma catching up to me from my highschool daze.2002-06-04[By: omegawolf / 2002-06-04]
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Shift keys broken? -obie099
She took the monitor apart. How lucky for her she remembered to unplug it first, or she'd have been fried alive. -MadJack
That's a Darwin award just waiting to happen -snaggle
Doesn't really matter if you unplug it or not. If she'd had a real monitor instead of some slimline lcd type screen she would be *so* fried! Those things hold a charge for a long time. (speaking from painful experience) -ladysethos
Yeah, something in the tens of thousands of volts (thinking back to A+ days), but I always remember this -- volts hurt, amps kill. -bielanja
They don't recommend using a wrist strap for nothing, and they REALLY don't recommend not opening the CRT for any reason just for fun! -MadJack
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