Well we closed off Finchy's Sales Chart for October. 18 Calls, over two weeks of being back at work for only three days per week - average sales 3 per day. So now we start a new month and the question on everyone's lip -can Finchy possible sustain the momentum?

YES!

Today, is the first day of November and by close of business there were three calls.
First call another outstanding issue resulting from not having brought the laptop in way back at the beginning. It's obviously taking her a while to settle in and do her normal work, because she's only just realising what she should have got sorted in the first place. She simply cannot seem to tell us what she wants or needs
Second call - can someone please talk her through mapping a network drive. Done by Tech A and Finchy say's she's happy with it all
Third - call, to different support officer we'll call tach B. Is tryin to map a network drive but it won't work. What's this? Didn't lovely tech A just do this with you half an hour ago? Apparently not, Finchy was too busy so just made some notes and left it until now.

Now tech B is one of the most customer focused people I've met. Patience of a saint even with Finchy. She is never rude to customers, though it's different after shes's hung up the phone, curses with the best of us.
Tech B saw the notes re call number two and so was pretty fecked off about the call but carefully fought though the more of Finchy's babble to solve the problem. Finchy had put the server name and file path back to front somehow. While this gentle tech would never LART someone directly she was the most abrupt I've ever seen her. She solved the call faster than most and got Finchy off the phone in record time, not even stoppoing to see if there was anything elese needed just closed with the comment

Next time you call and ask us to talk you through something, I suggest you schedule the call for a time when you are free to actually make the changes and that way we'll know it was doen properly.

A mild LART but not bad for a first one, and also probably shocked Finchy more given she has alweays expected this person to bend over backwards to solve any of her problems.

Starfish to the left of me Starfish to the right. Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi or I'm farked.

Y'all know the Riffster isn't happy unless he's got someone to harass. Well, just so happens that some dipshit with a bike shop in California just sent spam to a domain which I administer for a friend. I'm going to run this rough draft by our coporate attorney before I send it, but I wanted opinions from here too. Of course, I've also considered not sending this and just filing against them. Whaddya all think?

To Whom It May Concern,
Recently, an unsolicited e-mail advertisement for BIKEEZ was sent to an address on a domain for which I am the system administrator (a copy of this message, with full headers, is included below). This message was sent in violation of both state and federal laws, specifically Indiana Code, Title 24, Article 5, Chapter 22 regarding deceptive commercial electronic mail, and the Can-Spam Act of 2003, which was signed into law by President Bush in January, 2004.

Among the several violations: Message headers were forged so a reply could not be sent to a valid address (see bounce message below original message). The subject header did not contain an "ADV" code specifying the message to be an advertisement. No option to "opt out" of future advertisements was included in the message. These are simply the violations I have memorized. Further examination would probably reveal more.

Provisions under both of these laws allow for civil and criminal action against the sender. Therefore, you will hereby cease and desist said activity of sending unsolicited e-mail advertisements to all domains which I administer or offer technical assistance in any manner. Any future messages will be pursued both civilly and criminally, to the fullest extent of the law.

Furthermore, you will acknowledge receipt of this message, both by reply e-mail and written confirmation delivered by United States Postal Service to the address listed below. Failure to comply by November 15, 2004, will result in immediate legal action, as well as involvement of the Indiana State Attorney General's Office and the FCC.

Unsolicited e-mail will not be tolerated on any system for which I am responsible.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,
RiffRaff
System Administrator
{Domain}
{Address}
Indianapolis, Indiana
{Phone Number}

{Original Message}
{Bounce Message}

29/10/04 16:34 INIT JOB: Geminii: PRIORITY 4
29/10/04 16:34 l08 INIT PROBLEM: ASSIST PRODUCT: NOTES
29/10/04 17:42 l08 ACTION LOG ENTRY

[Name] had the Notes laptop setup instructions right in front of her, and a faulty speakerphone. Mentioned that she had been talking to another operator but the line had gone dead. Did not have a job number from previous call.

She seemed to be having some trouble following the setup instructions. Apparent inability to progress from one step to the next in a sequence.

She tried again and could not follow them. Apparent inability to read instructions and act on them.

She tried again and was able to set up and log into Notes. Could not remember password.

I recreated her password from a six-year-old file. User now able to log into Notes and continue setup instructions.

She continued with her attempt to follow the instructions. Failed again. I completed step fourteen (selecting the Notes database indicated in the step, as per the big helpful graphic in the instructions) for her.

She continued with her attempt to follow the instructions. After being told four times by the computer, the instructions, and myself to choose the "Phone Connected" option in front of her, asked if she should choose something else.

She continued with her attempt to follow the instructions. Yes, after step 23, step 24 comes next.

Yes, step 38 comes after step 37.

Yes, step 43 comes after step 42.

At this point, discovered user had not completed step 22, which invalidated every step since then.

Ran out of patience, connected remotely to laptop and ran through all previous 42 steps in 20 seconds, putting in correct information this time. Disconnected and told user to continue where she left off.

Step 43: Yes, do what it says in the instructions.

Step: 44: YES, DO WHAT IT SAYS IN THE INSTRUCTIONS.

Step 46: YES, DO WHAT IT SAYS IN THE INSTRUCTIONS!

Step 49: Oh, for Pete's sake. Didn't we test these instructions on small children?

Step 51: Finally finished. Gave job reference number.

Total time to tell any other staff member to follow the instructions: 30 seconds.
Time spent on this call: sixty-eight minutes
Aggravation factor: extreme
Chances that original disconnection was accidental?

Almost, fellow techs, that's what I was thinking this morning. New job started, kinda cruising along, everything seems smooth, everyone seems cool, intelligent. I'm walkin around, taking in a tour of the building, and I had just started thinking that it is kinda sad because I won't have anything to post, even though I am still in a helpdesk position.

During our tour we happen upon a most exasperated gent, his wild arm flailing and impatient manner seemed to convey something I had had to deal with before...hmmm...nope, it's been a month off of work and I had blocked all of the memories out.

Anyway, we go into this guy's office because he said his computer was going real slow and he couldn't figure out why, especially when he went and deleted a bunch of stuff. My....God. This fool had almost literally raped his poor computer into submission. There were missing system files, all kinds of things were missing that Windows and Office use to function.