Thursday, September 07, 2006

I can't find it!

I haven't posted in a while...but...

This is an actual email I recieved...word for word...

I have not been able to locate my Hard drive on the new computer. Can you help me?

I went to help. It was under "My Computer" where it always is. He tells me "it wasn't there before!" He is a VP.

Sigh...

Monday, August 01, 2005

Repetitive Stupidity

When I started this blog, I thought I would have an endless supply of material. After all, people are stupid ALL THE TIME...especially when it comes to computers. However, what I found out is that while people are stupid all the time, they tend to be stupid in all the same ways. After a while, it is just dealing with the same idiocy all the time. This is why I haven't posted in a while...trust me, its not because people stopped doing dumb things.

If anyone has any other customer service related stories, I'd love to hear them. I'm sure people in different industries have different stories.

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

A Letter from Tech Support

Everyone,

The IT team felt that it would be good to provide you with this guide to help us do our jobs better:

1. When you call us to have your computer moved, be sure to leave it buried under half a ton of postcards, baby pictures, stuffed animals, dried flowers, bowling trophies and children's art. We don't have a life, and we find it deeply moving to catch a fleeting glimpse of yours.

2. Don't write anything down. Ever. We can play back the error messages from here.

3. When an IT person says he's coming right over, go for coffee. That way you won't be there when we need your password. It's nothing for us to remember 300 screensaver passwords.

4. When you call the help desk, state what you want, not what's keeping you from getting it. We don't need to know that you can't get into your mail because your computer won't power on at all.

5. When IT Support sends you an email with high importance, delete it at once. We're just testing.

6. When an IT person is eating lunch at his desk, walk right in and spill your guts right out. We exist only to serve.

7. Send urgent email all in uppercase. The mail server picks it up and flags it as a rush delivery.

8. When the photocopier doesn't work, call computer support. There's electronics in it.

9. When you're getting a NO DIAL TONE message at home, call computer support. We can fix your telephone line from here.

10. When you have a dozen old computer screens to get rid of, call computer support. We're collectors.

11. When something's wrong with your home PC, dump it on an IT person's chair with no name, no phone number and no description of the problem. We love a puzzle.

12. When an IT person tells you that computer screens don't have cartridges in them, argue. We love a good argument.

13. When an IT person tells you that he'll be there shortly, reply in a scathing tone of voice: "And just how many weeks do you mean by shortly?" That motivates us.

14. When the printer won't print, re-send the job at least 20 times. Print jobs frequently get sucked into black holes.

15. When the printer still won't print after 20 tries, send the job to all 68 printers in the company. One of them is bound to work.

16. Don't learn the proper name for anything technical. We know exactly what you mean by "my thingy blew up".

17. Don't use online help. Online help is for wimps.

18. If the mouse cable keeps knocking down the framed picture of your dog, lift the computer and stuff the cable under it. Mouse cables were designed to have 20kg of computer sitting on top of them.

19. If the space bar on your keyboard doesn't work, blame it on the mail upgrade. Keyboards are actually very happy with half a pound of muffin crumbs and nail clippings in them.

20. When you get a message saying "Are you sure?" click on that Yes button as fast as you can. Hell, if you weren't sure, you wouldn't be doing it, would you?

21. When you find an IT person on the phone with his bank, sit uninvited on the corner of his desk and stare at him until he hangs up. We don't have any money to speak of anyway.

22. Feel perfectly free to say things like "I don't know nothing about that computer rubbish." We don't mind at all hearing our area of professional expertise referred to as rubbish.

23. When you need to change the toner cartridge in a printer, call IT Support. Changing a toner cartridge is an extremely complex task, and Hewlett-Packard recommends that it be performed only by a professional engineer with a master's degree in nuclear physics.

24. When you can't find someone in the government directory, call IT Support.

25. When you have a lock to pick on an old file cabinet, call IT Support. We love to hack.

26. When something's the matter with your computer, ask your secretary to call the help desk. We enjoy the challenge of having to deal with a third party who doesn't know anything about the problem.

27. When you receive a 30mb (huge) movie file, send it to everyone as a mail attachment. We've got lots of disk space on that mail server.

28. Don't even think of breaking large print jobs down into smaller chunks. Somebody else might get a chance to squeeze a memo into the queue.

29. When an IT person gets on the elevator pushing $600,000 worth of computer equipment on a cart, ask in a very loud voice: "Good grief, you take the elevator to go DOWN one floor?!?" That's another one that cracks us up no end.

30. When you lose your car keys, send an email to the entire company. People out in Pofadder like to keep abreast of what's going on.

31. When you bump into an IT person at the grocery store on a Saturday, ask a computer question. We do weekends.

32. Don't bother to tell us when you move computers around on your own. Computer names are just a cosmetic feature.

33. When you bring your own personal home PC for repair at the office, leave the documentation at home. We'll find all the settings and drivers somewhere.....

Thanks, IT Support


Stolen, with gratitude for the humor, from here.

Thursday, March 24, 2005

An actual email received (without identifying info)

Hi,

I am a little confused with the way that (company) is doing their reports. On their website, after you have reviewed a report the color of the link changes so that you know that report has been viewed. However, after a few weeks sometimes the report goes back to the unreviewed color. This is very confusing and makes it difficult to know what we need to print for use in (user's job). Is there any way that this can be resolved (either stopping the refresh to the unreviewed color after viewing or have the link only go to current reports)? Or should I just assume that I only need to look at reports with the most current date(s) and ignore the older reports that I have already viewed?

Thanks, (user)



It is sad that the user even bothered to send this email. What is sadder, however, is that it went through 3 other people before it found its way into our hands who apparently also did not know the answer. We had to write a nice reply about how temporary internet files work and that, yes, you should probably use the DATE to decide which ones are newest, not the color...

Friday, March 04, 2005

HELP DESK LOG…

Someone sent me this as a forward. Seemed appropriate:

Helpdesk: What kind of computer do you have?
Female customer: A white one...


Hi, this is Celine. I can't get my diskette out.
Helpdesk: Have you tried pushing the button?
Customer: Yes, sure, it's really stuck.
Helpdesk: That doesn't sound good; I'll make a note ...
Customer: No ... wait a minute... I hadn't inserted it yet... it's still on my desk... sorry ...


Helpdesk: Click on the 'my computer' icon on to the left of the screen.
Customer: Your left or my left?


Helpdesk: Good day. How may I help you?
Male customer: Hello... I can't print.
Helpdesk: Would you click on start for me and...
Customer: Listen pal; don't start getting technical on me! I'm not Bill Gates darn it!


Hi good afternoon, this is Martha, I can't print. Every time I try, it says ’Can’t find printer'. I've even lifted the printer and placed it in front of the monitor, but the computer still says he can't find it...


Customer: I have problems printing in red...
Helpdesk: Do you have a color printer?
Customer: Aaaah....................thank you.


Helpdesk: What's on your monitor now ma'am?
Customer: A teddy bear my boyfriend bought for me in the supermarket.


Helpdesk: And now hit F8.
Customer: It's not working.
Helpdesk: What did you do, exactly?
Customer: I hit the F-key 8-times as you told me, but nothing's happening...


Customer: My keyboard is not working anymore.
Helpdesk: Are you sure it's plugged into the computer?
Customer: No. I can't get behind the computer.
Helpdesk: Pick up your keyboard and walk 10 paces back.
Customer: OK
Helpdesk: Did the keyboard come with you?
Customer: Yes
Helpdesk: That means the keyboard is not plugged in. Is there another keyboard?
Customer: Yes, there’s another one here. Ah...that one does work!


I personally like the last one best. Sometimes you have to get a little creative to try to help people troubleshoot their computer.

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Calling Tech Support Tip #2

Tech support are people too...

Start a conversation with a tech support person like you would start a conversation with any other person you have never talked to...introduce yourself. Not only does this allow the tech support person to start pulling up your account/create a ticket for the call, but it also gives them a nice way to refer to you - as opposed the the cold and generic "Sir" or "Ma'am".

Thursday, January 13, 2005

Dot, as in Period

I was giving a lady our website address today. You know: "www dot (whatever) dot com". Despite having used our system for over a year and using the internet everyday at work, she asked this:

"You mean dot as in period right?"

No, dot as in exclamation point. Duh...