Yes but for some reason it seems the narrative for some has to be when an IT person doesn't want to do a user's job for them they are either being unprofessional, aren't being grateful enough that the users are giving them work to do, or that it is their job and they should stop complaining and they aren't special.
-
Security incident: ISF was recently accessed by intruders. Please change your password, and change it anywhere else you used it. Read more
Dear Users... (A thread for Sysadmin, Technical Support, and Help Desk people)
- Thread starter JoeMorgue
- Start date
- Status
Yes but for some reason it seems the narrative for some has to be when an IT person doesn't want to do a user's job for them they are either being unprofessional, aren't being grateful enough that the users are giving them work to do, or that it is their job and they should stop complaining and they aren't special.
P.J. Denyer
Penultimate Amazing
- If you've been using your deleted items folder to store emails you haven't dealt with yet and they've been deleted in a server clean up then yes, one of us does have a problem, but no it isn't me. (Real case)
- If you remove one of the columns in your folder display regularly every two or three weeks, just maybe you should learn the two or three clicks to replace it rather than call me every time.
- If I've come up to your desk because you've reported your printer doesn't work, I've fixed it (by flicking the 'on' switch) and printed a page to demonstrate it works, don't then turn the printer round into a position where you can't open the paper tray properly and jam it stuffing half a ream in and then sit silently for two days before claiming to your manager that I ignored your call.
- If another company's website is down I can't fix it for you. No, not even if it's Barclays Bank. (From a man who used to be director of an ISP)
- If your screen is completely blank try turning it on before reporting your computer is broken (from the same ex-isp director)
- Buying at least one new phone every three months and installing the proprietary Outlook integration for every single one while never removing any of them probably will cause strange behaviour. (Less of an issue now than when I was doing the job of course).
And finally, the reason I ended up leaving IT
-To senior management. I am expected to support our product for customers, they report bugs, development will only look at bugs that are reproduced in-house. You have released Apple versions of our product but will not fund any Apple hardware, software, training, or personnel. How do you think that's going to work out?
- If you remove one of the columns in your folder display regularly every two or three weeks, just maybe you should learn the two or three clicks to replace it rather than call me every time.
- If I've come up to your desk because you've reported your printer doesn't work, I've fixed it (by flicking the 'on' switch) and printed a page to demonstrate it works, don't then turn the printer round into a position where you can't open the paper tray properly and jam it stuffing half a ream in and then sit silently for two days before claiming to your manager that I ignored your call.
- If another company's website is down I can't fix it for you. No, not even if it's Barclays Bank. (From a man who used to be director of an ISP)
- If your screen is completely blank try turning it on before reporting your computer is broken (from the same ex-isp director)
- Buying at least one new phone every three months and installing the proprietary Outlook integration for every single one while never removing any of them probably will cause strange behaviour. (Less of an issue now than when I was doing the job of course).
And finally, the reason I ended up leaving IT
-To senior management. I am expected to support our product for customers, they report bugs, development will only look at bugs that are reproduced in-house. You have released Apple versions of our product but will not fund any Apple hardware, software, training, or personnel. How do you think that's going to work out?
arthwollipot
Limerick Purist Pronouns: He/Him
Dear users:
Use email only when you really need to. Email is perfect for communicating a large amount of technical information. It is really awful for urgent requests. Generally, the same agents will process both phone calls and emails, and they can’t do both at the same time. If you phone the service desk and are placed in a queue, it is not going to be quicker to send an email, because all of the people who might be able to answer your email are busy taking phone calls! Use email for non-urgent technical requests.
The other problem with email. If you don’t provide all of the relevant information in your initial email, all it will do is create a series of back-and-forth messages that waste the agents’ time and your own. If you must use emails, make sure you provide all of the relevant information up front.
Use email only when you really need to. Email is perfect for communicating a large amount of technical information. It is really awful for urgent requests. Generally, the same agents will process both phone calls and emails, and they can’t do both at the same time. If you phone the service desk and are placed in a queue, it is not going to be quicker to send an email, because all of the people who might be able to answer your email are busy taking phone calls! Use email for non-urgent technical requests.
The other problem with email. If you don’t provide all of the relevant information in your initial email, all it will do is create a series of back-and-forth messages that waste the agents’ time and your own. If you must use emails, make sure you provide all of the relevant information up front.
Wudang
BOFH
And sending a blurry screenshot with a san serif font that doesn't distinguish "1"s and "l"s etc is suboptimal.
eta: One of the killers features of OneNote for me was being to paste the screenshot on OneNote and let it be automatically OCRed so I could paste the text in google/Stackoverflow/etc.
eta: One of the killers features of OneNote for me was being to paste the screenshot on OneNote and let it be automatically OCRed so I could paste the text in google/Stackoverflow/etc.
Last edited:
arthwollipot
Limerick Purist Pronouns: He/Him
We have a screen clipper in the SOE, so most people know how to use that. On the other hand, we have on occasion received a photograph of the screen.
Hellbound
Merchant of Doom
My favorite saying is a variant of that sentiment:
"Your poor planning is not my emergency."
I used to say that. Now I'm paid to be available whenever, so I typically say:
"It will take me ten minutes to get back to my computer and start getting you an answer. Will that work?"
Usually I say this as I walk out of whatever store I was in or am pulling off the road to turn back towards home. I thought it would be a short term gig when I agreed, 18 months later they keep sending the checks so I keep saying "how high!"
If they are willing to pay me for 18 more months I will be quite happy to drop everything when they call.
theprestige
Penultimate Amazing
- Your tool talks to my service. If your tool is saying the wrong things, that's your problem, not mine. Leave me and my service out of it.
- Look, it's your tool. You were hired because of your expertise with the problem space covered by this tool. You chose this tool, to do your job, not me. I have no idea what your tool is supposed to say, or how it is supposed to say it. Figure it out.
- Okay, you know what? I just spent ten minutes googling your tool. I now know how to make it say what you need it to say. Something you should have already known. I'm now doing your job for you. SMH FML.
- My service still isn't working for you? Did you make the changes I googled and sent to you? No? Die in a fire.
- Hi, I figured I'd swing by your campus and see if we can't clear up the lingering issues you're having withmy service your tool...
- Look, it's your tool. You were hired because of your expertise with the problem space covered by this tool. You chose this tool, to do your job, not me. I have no idea what your tool is supposed to say, or how it is supposed to say it. Figure it out.
- Okay, you know what? I just spent ten minutes googling your tool. I now know how to make it say what you need it to say. Something you should have already known. I'm now doing your job for you. SMH FML.
- My service still isn't working for you? Did you make the changes I googled and sent to you? No? Die in a fire.
- Hi, I figured I'd swing by your campus and see if we can't clear up the lingering issues you're having with
I for one would not be at my office after receiving that last message. Sorry I missed you, tool at reception!
theprestige
Penultimate Amazing
I deliver the last message in person, as I walk into their office and begin handholding them through one of the most basic tasks in their job description.
With a fairly convincing smile the whole time? Ninja.
theprestige
Penultimate Amazing
The acme of the IT art is that your users love you as much as you hate them. A house call to an idiot is gold in the brownie point bank.
And brownie points are the currency with which are bought promotions and bonuses and expensed trips to the big conventions.
My smile is the best.
Their ignorant bliss is like a protective bubble.
I bet your smile sells convention approvals.
arthwollipot
Limerick Purist Pronouns: He/Him
I just took a call with someone who had a problem with a tool provided by a third-party contractor. I actually had to tell them that they need to get in contact with the third party about it.
xterra
So far, so good...
I just dealt with someone who has used computers for maybe 30 years and does not know how to change from one window to the other (in this case MS Word to Chrome and back). This is the third or fourth time I have explained the process in the past several months.
Unfortunately, this person is my partner.... Who uses the "I'm old" excuse. Wonderful, but we are only two years different in age.
Unfortunately, this person is my partner.... Who uses the "I'm old" excuse. Wonderful, but we are only two years different in age.
Last edited:
arthwollipot
Limerick Purist Pronouns: He/Him
I'd just like to say. The vast majority of my callers are super cool. And they only call when they genuinely need to, they follow instructions, and are generally a pleasure to talk to.
But just one ****** call can ruin your whole day.
But just one ****** call can ruin your whole day.
Dancing David
Penultimate Amazing
I agree, however the end users are the main focus.
I find it amusing or annoying> I have one end suer I like as a human being, quite a lot.
However the over dramatic emails are very frustrating
theprestige
Penultimate Amazing
True, my users run the gamut. I have users who know their tools and their problem space backwards and forwards. They know more about how my service works than I do. Those users are a pleasure to work with, and make my job worth doing.
And then I have other users who are clearly taking a cargo-cult approach to their job, adopting bits and pieces of processes from other users, without really understanding what those processes are for or how they work. And then instead of going back to their teammates, or the source of the process they're using, they come to me. The perception seems to be that because I run the service they're trying to use, my job description must also include training them to do their job and coaching them on the right way to use the processes established by/for their team.
Of course, my job description includes nothing of the sort. That's what they have teammates and managers of their own for. So I end up with the impression that there are managers within my organization that are in the habit of hiring unqualified people, and then not doing their own job of managing the people they hire.
Unfortunately, professionalism and the need for a steady paycheck mandates that I enable this bad behavior to some extent. This naturally results in a certain amount of frustration and a need to occasionally vent.
I think Elagabalus and Giordano have wildly misunderstood the nature of this thread, and are way out of line with their nannying. If you're not an IT professional, here to commiserate with other IT professionals about the characteristic frustrations of our line of work, you're part of the problem: Users who don't understand or respect IT professionals, and don't mind making that attitude clear.
And then I have other users who are clearly taking a cargo-cult approach to their job, adopting bits and pieces of processes from other users, without really understanding what those processes are for or how they work. And then instead of going back to their teammates, or the source of the process they're using, they come to me. The perception seems to be that because I run the service they're trying to use, my job description must also include training them to do their job and coaching them on the right way to use the processes established by/for their team.
Of course, my job description includes nothing of the sort. That's what they have teammates and managers of their own for. So I end up with the impression that there are managers within my organization that are in the habit of hiring unqualified people, and then not doing their own job of managing the people they hire.
Unfortunately, professionalism and the need for a steady paycheck mandates that I enable this bad behavior to some extent. This naturally results in a certain amount of frustration and a need to occasionally vent.
I think Elagabalus and Giordano have wildly misunderstood the nature of this thread, and are way out of line with their nannying. If you're not an IT professional, here to commiserate with other IT professionals about the characteristic frustrations of our line of work, you're part of the problem: Users who don't understand or respect IT professionals, and don't mind making that attitude clear.
theprestige
Penultimate Amazing
That's the broken window fallacy.
People who don't make a reasonable effort to understand common computer tasks related to their job, waste time and money through inefficiency. These resources could be put to more productive use, if they were freed up by the user who's wasting them on willful ignorance.
Likewise, there are a lot of interesting and complex challenges in IT, productive work that could be done, if IT professionals were not bogged down compensating for - and enabling - willful ignorance among their user base. Every hour I spend coaching someone on basic tasks in their job description, is an hour I fall behind on clearing my organization's technical debt. And technical debt is always accumulating.
"Your stupidity keeps me employed" is at best a silver lining view of what's actually a wasteful and demoralizing situation.
arthwollipot
Limerick Purist Pronouns: He/Him
A little bit of training can save a lot of work later.
I once spoke to a person who was complaining that the formatting in some parts of her document were changing based on how she was formatting other parts of the document. I asked her if she knew how Styles worked, and she said "I don't need to know about that".
Well, yes you do, because it is the reason you are having a problem. If you understood how auto-updating Styles worked in Word, then you would not be experiencing the problem. You'd know what it was doing and why. But because you "don't need to know about that", you are wasting your own time - and mine - because you didn't bother to educate yourself about the tool that it's your job to use.
I once spoke to a person who was complaining that the formatting in some parts of her document were changing based on how she was formatting other parts of the document. I asked her if she knew how Styles worked, and she said "I don't need to know about that".
Well, yes you do, because it is the reason you are having a problem. If you understood how auto-updating Styles worked in Word, then you would not be experiencing the problem. You'd know what it was doing and why. But because you "don't need to know about that", you are wasting your own time - and mine - because you didn't bother to educate yourself about the tool that it's your job to use.
- Status