Do you keep your cool or go off on them? 5

[visualuser]

I know most of you out there are system admin, programmers, and so on. It seems like all the users think they can come to you and tell you what to do, like they are your boss.

Just the other day, one guy came to me and told me to reinstall some software becuase it wasn't working right and to open the case by the way and clean it out.

First off all, the user didn't tell me what the hXll was going on wit the software. Off the top of my head, I know why the software wasn't working is becuase some people love to have 3 app killing programs open all day and never reboot. Duh...get it trough your head you can't beat your pc to death and expect it to run correctly.

Does anyone think users just say and do things to make you upset. Gosh, you go to 4yr college and get a degree and then you get treated like you are the cleaning staff or something. ( don't get me wrong, I'm not making fun of cleaning staff, everyone needs them too...)
Everyone wants at least wants a little respect.

I think it's just a few people that do this, but it really makes me upset.

 

[phuzzy42]

Thanks, that's my first star . It took me a long time to figure out the best way to handle "problem children" was to make them suffer the consequences instead of taking that burden on myself. Better late than never.

My 10-year-old tried the "I'm stupid" act and I told him "Don't play dumb with me... I'm a lot better at it than you are." My wife had thought I was going to bite his head off, so everyone's jaws dropped and we all had a good laugh - and he stopped playing dumb.

Steve Harmon
Greenfield, Indiana

 

[johnpoole]

might have been a rant but it's also very true. when i get a ts call that requires a site visit, i dread the office guru that attempts to right all the commands (including passwords) down on post-it's. had a ticket come back last week, irate user says you closed the ticket and she is still unable ...blah blah.. look at my notes, check my sent mail, she had been sent the steps, but the email was not opened... did a screen capture, emailed that to her and her manager.. sent the dept a bill, blocked all email from her account.. guess i will not get a birthday card this year

john poole
bellsouth business
columbia,sc

 

[phuzzy42]

.
I have had some truly technically-challenged users.

I got a call once from a guy halfway across the state, so of course I tried my best to fix the problem over the phone since it'd take 2 hours to drive there and 2 hours back.

This was back in the DOS days, so I told him to type "C:\". I heard "clickety clickety clickety clickety clickety clickety..." I said, "What are you typing?" He replied (and I swear I'm not making this up) "S E E C O L A N B A..."

After more than an hour of trying to get him to do the simplest things and him being totally incapable, I had to give up. I drove to the site the next day and fixed it in 5 minutes. This guy is an engineer who's been responsible for million-dollar projects, but he had no business being anywhere near a computer, and I'm sure his home VCR has been flashing 12:00 for years.

I didn't berate him or lose my cool, but I talked to his supervisor and explained what happened. I know he was trying hard, but he just wasn't mentally up to it and no amount of training was going to help. Someone else was doing his computer work for him within a week.

I was really frustrated with the guy then, but it's become one of my best "stoopid users tricks" stories told only to other techs.

It's a PEBKAC error... "Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair"

Steve Harmon
Greenfield, Indiana