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Kimber's Rant!! 9

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KimberTech

KimberTech

MIS
Oct 18, 2001
846
CA
Ok, as you can tell I have been having a rough August. This is my third thread.

Question??

WHY do technicians insist on telling clients what a rotten job someone else did, or outline every detail of what doesn't work and why it is someone elses fault?
Some of these people outright LIE and state that, when you inherit a repair, it must somehow be YOUR fault when something doesn't work or crashes after you try to fix the mess they made.

I have a personal policy that, if I disagree with a setup, that "I would have done that differently" and then I outline the benefits of my opinion in context.

NEWSFLASH for end users.

1. Computers work by electricity.
They are unreliable when they are not working properly, infected with a virus, or sabatoged by people getting into settings and changing things they do not understand.

2.All computer hardware does not work together- and I don't give a rat's behind what the guy at Radio Shack told you.
Maybe you didn't tell him something relevant about your setup.

3. If the "guy down the road" will do the repair for $40 less and can come right now, why are you on the phone with me wondering anything at all? Call him!
If he gets stuck, he will be calling me anyways and will bill you the difference, or you will be, and I may have to charge you more than the original quote if he messed things up worse. (Just because you are good at using a computer does not make you a repair tech!)

4. It is impossible to know everything about everything. If we have to look something up, expect that you will be getting the most up to date information available and thank them for the effort.

5. Just because I am female, do not call me DEAR, and do not offer to have the IS people assist me in the repair. They couldn't fix it, that is why you called me...remember?

These backyard mechanics give me a headache, and the so called professionals out there that slam others to make themselves look good make the whole industry look terrible.

I am SO HAPPY I found TekTips.
The people that frequent these forums are PROFESSIONAL and decent, and I am honoured to be among you.
I have found that I am not alone in this after all.

Thanks for the support! The more I learn, the more I realize how much more there is to know!
Kimber
 
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That's good. Get it out of your system and I'm sure you will have a much better September. Peter Meachem
peter @ accuflight.com

 
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Remember the old phrase: "Never understimate the power of human stupidity."

Also, if you're not already doing it, read Computerworld's Sharktank every morning. All true stories and you absolutely will not believe some of them.


Jeff
No matter how bad it is, it can always get worse ....
 
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KimberTech - Rant away DEAR :-D (just kidding) - you're right on the money Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein
 
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Nothing else pointed to your being female, so I guess we should ignore it.
Technicians belittle others because they haven't been in the same circunstances so they haven't made the same choices.
and I will tell a funny here:
In 1965 I had a problem on an IBM machine at Southern Bell and dug into the control panel to try to find out how the machine was supposed to work. Wires were joined with dominoes in a bundle as large as my arm. I ranted and raved about how could any board wirer do such a stupid thing. Bottom line was it was a copy of a board I did in 1962 for AT&T where they tore my board down to document it and wired them for all the Bell operating systems. And all of it came back to me as I traced the reasons for the dominoes. Ed Fair
unixstuff@juno.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.
 
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Is your keyboard OK after typing that one?[lol]

Mind if I post this on my IT dept. board. ( names excluded etc.. ) I love it and I think they should all read it.

ps: am I the only one that gets a kick out of messing with the Radio Shack guys? That's usually what I end up doing if I had a bad day with users that know exactly how to do everything. I'm running out of different stores though. Need to move.[lol] Not everything you type is understanding to others! Think about that before getting upset with a wrong answer to your question.

admin@onpntwebdesigns.com
 
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You guys are awesome...thanks a lot...I feel much better now and my keyboard is recovering nicely...
It stopped smoking a while ago.

Ed....I absolutely howled laughing at your funny story. Thanks so much for sharing.

Onpnt...go ahead and post it...maybe they will get it one day but I am not holding my breath.

As for the Radio Shack guys....um well ahem....

ok GUILTY.....they NEVER suspect me....hehe

On to a better September, and a daily dose of Sharkey humour....will have to sign up for that one. Good articles.
The more I learn, the more I realize how much more there is to know!
Kimber
 
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Sales @ Radio Shack...

Guy asked me how many RAMS my system had...hehe
I was tempted to bleat...lol Kimber

The more I learn, the more I realize how much more there is to know!
 
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wonder how long he'd look into space with a answer of
"a herd"
[rofl3] Hope that helps
admin@onpntwebdesigns.com
 
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Some techs put down other techs to simply make themselves look better. It happens constantly. It is not right as others here have stated. It shows how insecure in htier selves and abilities they truly are. Customers pick up on that. They dont really like it because it does show unprofessionalism. I always try to compliment the work another tech does wether or not it is correct. It makes you look good to the customer.

As for being a girl...
I think that is great. There are a few in this area who can out do me in computers. I have one (female tech) in my class who is pretty cool. SO dont let the asses get you down. James Collins
Field Service Engineer
A+, MCP

email: butchrecon@skyenet.net

Please let us (Tek-tips members) know if the solutions we provide are helpful to you. Not only do they help you but they may help others.
 
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re
I always try to compliment the work another tech does wether or not it is correct. It makes you look good to the customer.

Caution. Some customers know what they are talking about. You may be doing yourself not a lot of good. 'Well done Henry for disconnecting the fan. That small fire will burn all the dust off the power supply' Peter Meachem
peter @ accuflight.com

 
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Time to add some stuff, some going back over 30 years:
1) If there is documation for the machine, don't lose it, it wasn't printed to give an excuse to kill trees
2) If you find system patch diskettes, leave them. They were provided for a reason.
3) If you add patches to a system, document it so the next guy can have some idea what has happened.
4) If you reverse engineer because you needed to, document it so you or the next guy don't have to do it again.
5) If you patch hardware, document it.
6) If you run up against something wierd on a machine, document it.
7) if you are setting up a network, document the settings so the next guy or the network guy doesn't have to redo it.
8) If you are adding hardware that can be configured, make sure that the configuration docs and disks are there.

As you can probably guess, this was set off by a bad day. Mostly by a Unix netorking installation. Ed Fair
unixstuff@juno.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.
 
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Ed, thanks for your *small rant*...I think maybe we should start a tech bible for end users and new techs....DO's and DON'Ts....with all the input from everyone here I am sure we could fill a book. Question remains if we could lift it when we were finished though......

I always knew about HIF....just didn't know it had a name.
I guess I just hoped that it was possible to educate them enough to keep them out of trouble, instead I find myself trying to educate them enough to keep ME out of trouble.

Hang in there ppl! Kimber

The more I learn, the more I realize how much more there is to know!
 
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Kimber,
"Guy asked me how many RAMS my system had...hehe
I was tempted to bleat...lol " Loved this!! I see things (even worse) in the want ads in the paper for used computers. They are really funny sometimes.

Speaking of Radio Shack(I buy stuff there), I went in to buy an 8' copper ground rod to ground a metal storage shed. I told the salesman what I wanted and he said, "You don't need to ground it if it has any 'ARN'(iron) in it!" Ha. I smiled and asked him to get me the ground rod. (By the way I live in the southern USA.) "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing....." [morning]
 
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The Human Idiot Factor is a force of nature.

The attempt to create an idiot proof solution is
countered by nature by evoling a better idiot.

 
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Looking over this thread, I have to agree with multiple points, but one that KimberTech made that was lost is how wonderful this site has been. I have been working in the computer industry in one fashion or another since I was a Junior in High School (1983) and the more I learn, the more I realize just how little I know.

My Father used to tell me, "the key to doing well is not knowing every answer, but knowing where to find the answers." Tek-Tips is that place. The answers are always professional and helpful.

THANKS to everyone!

[cheers] Tom Backus
Network Administrator
Hitchcock Industries
Bloomington, Minnesota.
backust@hitchcockusa.com
 
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I feel for you.....Truly.

As for radio shack...you got questions...they have blank stares....

I try not to trash another techs work, but occasionally I run accross a setup or repair job that is so horrendously wrong, I can't keep a straight face=)

And make it a religious practice to read sharktank, I got published in it a couple times last year(never did get my t-shirt though :( )

Buck up, it can get better(notice I said can...dealing with end users has got to be one of the most trying occupations out there)..

Have fun.
 
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I ran across a sig line here at tek tips I thought was appropriate

"Programming, today is a race between software developers, striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe, trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, Universe 1 - Programmers 0." That'l do donkey, that'l do
[bravo] Mark
 
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Every day since I started this thread I look hoping to find more posts.
They have been everything from hang in there to humour to examples of experiences from another point of view.

SO....to encourage you, I will quote my original post word for word.....with !!!!!!

I am SO HAPPY I found TekTips.
The people that frequent these forums are PROFESSIONAL and decent, and I am honoured to be among you.
I have found that I am not alone in this after all.

Thanks for the support! Kimber

The more I learn, the more I realize how much more there is to know!
 
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