Okay, Can I Just Whine for a Minute Here?? I Work on a Helpdesk.

[sk8rgrrl99]

Okay, can I just whine for a minute here?? I work on a helpdesk. People call me all day long and ask questions/ask for help with their computers. Why do some people just insist on calling, asking a question, listening to my answer and then saying "no, that can't be it." I'm not saying I'm always right, of course there is always room for error but generally I'm asked the same questions frequently so if a user is getting a certain error on their computer I ususally know what caused it. Today just seems to be argue with the helpdesk day and I'm here by myself. Grrrrrr!!! Thanks for letting me whine everyone... I just needed to get that out.

 

[babywings76]

Re: Augh!!!!That stinks! Hang in there. Hopefully you'll get some more appreciative people soon!

 

[pampchefrhondab]

Re: Augh!!!!Sorry you're having a bad day!

BTW - my sister could use your help. She got a bad virus and can't get her computer to work now!

 

[ChefBeckyD]

Re: Augh!!!!I think they should be happy and appreciative that they are speaking to someone who has a good command of the English Language, w/o a heavy foreign accent that can't be understood.

Nice to know that there is at least one help desk operator out that who hasn't been outsourced!

 

[babywings76]

Re: Augh!!!!LOL
That is soooo true, Becky!

 

[sk8rgrrl99]

Re: Augh!!!!Yep, we are all english speaking and I think very polite and friendly. We really try to give everyone the best customer service possible. My co-worker and I were hired within 2 weeks of each other and he and I together are the whole helpdesk. When we were hired we really tried to make the helpdesk as good as possible. Normally people are way more appreciative but this morning I've had a couple annoying calls in a row!

 

[kristina16marie]

Re: Augh!!!!I can totally sympathize! I used to work at a computer helpdesk for a large school district. I'm talking 32 schools and over 5,000 employees, but only 3 help desk people!!! The worst for us is that the teachers would go on Christmas or Easter break & then forget their passwords! Summer, I might be able to understand, but you'd forget your password after only 1 week??? Then the older ones who weren't all the way on board with using computers would put a post-it note on their screens with their password! We had a whole scandal because a teacher did that & a high school student saw it & then ran a scam where other students would pay him to change their grades!!

 

[LeslieSGI]

Re: Augh!!!!

I used to work on a help desk and we had a saying -- "I'm working with nightlights here!" (You know - a 4 watt bulb as opposed to a 75 or 100 watt.) Anyway, sometimes I kinda miss those days. Other times -- not so much. Hang in there - and remember that they need you -- and some need you a lot!​

 

[esavvymom]

Re: Augh!!!!Yes...been there done that! For 10+ yrs. First with a dial-up ISP...that was a trip! And then I used to work with International folks though- supporting customers globally for telecom companies (2 different ones over the years). YIKES! Mix the know-it-all engineers (who's area of expertise was different from what they were calling you about of course) with heavy accents or broken English! A few times, I got into a war-of-words with a few. Eventually, I just switched to Email only with them- so I could explain clearly and give screen-shots, etc. thankfully, there were enough really nice ones, that it made the job bearable. Even became friends with a few in the UK.So I feel your pain!

 

[sk8rgrrl99]

Re: Augh!!!!We do a lot of email support and we also use Dameware to connect directly to the users screen. That cuts down on a lot of frustration. Otherwise I'd want to bang my head against the wall!

 

[Aunticooks]

Re: Augh!!!!Sarah: I'm so sorry. I'll call my father in law and tell him to quit calling you and to wait until my hubby gets home so he can tell him to pack the computer back in the box and return it to the store!!!!
I'm kidding kinda. Hang in there and just remember they can't see you so you can make all kinds of faces at them!!!!

 

[esavvymom]

Re: Augh!!!!

Sarah: I'm so sorry. I'll call my father in law and tell him to quit calling you and to wait until my hubby gets home so he can tell him to pack the computer back in the box and return it to the store!!!!
I'm kidding kinda. Hang in there and just remember they can't see you so you can make all kinds of faces at them!!!!

*lol* on both counts! (and if you do hand-gestures...those work well on the phone too. *teehhee* Not that I would EVER stoop to such levels!!)
---Look at it this way. At least those people don't know where you live! My DH works at Cisco Systems....he avoids helping people when he can because once you start...they never stop! But he has a buddy at work who lives on the other side of our small town. Whenever he gets home, his neighbor will just come over and start bugging him about computer problems he might be having. Drives him crazy! They literally will hide sometimes! Least you can hang up and punch out for the day. How's that for 'making lemonade'? *hehe*

 

[pcchefjane]

Re: Augh!!!!My SIL is a Computer Support person for a nationwide company. He gets some really dumb people calling. He takes 100+ calls a day while the other 4-6 people take less than 50 each. He is so tired of dumb people. I asked once if he was nice because techs who ask me if I have my computer on aggravate me. He said I would be surprised at the number of people who call about their computer not coming on and they have it turned off! I am a lot smarter than that at least! Hope you get some nice people tomorrow! HUGS!

 

[esavvymom]

Re: Augh!!!!Here you go Sarah, something hopefully to put a smile on your face or make you more frustrated! (hopefully not) from "Computer Stupidities" website


* Customer: "Help! I'm stuck trying to send you an email."
* Tech Support: "Ok, what kind of problem are you having?"
* Customer: "I'm not sure where to buy stamps for my email."
* Tech Support: "You don't need stamps. Email is free!"
* Customer: "You sure it won't bill me for it? If so, I can send you money."
* Tech Support: "It's FREE."
----------

Customer: "I get this error when I check my mail. It says, 'There are no new messages.'"
------------

* Customer: "Hi, I want to change my email address."
* Tech Support: "Of course, sir, may I ask why?"
* Customer: "I think it's too long."
* Tech Support: "Can you tell me what your email address is now?"
* Customer: "firstnamelastnamestreetadresszipcodeandphonenumber@[isp].nl."

---------------

* Customer: "I tried sending email to 1.404.123.4567 but the emailer wouldn't let me."
* Tech Support: "Um, that's a telephone number."

______

* Tech Support: "How may I help you?"
* Customer: "I'm writing my first email."
* Tech Support: "Ok, what seems to be the problem?"
* Customer: "Well I can get the 'a'. But how do I put the circle around it?"

________

My boss decided he had to have a computer. Bad idea.

* Boss: "It's ON! I have CLOUDS! Come show me how to work this web thing!"

So I teach him how to send email. To send to me, he has to type all of five letters, plus the "@aol.com" part.

* Boss: "Do I have to type ALL of this WHOLE thing every time? Can't you fix it so it knows I want you?"

After I put myself into his address book:

* Boss: "Do I have to do ALL this clicking, clicking, clicking every SINGLE time? Just fix it so it knows I want you."

-------------------

* Boss: (brandishing a newspaper ad) "Sign us up for this Earthlink thing!"
* Me: "We don't need that. It's just another ISP. We have AOL."
* Boss: (blank stare)
* Me: "A...O...L. That's our ISP."
* Boss: "But I want to send email to (his friend), and HE's on EARTHLINK! We can't send email to him on Earthlink while we're using that AOL thing!"
* Me: "Sure we can. We can send email to anywhere we like."
* Boss: "No, that's impossible. I've looked into it...we have to be on Earthlink, too. And that Netmeeting and Microsoftnet...we're just going to have to join them all. Will I need a different e-dress for every one, do you know?"

__________

* Customer: "I can't get my email."
* Tech Support: "Ok. Can you surf the web?"
* Customer: "What?"
* Tech Support: "I just want to know if you can visit any web sites. That will tell me if you're connected."
* Customer: "What are web sites? I just use this to download my email."

This guy was paying $40 per month for high-speed cable Internet access, and all he could do was send email.

* Tech Support: "No problem. I can show you that later. Right now I need you to start your email program."
* Customer: "Aren't you listening? It's already started. I just can't get any email."
* Tech Support: "Can you click the send and receive button for me?"
* Customer: "I did that and nothing happens! I told you that!"
* Tech Support: "All right, sir. We'll just take a look at your preferences."

Ten minutes later I finally finished walking him through his account settings in Outlook Express.

* Customer: "You screwed something up! Now it keeps giving me an error message!"
* Tech Support: "Ok, what does the message say?"
* Customer: "It says YOU entered an invalid email address."
* Tech Support: "Let's go back to the 'General' tab and double-check your address."
* Customer: "It says xxxx-at-home-period thingee-com."
* Tech Support: "Can you read it to me letter by letter?"
* Customer: (growling) "It says x-x-x-x-a-t-h-o-m-e--"
* Tech Support: "Ok, let's stop right there. I want you to type 'xxxx,' then the '@' symbol, not the word 'at'."
* Customer: "What the hell are you talking about?"
* Tech Support: "Have you got the 'xxxx' part done?"
* Customer: "Yes."
* Tech Support: "Then I want you to hold the shift key and hit the number '2' key."
* Customer: "At the same time? Are you trying to break it?"
* Tech Support: "Trust me, sir, this will work."

After we finished with that, he got even more upset because he didn't have any email to receive.

 

[ChefBeckyD]

Re: Augh!!!!

Here you go Sarah, something hopefully to put a smile on your face or make you more frustrated! (hopefully not) from "Computer Stupidities" website


* Customer: "Help! I'm stuck trying to send you an email."
* Tech Support: "Ok, what kind of problem are you having?"
* Customer: "I'm not sure where to buy stamps for my email."
* Tech Support: "You don't need stamps. Email is free!"
* Customer: "You sure it won't bill me for it? If so, I can send you money."
* Tech Support: "It's FREE."
----------

Customer: "I get this error when I check my mail. It says, 'There are no new messages.'"
------------

* Customer: "Hi, I want to change my email address."
* Tech Support: "Of course, sir, may I ask why?"
* Customer: "I think it's too long."
* Tech Support: "Can you tell me what your email address is now?"
* Customer: "firstnamelastnamestreetadresszipcodeandphonenumber@[isp].nl."

---------------

* Customer: "I tried sending email to 1.404.123.4567 but the emailer wouldn't let me."
* Tech Support: "Um, that's a telephone number."

______

* Tech Support: "How may I help you?"
* Customer: "I'm writing my first email."
* Tech Support: "Ok, what seems to be the problem?"
* Customer: "Well I can get the 'a'. But how do I put the circle around it?"

________

My boss decided he had to have a computer. Bad idea.

* Boss: "It's ON! I have CLOUDS! Come show me how to work this web thing!"

So I teach him how to send email. To send to me, he has to type all of five letters, plus the "@aol.com" part.

* Boss: "Do I have to type ALL of this WHOLE thing every time? Can't you fix it so it knows I want you?"

After I put myself into his address book:

* Boss: "Do I have to do ALL this clicking, clicking, clicking every SINGLE time? Just fix it so it knows I want you."

-------------------

* Boss: (brandishing a newspaper ad) "Sign us up for this Earthlink thing!"
* Me: "We don't need that. It's just another ISP. We have AOL."
* Boss: (blank stare)
* Me: "A...O...L. That's our ISP."
* Boss: "But I want to send email to (his friend), and HE's on EARTHLINK! We can't send email to him on Earthlink while we're using that AOL thing!"
* Me: "Sure we can. We can send email to anywhere we like."
* Boss: "No, that's impossible. I've looked into it...we have to be on Earthlink, too. And that Netmeeting and Microsoftnet...we're just going to have to join them all. Will I need a different e-dress for every one, do you know?"

__________

* Customer: "I can't get my email."
* Tech Support: "Ok. Can you surf the web?"
* Customer: "What?"
* Tech Support: "I just want to know if you can visit any web sites. That will tell me if you're connected."
* Customer: "What are web sites? I just use this to download my email."

This guy was paying $40 per month for high-speed cable Internet access, and all he could do was send email.

* Tech Support: "No problem. I can show you that later. Right now I need you to start your email program."
* Customer: "Aren't you listening? It's already started. I just can't get any email."
* Tech Support: "Can you click the send and receive button for me?"
* Customer: "I did that and nothing happens! I told you that!"
* Tech Support: "All right, sir. We'll just take a look at your preferences."

Ten minutes later I finally finished walking him through his account settings in Outlook Express.

* Customer: "You screwed something up! Now it keeps giving me an error message!"
* Tech Support: "Ok, what does the message say?"
* Customer: "It says YOU entered an invalid email address."
* Tech Support: "Let's go back to the 'General' tab and double-check your address."
* Customer: "It says xxxx-at-home-period thingee-com."
* Tech Support: "Can you read it to me letter by letter?"
* Customer: (growling) "It says x-x-x-x-a-t-h-o-m-e--"
* Tech Support: "Ok, let's stop right there. I want you to type 'xxxx,' then the '@' symbol, not the word 'at'."
* Customer: "What the hell are you talking about?"
* Tech Support: "Have you got the 'xxxx' part done?"
* Customer: "Yes."
* Tech Support: "Then I want you to hold the shift key and hit the number '2' key."
* Customer: "At the same time? Are you trying to break it?"
* Tech Support: "Trust me, sir, this will work."

After we finished with that, he got even more upset because he didn't have any email to receive.

Thank you, Bobbi! I laughed out loud all the way through those.

 

[esavvymom]

Re: Augh!!!!That website has tons more. I laughed pretty good at the "Paranoia" category. There certainly is NO CURE for Stupid!

 

[poohritz]

Re: Augh!!!!I used to tech for sbcglobal. teching was so fun. I don't know how many times I was asked if I was in the US or India. I am from Minnesota, granted I have an accent but not like that.
I think the best calls were when we asked what are the lights on your modem doing. They say what lights. Then we go thorugh the making sure it is plugged in, and turned on. then voila it works again.

 

[sk8rgrrl99]

Re: Augh!!!!lol.. thanks for the cheering up everyone!! I feel much better now.

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

Re: Augh!!!!When it gets to be too much, just forward your calls to the Microsoft Support Rep of the Year.