IT Calls of Shame

snydeq writes "InfoWorld's JR Raphael offers up six memorable tales of trouble and triumph from the tech support desk. 'Working in tech support is a bit like teaching preschool: You're an educator who provides reassurance in troubling times. You share knowledge and help others overcome their obstacles. And some days, it feels like all you hear is screaming, crying, and incoherent babble.' Pronoun problems, IT ghosts, the runaway mouse — when it comes to computers, the customer isn't always right."

Comments

Deaf

[SJHillman]

As far as #2 goes, I've been partially deaf since my toddler years and it really does help a lot if women are able to lower their voices. Most people just try to talk louder, but if you have a higher pitch (like most women), then deepening your voice will be a much more significant improvement over talking louder.

Teaching Pre-school?

[squidflakes]

I've always thought working in IT was more like being with a beautiful abusive spouse than anything else.

When times are good, they are really good. You're happy, you're content, and you want the world to know that you love this job.

But when things are bad, they are really bad. You get the shit knocked out of you for the smallest things. You learn little rituals and laundry lists of rules and behaviors that you have to engage it, because you're afraid to get hit again. Of course, some days the mood is just wrong and you're going to get it no matter what.

When you do finally decide that you've had enough, and you turn your back on IT, all you can remember is the beautiful amazing job that you suddenly don't have and it takes every ounce of willpower not to go crawling back. Oh, sure, you know that IT has a history of this sort of thing. Life will be great for a couple of weeks then suddenly it will go back to a living hell, but you think... hey, I'm older and wiser now. Maybe IT has changed. Maybe I can change IT.

But IT never changes.

Re:"User Error"

[mcgrew]

IMO the PEBKAC problem indicates a design flaw. Most interface designs are badly flawed.

For example, the classic stories about people losing the data because wifey put it on the fridge with a magnet could easily be sidestepped by a simple "warning: keep away from magnets". Thinking a user knows how a floppy holds data is incredibly stupid. It isn't the ignorant who are stupid, it's the fool who thinks everyone knows what he knows. Everyone is ignorant of something, and to not realize and respect this simple fact is idiotic.

One of my pet peeves is web forms. You have to fill out street address, city, pull down the state with a dropdown list (stupid design in itself, considering any state is only two keystrokes), and zip code. Why?? If you have the zip code you already have the city and state. Twenty years ago I was designing database screens where after typing in address, the cursor went to the zip code field, and when the cursor left the field the city and state were filled in by a lookup table and could be changed by the user if incorrect. IMO to do otherwise is incredibly bad design, and lazy to boot.

Wht is it with you kids, anyway?