RANT: Working Helpdesk Support SUCKS!

[DurocShark]

Originally posted by: guyver01
Learn patience. If you get stressed out because the person isn't a rocket scientist or as smart as you think you are, you're in the wrong job. I've worked Help Desk technical support for 5 years, and have never had a problem customer.

you are paid to handhold these people thru their problems... not be a manual.

You're either lying like a friggin rug, or only support 3 users.

I've been doing this since '95 in one form or another. I'm the best too (only lost it once... story below), because my customers NEVER know when I'm ready to rip their intestines out through their sinuses.

My one time losing it was a job where I was putting in 80+ hour weeks as more than just tech support. We had a company-wide communications outage at 5 pm and I'd been there 13 hours already(friggin t-3 to corporate office went down, so all the branches went down too). I was calling each office to let them know what was going on (65 offices), and one branch manager had the balls to tell me to tell each person in that office personally, instead of her passing the info on to the rest of the office that SHE'S IN CHARGE OF.

I told her I didn't have time to tell the story to each employee of hers, and that she needed to do her fvcking job!

Amazingly I wasn't fired, but I also wasn't long for that company anyway...

 

[ScottMac]

Regarding "RTFM:" "TFML!" (The "Friendly" Manual LIES!)


I do Tier3 Support, I worked in the trenches for ten years.

A friendly attitude and willingness (and time) to properly instruct the befuddled user and you can grow your own happy users. If you explain by policy, webpage, or circulated hard-copy the type of information needed when a user calls, you can speed things up considerably.

If the above is not openly supported in your organization, write something up and submit it. There isn't an organization in the country that isn't looking for ways to make their organization work more efficiently ... you may even get an attaboy out of the deal.

P!ssing and moaning about stoooopid (L)users just sets up an attitude that is perceived by the troubled user as a position of adversity, at which time they will then do their best to p!ss you off. Trust me.

If "Help Desk" is your job, then do it ... and do it well; there are (at this point literally) dozens / hundreds / thousands of other folks that would love to replace you. If you don't like the job, then move on; you'll be doing everyone a favor.

Just my two cents....

Scott

 

[Soybomb]

Ahhhhhhh flashbacks from my time as a tech support guy at an isp........ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Highlights include:
Crazy woman calling who toward the end of the call went off the deep end and started saying she knew we sold drugs. I told her I'd be more than happy to close her account for her if she was dissatisfied with our services. That only wound her up more. She was the only person I ever hung up on. It was really the funniest call ever.

Everyone who calls about their email problem from the office or from outside. If you're having a problem, be sitting in front of the computer with the error message on the screen.

Those who improvised the error messages on their own "Fatal.....error....12.....can't get email."

Those who argue with either the advice I give or that its their problem "You always say its my computer, but its not its your system!" Right thats why I'm the only tech on the phone. "No I don't my problem would have anything to do with that." If you don't want my help don't call.

The liars. "I've called 12 times today and steve was going to call me back!" Funny, looking at your tickets you called one this morning and were going to see if the suggested solution fixed your problem and if not call us back. And there is no one by the name of Steve here.

 

[Chadder007]

I can certainly vouch for this kind of stuff. I work computer tech support at a Hospital.

 

[Chadder007]

Originally posted by: Gobadgrs
Id have the same experience when I sold computers in retail for 4 years, some hot sh!t would come struttin in callin the computer the HD, sometimes you just had to shake your head and let them think they knew what they were talking about. Some people got very offended when I was explainin to them what a processor did, but there was no way for me to tell about someones level of computer knowledge just by looking at them.

We have many a user at work that call the computer a "Modem". In fact I had one today wanting the "Modem thingy" taken away because it takes up too much space. I turned off the computer and of course the screen went black.....she was like "What happened to the computer!!!! It went black!!!!" LOL

 

[MedicBob]

Tell us some more stories. We like stories!!!


Learn patience... I am trying to with friends who want me to help them.

 

[abaez]

Originally posted by: Soybomb
Those who improvised the error messages on their own "Fatal.....error....12.....can't get email."

ROFL

 

[djheater]

Originally posted by: guyver01
Learn patience. If you get stressed out because the person isn't a rocket scientist or as smart as you think you are, you're in the wrong job. I've worked Help Desk technical support for 5 years, and have never had a problem customer.

you are paid to handhold these people thru their problems... not be a manual.

Wow, tech support needs more people like you.

when I was on helpdesk I was a pedantic, condescending, a$$hat. Oh wait...

well, I'm still happy i don't work it anymore.

 

[Spikey289]

Hey brunswickite I feel your pain... I work at a large company as a tech support rep and it sucks. Some days are really fine, but others the people seem to have no brain. I look at it this way, think if it like this, everyday you get to go and do work where it makes you realize that you sneeze more brain cells then the people calling you use in a year! It also seems to be around full moons where everyone reaches a all time low of brain activity. I've had some calls where I can feel my i.q. drop just cause of talking to a clueless idiot. Now I know some of these people have never used a computer didnt grow up with it like some of us ect. ect. But the people that get me are the ones who have had a computer for 2 years and call you asking for something easy like where do i go to do this... I want to know, how do you use a computer for two years and you still dont know how to do this simple task, I would think if there is any brain activity going on you would have learned how to do this task as you do it quite frequently!
/rant off.
I feel better now!

 

[Encryptic]

Originally posted by: Spikey289
Hey brunswickite I feel your pain... I work at a large company as a tech support rep and it sucks. Some days are really fine, but others the people seem to have no brain. I look at it this way, think if it like this, everyday you get to go and do work where it makes you realize that you sneeze more brain cells then the people calling you use in a year! It also seems to be around full moons where everyone reaches a all time low of brain activity. I've had some calls where I can feel my i.q. drop just cause of talking to a clueless idiot. Now I know some of these people have never used a computer didnt grow up with it like some of us ect. ect. But the people that get me are the ones who have had a computer for 2 years and call you asking for something easy like where do i go to do this... I want to know, how do you use a computer for two years and you still dont know how to do this simple task, I would think if there is any brain activity going on you would have learned how to do this task as you do it quite frequently!
/rant off.
I feel better now!

What really gets my panties up in a bunch is the nimrods who don't even know how to do basic stuff on their computer, like deleting files. I've lost count of the number of times I've had to explain this to someone who wants to delete some old files that they created with our program.

Above all, patience is the key. You may be wanting to strangle the person or just tell them "I'm sorry, but you suck at teh Intarweb", but it pays the bills in the end, right?

 

[AnyMal]

I think you're at the wrong job.

You should work at the zoo cleaning elephant dung if you don't like helping people. In case you forgot, let me remind you that they are the reason you have a little something called JOB

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: guyver01
Learn patience. If you get stressed out because the person isn't a rocket scientist or as smart as you think you are, you're in the wrong job. I've worked Help Desk technical support for 5 years, and have never had a problem customer.

you are paid to handhold these people thru their problems... not be a manual.

Yeah...I don't have a problem with these types of calls. Not everyone knows a lot about thier PC. I DO have a problem with people that are calling the wrong person, don't have a basic understanding of how to use a mouse, or don't follow directions. Those are the people that really get under my skin. Thank god for the mute button

 

[jimmyhaha]

> it amazes me that these people walk among us and can function in society when they cant follow simple directions.

What can u expect ? A large proportion of american do NOT know how to program a VCR, let alone solving a basic computer problem.


off-topic..

recently saw a movie, forget its name..

plot is like that

soldier : general, what do u want me to do with the suspect ?
general : kill them all, kill them all, mwhahaha

yup, u heard me right..

FVCK the average morons who called tech support

RTFM..

 

[fatkorean]

I worked a summer as tech support. At times it was ok, but ever so often you get those type of callers that just blows the rest of your day. They can't follow simple directions, think they know everything yet they call you, or call to whine and complain and b!tch at you.

On the flip side, there are bad techs also. Where I worked, there was this "super guru" tech guy who took like 3x the amount of trouble tickets. The bosses loved him but he sucked. An example was this one guy called saying his modem wasn't working. He called me and was upset but was a decent guy. He followed directions and it took about 15 min to get everything working. The thing is he called prior to me and the "super guru tech guy" told him to switch the modem and phone line plugs on the back of the modem. The customer goes uhh but my phone is plugged into there, so that means im using that line to call you with. If I switch the lines it will disconnect me!. Tech guy goes ohh no.. it wont.. trust me... User says ok.. whatever... (switches lines)..click.. and he gets credited with another call.

Of course the notes show that "user had modem problem, changed some settings and seems to work now..." bah!

-fk

 

It sure does suck, get a good job.

 

[her209]

Find a real job.

 

[Rudee]

Any Tech Support worth his weight would know never to make assumptions over the telephone. For example, brunswickite assumed the Internet Explorer Icon sits in the same place on everyones desktop. Bad assumption.... I for one certainly don't keep icons on my desktop. I prefer to keep them on my quick launch bar, and don't assume it's on the bottom - 'cause it isn't.

 

[Tab]

1) People who think they are smarter than you

2) People who generally give you a hard time just to see you suffer

I personally will never work helpdesk. It doesnt remotely seem a viable opition. I've gone through high school computer programing and A+ courses. I can't stand the idiots who think I am a fcking geek/nerd and still ask for help with their computers. I want to kill them all! Arg!! You guys should also try lan party troubleshooting, when you've got idiots who just think they can fix the router problem...................

 

[Sid59]

you're gonna have an anerism. Relax. Nice reading, though =D

 

[yoda291]

I've had several phone calls that ALL started with "Is it bad when..." not a single one ended well.

 

[brtspears2]

Sounds like a typical day of work.

 

[DocBartend]

SMS!!

That way they have to do nothing!

SMS!!

 

[cliftonite]

Originally posted by: brunswickite
I am not one to complain, but this morning i have been getting the Dumbest most inept users ever, I think its when the weather gets warmer, their brains begin to fry.

First caller "My internet does not work"
"ok, See the icon labeled Internet Explorer?"
"No"
"It's right on your desktop."
"Where?"
"Right on your desktop next to the icon of your computer that says 'My Computer'"
"What? I don't see that, either."
"You are retarded, and have the mental capacity of a 5 year old, I hate you.
"oh I see it, its right there Ok, I am in, the web doesnt work"
... (insert 30 minutes of mindless troubleshooting)

Second caller "My email does not work"

"(greeting) How may I help you?
"Is there something wrong with the email system?"
"No, actually there is not, what seems to be the problem?"
"My email does not work"
"Hmm. Could you be a bit more specific?"
"Um, uh."
"Well, what email program are you using?"
"Wndows xp, I think."
"That is your Operating System. What do you use for EMAIL?? Outlook Express? Netscape? Eudora?"
"HMMM?"
Now this is when i realize I am in trouble and am dealing with someone who has the mental capacity of a 5 year old
"Ok, what little picture do you clickity click on to get your email?" Yes, I said that.
"It says Outlook Express 6."
"Yipee we have made some progress"

By the time i got them in to all there settings, i was literally telling them what keys they have to type to login
apparently there is a missing connection between their fingers and their brain.
WHERE it says "LOGIN", TYPE IN "XXXXXXXX"
WHERE it says "PASSWORD", TYPE IN "YOUR PASSWORD"
the person took 3 attempts to get it right, they must have been a crack baby or something

Any other techsupport people out there that can vouch for this type of sh1t?
I work in my Universities helpdesk, and for some reason I thought you need some type of intelligence to get into a 4 year College, it amazes me that these people walk among us and can function in society when they cant follow simple directions.

Note: I do not make fun of people that dont know anything bout computers or how to use them and call Tech Support(thats why were here), just the morons that cant follow directions and are angry at ME, make me want to strangle them with the fvckin phone.

LOL, sounds like my job This one time I had to go to a room to troubleshoot a computer and the note said something like "The CPU is buzzing, afraid it is going to melt or blow up, had to move the class(they were training reps for something)" I was just like WTF I wanted to get the note and scan it but it was gone the next day

 

[cliftonite]

Originally posted by: cliftonite

Originally posted by: brunswickite
I am not one to complain, but this morning i have been getting the Dumbest most inept users ever, I think its when the weather gets warmer, their brains begin to fry.

First caller "My internet does not work"
"ok, See the icon labeled Internet Explorer?"
"No"
"It's right on your desktop."
"Where?"
"Right on your desktop next to the icon of your computer that says 'My Computer'"
"What? I don't see that, either."
"You are retarded, and have the mental capacity of a 5 year old, I hate you.
"oh I see it, its right there Ok, I am in, the web doesnt work"
... (insert 30 minutes of mindless troubleshooting)

Second caller "My email does not work"

"(greeting) How may I help you?
"Is there something wrong with the email system?"
"No, actually there is not, what seems to be the problem?"
"My email does not work"
"Hmm. Could you be a bit more specific?"
"Um, uh."
"Well, what email program are you using?"
"Wndows xp, I think."
"That is your Operating System. What do you use for EMAIL?? Outlook Express? Netscape? Eudora?"
"HMMM?"
Now this is when i realize I am in trouble and am dealing with someone who has the mental capacity of a 5 year old
"Ok, what little picture do you clickity click on to get your email?" Yes, I said that.
"It says Outlook Express 6."
"Yipee we have made some progress"

By the time i got them in to all there settings, i was literally telling them what keys they have to type to login
apparently there is a missing connection between their fingers and their brain.
WHERE it says "LOGIN", TYPE IN "XXXXXXXX"
WHERE it says "PASSWORD", TYPE IN "YOUR PASSWORD"
the person took 3 attempts to get it right, they must have been a crack baby or something

Any other techsupport people out there that can vouch for this type of sh1t?
I work in my Universities helpdesk, and for some reason I thought you need some type of intelligence to get into a 4 year College, it amazes me that these people walk among us and can function in society when they cant follow simple directions.

Note: I do not make fun of people that dont know anything bout computers or how to use them and call Tech Support(thats why were here), just the morons that cant follow directions and are angry at ME, make me want to strangle them with the fvckin phone.

LOL, sounds like my job This one time I had to go to a room to troubleshoot a computer and the note said something like "The CPU is buzzing, afraid it is going to melt or blow up, had to move the class(they were training reps for something)" I was just like WTF I wanted to get the note and scan it but it was gone the next day

BTW, the noise was being made by the HD during a virus scan.

 

[brunswickite]

Originally posted by: cliftonite

Originally posted by: cliftonite

Originally posted by: brunswickite
I am not one to complain, but this morning i have been getting the Dumbest most inept users ever, I think its when the weather gets warmer, their brains begin to fry.

First caller "My internet does not work"
"ok, See the icon labeled Internet Explorer?"
"No"
"It's right on your desktop."
"Where?"
"Right on your desktop next to the icon of your computer that says 'My Computer'"
"What? I don't see that, either."
"You are retarded, and have the mental capacity of a 5 year old, I hate you.
"oh I see it, its right there Ok, I am in, the web doesnt work"
... (insert 30 minutes of mindless troubleshooting)

Second caller "My email does not work"

"(greeting) How may I help you?
"Is there something wrong with the email system?"
"No, actually there is not, what seems to be the problem?"
"My email does not work"
"Hmm. Could you be a bit more specific?"
"Um, uh."
"Well, what email program are you using?"
"Wndows xp, I think."
"That is your Operating System. What do you use for EMAIL?? Outlook Express? Netscape? Eudora?"
"HMMM?"
Now this is when i realize I am in trouble and am dealing with someone who has the mental capacity of a 5 year old
"Ok, what little picture do you clickity click on to get your email?" Yes, I said that.
"It says Outlook Express 6."
"Yipee we have made some progress"

By the time i got them in to all there settings, i was literally telling them what keys they have to type to login
apparently there is a missing connection between their fingers and their brain.
WHERE it says "LOGIN", TYPE IN "XXXXXXXX"
WHERE it says "PASSWORD", TYPE IN "YOUR PASSWORD"
the person took 3 attempts to get it right, they must have been a crack baby or something

Any other techsupport people out there that can vouch for this type of sh1t?
I work in my Universities helpdesk, and for some reason I thought you need some type of intelligence to get into a 4 year College, it amazes me that these people walk among us and can function in society when they cant follow simple directions.

Note: I do not make fun of people that dont know anything bout computers or how to use them and call Tech Support(thats why were here), just the morons that cant follow directions and are angry at ME, make me want to strangle them with the fvckin phone.

LOL, sounds like my job This one time I had to go to a room to troubleshoot a computer and the note said something like "The CPU is buzzing, afraid it is going to melt or blow up, had to move the class(they were training reps for something)" I was just like WTF I wanted to get the note and scan it but it was gone the next day

BTW, the noise was being made by the HD during a virus scan.

hahaha, gotta love them users

i am at work now :/ but start at new job on monday