- Feature Articles
- CodeSOD
- Error'd
-
Forums
-
Other Articles
- Random Article
- Alex's Soapbox
- Announcements
- Best of…
- Best of Email
- Best of the Sidebar
- Bring Your Own Code
- Coded Smorgasbord
- Mandatory Fun Day
- Off Topic
- Representative Line
- News Roundup
- Editor's Soapbox
- Software on the Rocks
- Souvenir Potpourri
- Sponsor Post
- Tales from the Interview
- The Daily WTF: Live
- Virtudyne
Admin
First?
Admin
Haha, Anna was incontinent.
Admin
I guess the first guy just didn't understand capital letters and numerals.
Admin
Ctrl + Alt + Del This comment has been locked.
Admin
Windows key + L is a lot quicker...
Admin
Honestly, number one makes sense. It's a tech, talking with someone that's slightly more knowledgeable in case of an emergency, when said emergency would occur. Come on, it's like having a Cisco rep online when backing up your old router to replace.
Meanwhile, Anna's department should be let go. That makes me angry, because we've all dealt with her.
Now excuse me, I need to spend a minute at my desk waiting for my computer to lock...
Admin
Honestly, number one makes sense. It's a tech, talking with someone that's slightly more knowledgeable in case of an emergency, when said emergency would occur. Come on, it's like having a Cisco rep online when backing up your old router to replace.
Meanwhile, Anna's department should be let go. That makes me angry, because we've all dealt with her.
Now excuse me, I need to spend a minute at my desk waiting for my computer to lock...
Admin
He had a similar problem back when the optical mouse first came out. Anyone within a 4 desk circumference of a new optical mouse recipient would mysteriously break their mouse within days.
Mice were cheap though so it wasnt a big deal. If someone had poured water in her monitor I would have marched them right into the bosses office with the evidence.
Admin
I need to post the first comment but my computer was broken at that point, please can someone move mine to the top? Thanks.
BTW please can someone find the rest of my comments, they stop after one screen.
Admin
Having spent 10 years on Linux, then changed to Windows XP, I had to do some googling to find Windows+L. Then I was surprised to find that many of my Windows-only colleagues didn't know it.
Windows is not any more intuitive than any other OS, it is just more widely used. That is not the same as "good".
Admin
Admin
With Anna, I think I'd have found someone 'more deserving', (eg someone with a 14 inch monitor) and upgraded them, and given Anna their old monitor...
You could also ask your boss for permission to put up security CCTV monitoring in Reception while you're at it :)
Admin
What should I do in this comment?
Admin
Maybe Anna was a blonde and that's what she understood by navigating the internet... add some water and start sailing.
Admin
Fizzbin!
Admin
I've always found that the toughest part of doing support is simply determining how tech savvy the person you're dealing with is. Guess too low and they get pissed off because they think you're being condescending, guess too high and you end up with users who don't know how to operate scroll bars.
Admin
I wouldn't have given Anna a new monitor because it was quite obvious that she deliberately damaged private property which I believe is against the law.
Admin
Anna was lucky.
Water + high voltage circuitry usually results in a Darwin Award
Admin
...or surfing maybe ?
Admin
It says, "Add Comment". What should I do?
Admin
Can we please get a helpdesk category? If MFD gets its own category, surely the helpdesk stories deserve to?!
Admin
Help, 911 - This shows up one of the weaknesses of tabs. The close button is very similar to the application close button. It also works differently to many other applications that users may be used to. For example if you try to open the same word document multiple times you will get taken to the same window, so it doesn't matter whether you close the window or the application.
How to Lock a Computer - That's surely what the support desk is for: to support users? Neither Winkey+L or Ctrl-Alt-Del are intuitive.
Broken/Deliberately Destroyed - obvious result from having such a process in place. People are very good at gaming processes to achieve what they want rather than what management intended. Why such penny pinching over a £200 monitor anyway? It's a really cheap way of making employees feel happier/more motivated if that's what bothers them.
So many spreadsheets was quite amusing. Some people just cannot be trained in certain skills. Sounds like reception is a better fit for a nice person though - playing to their strengths...
Admin
My comment is broken, and I want an at least 19 inches new comment NOW.
Admin
Admin
Anna should have gotten her old (guessed) 15 inch up the ass.
Admin
Admin
Beautiful solution.
It's like that story about the racist man on the airplane flight that demands to be moved because he has to sit next to a black woman. The stewardess goes away, discusses with the captain, and says "You're right, this is intolerable, nobody should have to sit next to such a disgusting person -- so if you'll come with us, ma'am, we'll move you to First Class."
Admin
It's amazing that one would create a new XLS file after every 23 rows. It would be so much easier to just switch to another tab inside the same document.
Admin
More tech support stories (if I may). While I was working at ... I got a call from a P&G user. With a very straight forward tone he said:
Admin
Fixed that for you.
(Yes, I am an OS X user)
Admin
If anything, I commend the user for taking the time to come up with the 1-minute-screensaver method of locking the system. Most users I know wouldn't bother to lock the computer with the confidential documents!
Admin
You are so banned.
Admin
In regards to Anna, I'd have found someone with the same size monitor and swapped. A couple jobs ago, this was SOP at the help desk. User needs a new monitor? Tech gives them their own and takes a new one for himself. Now, if the new one was specifically earmarked for the user, or the user was an executive, obviously they'd get the new one.
Admin
This comment has a leak.
Admin
Yes and you have to switch less if your screen is bigger. (widescreens exempted)
Admin
Users breaking their equipment for upgrades during idiotic-type spending freezes is what we call Perverse Incentive. Always consider perverse incentive before making policies. Anna did exactly the logical thing to do in this situation. And they say that geeks like logic...
Admin
It's amazing how people get "equipment envy"
"How come THEY have that.."
Admin
The WTF is that the user went to great lengths to lock the computer and it didn't immediately become obvious there must be a better way.
And no, that's not what support is for. That's what "ask anyone around you" is for.
Admin
Instead of spending 15 seconds helping the guy, you were a NMJ-douche... priceless.
Admin
So how many members of management was said employee sleeping with?
Admin
Call to wife: I think I need a new Laptop - see, this one is leaking...
Admin
Agreed X == douche.
Admin
These stories make me think fondly of work. I've had:
"My computer won't come on - there's an orange light on the screen but it just says something about power saving?" They were switching the monitor on and off, didn't realise the 'box' needed switching on too - normally we use WOL to turn all our kit on in the morning.
"I can't make my CD fit in any of the slots in this computer" They were (impressively) trying to put the CD into the side of the monitor.
"My computer won't let me get onto the internet" They'd somehow jammed an rj45 into their USB port. (Which was broken as a result!)
Also I walked into someone's office once to find them sitting with a spreadsheet on their screen, adding rows of numbers up with a calculator and filling them in underneath.
And don't get me started on people who think "the internet is broken" just because they can't get to Google...
Admin
I suppose it's an advantage to work in such a large corporation that there are always "parts" to be scrounged. I have at least a dozen older monitors that can be used to replace failing equipment. A supply of second hand mice and keyboards comes in handy that way too. People around here are now afraid to break the equipment because they might get stuck with even less than they have now.
captcha: facilisi.... easy peasy
Admin
Guaranteed if she didn't know how to scroll, she has no idea what the tabs are for.
Admin
You say this, but I used to correct typos in copy sent over by clients before pasting it into their site and adding HTML tags. I stopped doing this because my boss chewed me out one day, saying I'm a web dev and not a secretary.
For the rest of my time at that place he was up my ass every time I did something that he felt should be billable or wasn't our business.
Certainly puts you off trying to add value to what you do! I wouldn't be surprised if X's conversation was already being recorded at his end with an equally anal boss waiting to pounce on him for giving out freebies.
Admin
Admin
Not really. Sure, it's 15 seconds now, for this person, but the next day they'll call back with a 1-minute problem, and there's thousands of people calling... And then there are the people who convince you to help them with a 15-second problem, only to spring another one on you when you're 13 seconds in, and then another, and then another.. .In the mean time, there's people holding on the phone for warranty support who can't get warranty support because you can't figure out the difference between yourself and goody-two-shoes. Better to point them to the right place, so you can do the job you're being paid for.
Admin
Hercules can't be bothered with RJ45/USB details.
CAPTCHA: aptent (I know apt-get, but apt-ent ?)
Admin
yea, that which gets rewarded gets repeated. In our IT dept (with certain people...myself included) if you put in a ticket that has a 10-day SLA and you start bitching (including emails to higher-ups) on day 3, guess what...see you on day 10, and not a day before. Otherwise, you will probably get it around day 4-5.