Silly Clients

On a contract our company has for deskside support there is no data included which basically means we don't backup users data for them.

This week a woman brings in her laptop and I ask the question 'Have you done a backup?' to which she says 'yes' and I proceed to reimage it.

Next day she rings up asking where all her mail archives are!
 
So you didn't correctly ascertain whether the non expert user realised her mail archives were on the client or the server? You expected her to know they were not on a network fileshare? And when she didn't realise, you didn't tell her and she lost everything that's amusing? :p
 
Some clients are just fantastic. Sent a letter with a document for signature. Usual standard paragraph explaining where to sign, the fact it has to be witnessed, what the witness must write and NOT DATED. Also put a "sign here" sticker on the document and pencil initials for both client and witness. A week later the document comes back; not signed by client, signed by witness but none of the other info required from witness and dated. fml.
 
Skillmister said:
Some clients are just fantastic. Sent a letter with a document for signature. Usual standard paragraph explaining where to sign, the fact it has to be witnessed, what the witness must write and NOT DATED. Also put a "sign here" sticker on the document and pencil initials for both client and witness. A week later the document comes back; not signed by client, signed by witness but none of the other info required from witness and dated. fml.
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I always thought the 'sign here' stickers were stupid as a little common sense and a read through tells you everything you need to know. I guess I was wrong!
 
Not IT support (done that in the past) but my daily dealings with the public from working in a taxi office.

Ok in the evenings you get the bizarre calls from some well oiled up people, they aren't that funny it is the sober requests.

Caller: Can you send a taxi please, I have a spider in my bath and I am terrified of them so can the driver remove it.
Me: Errm, not just to remove a spider.

Caller: I need a minibus how much will it be?
Me: where are you going from and to?
Caller: Oh just down the road but I need to move a bed, fridge, cooker and boxes.
Me: sorry we are not a removals firm.

Caller: Please send a car to my address.
Me: Ok 5 minutes.
Driver: I have just got here and there is 11 of them, they admit they didn't tell the office.

Caller: Could you send a car to pick up my elderly mother from the airport later.
Me: Certainly, what airport and time does she arrive?
Caller: I have no Idea, I think she has been to Italy. Can you sort it out please, I forgot and don't have the details they are at home. Surely you must know?

These are 100% serious. The nights which I work mostly are even worse when they get a drink in them.
 
[TW]Fox;26352512 said:
So you didn't correctly ascertain whether the non expert user realised her mail archives were on the client or the server? You expected her to know they were not on a network fileshare? And when she didn't realise, you didn't tell her and she lost everything that's amusing? :p
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It's sort of understandable if you're an outsourced support contractor, since the only reason for excluding data from the desktop support would have been to hammer the price down. If the company wasn't sure that their staff would understand questions like "is your local data backed up" then they should have either trained them better or opted for a more inclusive contract.

Time being money and all that.
 
Speaking with a colleague from our "collections" dept, it's amazing how many of our private clients think that when they don't get everything their way (ie not getting charged even if they exceed their contracted usage) think that just cancelling their direct debit/not paying invoices gets them out of the contract they signed.
 
I think you guys in IT really need to understand the bigger picture; all helpdesk staff are basically scum, you are there to do the crap IT jobs that people who actually make money for the company shouldn't have to do. As they need to be making money and not fixing computers.

You lot are only one better than a cleaner...

Server/system guys are a notch higher.

I always phone the helpdesk with stupid stuff, my mobile dont work = phone the Disservice Desk, my laptop screen doesn't work = phone the Disservice Desk, my program won't load = phone the Disservice Desk.

While the Disservice Desk faffs around I do other activities which means I am making money for the company.
 
[TW]Fox;26352512 said:
So you didn't correctly ascertain whether the non expert user realised her mail archives were on the client or the server? You expected her to know they were not on a network fileshare? And when she didn't realise, you didn't tell her and she lost everything that's amusing? :p
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I was thinking exactly the same even if 'Time is money and all that'.
It would take seconds to explain what 'backup' means and then perhaps she wouldn't have rang back wasting even more of the posters precious time.
 
Indeed. I have noticed a tendancy for I.T. people to become obtuse and the adopt a I-told-you-so attitude when a problem arises, one that they could have prevented with a 2 minute explanation. I have developed a zen like calm through helping my Grandma on the phone when she gets stuck. Like spending 20 minutes failing to get to a website because the address bar she was adamant she was typing in was the gmail login box.
 
Dimple said:
I was thinking exactly the same even if 'Time is money and all that'.
It would take seconds to explain what 'backup' means and then perhaps she wouldn't have rang back wasting even more of the posters precious time.
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Any sort of file recovery would have been billable time though, talking the user through the issue would have come under their existing contract.

Yes it's not the most user-friendly way to deal with it, but in fairness it does seem like the backup question was raised and the answer to the question was "yes", instead of "no", or "could you explain that to me?", so I find it hard to be able to lay blame at the poster in this instance.

If you want people to take the time to run through things with your staff, make sure they know what they are being asked, and hand-hold where necessary then don't outsource the support and not have anything in place to cover the gaps that you've chopped out of the contract.
 
craptakular said:
I think you guys in IT really need to understand the bigger picture; all helpdesk staff are basically scum, you are there to do the crap IT jobs that people who actually make money for the company shouldn't have to do. As they need to be making money and not fixing computers.

You lot are only one better than a cleaner...

Server/system guys are a notch higher.

I always phone the helpdesk with stupid stuff, my mobile dont work = phone the Disservice Desk, my laptop screen doesn't work = phone the Disservice Desk, my program won't load = phone the Disservice Desk.

While the Disservice Desk faffs around I do other activities which means I am making money for the company.
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Question is, if it all went down how would you do work and how much money in time lost would the company lose ;)
 
[TW]Fox;26352512 said:
So you didn't correctly ascertain whether the non expert user realised her mail archives were on the client or the server? You expected her to know they were not on a network fileshare? And when she didn't realise, you didn't tell her and she lost everything that's amusing? :p
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But he said they are not responsible for company data! He stuck his head out asking questions about backing up data before doing work on it.

Usually can't stand talking to end users anymore, I don't mind educating the polite and inquisitive ones. However those that try to imply that the system is completely against them or don't go speak to their local IT at their company when asked to do so.

Glad I've moved away from helpdesk.

Too many idiots trying to pass the buck:

End user: "I don't want to select a printer everytime I have to print"
Me: "So select the default printer in the software?"
End user: "I did last time"
Me: "I take it the last time was when you logged off the Citrix desktop?"
End user: "I think so."
Me: "Okay, I'm pretty sure that won't work, I'll speak with x application support."

Speaks with x application support: "no software doesn't look at Windows default printer, and because the session number of the printer changes and CUP doesn't work it must be an environmental issue"
Me: "Well MS Office has no issues with printing and so does other well known software applications..."
Speaks with app developers: "We are working on that but it's low priority."

Great... I don't get why companies pay for useless software support who try to pass work back.

I do feel for those that get messed around by those passing the buck though when they have an issue that I can't help them with but would know how to fix it if it were me in that position.
 
benjii said:
Indeed. I have noticed a tendancy for I.T. people to become obtuse and the adopt a I-told-you-so attitude when a problem arises, one that they could have prevented with a 2 minute explanation. I have developed a zen like calm through helping my Grandma on the phone when she gets stuck. Like spending 20 minutes failing to get to a website because the address bar she was adamant she was typing in was the gmail login box.
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Spending time with your loved ones and helping people who don't care are completely different!

It's usually the company's fault, they see IT support as huge loss in terms of business and try to cut all the corners so they don't give their staff 20 minutes to work on a user issue.

Plus next time you should shadow your Grandma so you can explain what you mean, see what she is doing wrong, and save her time. :p
 
craptakular said:
Pen, paper and a phone.
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2 seconds, I'll have that invoice emailed to you... oh the internet/email is out.

100 x's to be sent to these addresses, not a problem I'll have the labels ready in minutes... ah no printers.

Unless you are a small shop, almost every business requires something to facilitate automation to be profitable.

Can't compete otherwise.

Also if it's a medium business, would you want to go back to pen and paper solution for employee management (wages, holidays, etc)?
 
If you are talking about an apocolyptic event then that is different. If you are talking about a system failure for a few minutes or an hour then that is different.

IT helpdesk staff are not important, systems people are but out main important people are Operations and Customer Services.

Can Operations do there jobs without IT, yes. Would you want to do it long-term? No.
 
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