Canada's "#1" University's Help Desk...

[kait-the-great.livejournal.com]

I'm back in the Arts helpdesk! Now with bonus 1/2 day a week at campus-wide helpdesk.

.........

Maybe I'm just "computer literate" (I hate that term - I'm making a sweet t-shirt as soon as I find free time) but I knew to have my main campus password handy during the first week of classes. Before I memorized it, I carried it in my wallet.

Really, there's nothing we can do for you without it. If you've forgotten it, then we can reset it with the proper procedures (photo ID or previously listed external email), but if I offer you that option and you don't go for it, then you'll just have wait to get your new email account.

You used it to sign up for courses! You were told it would be your access to everything! Gah!

..........

What's that? Your Hotmail account got hijacked? Well, let me see what I can do about securing your personal information here so that your profile with the school can't be hijacked since you used hotmail to correspond with us until now... Wait, you want us to SUPPORT your hotmail? No, we can't help you if the password is changed, as well as the secret question. In fact, no-one can help you since you don't have Hotmail-plus. Hopefully your school email will be kept more secure...

..........

Luckily, my fellow helpdesk employees are bright this term. Nothing's worse than incompetent coworkers.

Comments

[celyste.livejournal.com]

OT but reminded me of my most hated phrase "I'm not very computer illiterate!" It's usually said/yelled/screamed at me 3x daily on the tech phones at work.

of course, they all mean that they don't understand computers.

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

Have you asked them if they're pencil-illiterate, or photocopier-illiterate?

It seems to me that if they don't know how to use the tools they've been given, that's a training issue for their managers to sort out.

[celyste.livejournal.com]

ahh... sorry. working for an isp in a callcenter. I differentiate my days based on tech-phones (calls for tech support) or bill-calls (when they have me accept money for isp.

I've been working nights last couple days... I'm afraid I don't make a lot of sense yet *L*

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

Ah. My fault for assuming :) Still, you have to wonder at some of these people. Perhaps saying "That's why computers come with instruction manuals, like cars and refrigerators do" might get the point across.

Maybe not.

[celyste.livejournal.com]

There's one guy at work... don't ask me how he manages to get away with it... but he can tell people to go to the library and read about browsers and internet and computers and they take it well. Heard someone else try it and they were shot down and ended up with a supervisor call *L*

I jsut hate hearing "I'm not very computer illiterate". I just want to scream about the double negative and how they actually ARE "computer illiterate".