(no subject)

[talisantia.livejournal.com]

So hey, new to the community and all. Hi. *wave* A friend on my usual LJ pointed me over here after I was ranting about my job last weekend. I do tech support for a whole range of "consumer electronics" for a major international manufacturer.. MP3 players, plasma TV's, DVD recorders, etc, etc. I do it all. And man, do I hear some doozies.

First off, WTF is with Mac owners? What posesses you to buy a device, let's say an MP3 player, that says ALL OVER the packaging that it requires Windows XP, SP1, and Windows Media Player, then call in and expect support when it doesn't work with Rhapsody on your Mac? Which part of your brain switches of and propels you to call me saying 'Well, I know the manual says this device isn't at all Mac compatible but MAKE IT WORK!' This is a huge, HUGE pet peeve of mine, because it happens constantly. They read the packaging, AND the manual, acknowledge that it explicitly says 'This is NOT Mac compatible,' and then proceed to demand that I tell them how to force it to work anyway. At least the few die-hard Linux folks I've spoken to have been polite and understanding when the info I'm able to give them is limited.

Second... I hate Christmas at work. I really do. And that brings me to my second point. If someone is too old, to senile, and too technologically inept to work anything more complicated than a toaster, please, for the love of [Deity], DO NOT buy them a top-of-the-line, hard drive integrated, DVD recorder. Actual quote from a call this week: "So now where do I put the VCR tape to tape my soaps on?" GAAAHHHH.

Third... our own other call center in Manila. My name is Lynn. It is not Gwen, Wendy, Linda, Lauren, and it is CERTAINLY not Jennifer. Get it right or I'm gonna start stranglin' me some Filipinos.

Anyhow, a few gems of the week, starting with my newest contender for 'Dolt of the Year,' from my shift last night.

Customer: I need help with this new MP3 player I just bought.
Me: OK, can you elaborate a bit? What exactly can I can I help you do?
Customer: EVERYTHING! I don't even know how to get started. I want you to walk me step by step through everything I need to do to make this work.
Me: (slamming head against desk while muted) Have you looked at the manual at all? The instructions are pretty detailed.
Customer: No, should I? I haven't even taken it out of the box. I'm in the car on my way home and I figured you could teach me how to work it by the time I get home.

The guy honestly expected me to talk him through installing the software, how to sync in Windows Media Player, how to charge his battery (and really, how hard IS 'plug one end of the cord into the MP3 player and the other end into the wall'?), where to find music online, etc, etc, etc... while he was not only not at the computer, he'd never opened the box and was DRIVING HOME FROM THE STORE. Now... combine that with an accent that was a combination of stereotypical ghetto black and the gayest lisp I have ever heard. It was like being prank called by Chris Rock.

A few others from the course of the week:
* Got my very first 'Oh noes, I threw my Wiimote through my plasma TV!' call yesterday. No, you cannot have your repairs covered by warranty. NOT YOURS.
* The plethora of 'What do you MEAN my TV won't be fixed by New Year's? I demand you get the President of BigElectronicsCompany on this phone IMMEDIATELY.' Riiiight, I'll get right on that for ya.
* "Hi! I plugged the orange pluggy thingy into the thingy where it goes and now the thingamajig doesn't work." Well, now I know exactly what the problem is.
* "I bought all these HD-DVD's for my kids for Christmas and none of them play on my three-year-old DVD player. I have an HD TV, so it should work, right?" Never mind that the company I work for will be doing Blu-Ray and not HD-DVD anyhow.

It's been a week. I can only imagine what tomorrow is going to be like.

Comments

[gholam.livejournal.com]

Well, the mac owners issue is simple. In their world, Apple controls 101% of world's computer market, server, desktop and portable, and the universe revolves around Steve Jobs' house. The notion that a limited application tool might not be capable of doing everything isn't blasphemous - it's simply inconcievable.

[fragbert.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the community. You're gonna fit right in.

[jecook]

Welcome aboard.

As for me, y'all might be getting a lengthy rant out of my later today about putting ONE GUY on charge of support for two properties the day before the biggest party on earth at a company that is *very* entertainment oriented.

[jecook]

That is, if I have not gone postal and started beating people about the head and chest with one of the dead CRTs in the back room.

[fixerkitty.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the asylum. ;) Enjoy your stay...

[fixerkitty.livejournal.com]

Don't tell me you're working tech for the Fiesta Bowl...

[jecook]

Nope. I work for a different company that will likely have large amounts of people in over the weekend. (Hell, we average about 6,000-9,000 people walking through the doors in one direction or another.)

[liakela.livejournal.com]

Because while most Mac owners I've known have been relatively book-smart, some tend toward one-iTrack-mindedness when it comes to anything through which electricity runs and pretty lights come on. They're not real idiots. They're iDiots.

[dreamatdrew]

It's steve's fault... with that "It just works" marketing campaign...
Admittedly, It either just works, or it doesnt, but still...

[brothersterno.livejournal.com]

we have a word for them at work:
MacTards.

There is a subset of Mac Lusers who buys a mac because they need a computer and they are afraid of computers, and they have heard that mac's are "easy". They refuse to think and lear about their computer because they hate and fear computers.

I love my mac, but I have a real computer, too.

[shifuimam.livejournal.com]

"I love my mac, but I have a real computer, too."

Best quote ever.

[fixerkitty.livejournal.com]

Damn. May you find a well-hidden bottle of Jack Daniel's in a desk drawer...

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

It drives me insane. "Oh iPods are the best EVAH music devices!" they scream. Ok, interesting interface, but the sound is eh, and it only plays two music formats. Whoop de do. Don't get me started on fucking iTunes, but all I need to say is "shitty DRM".

Macs are fine, unless you want to do something techie on them, and you don't want to learn a whole programming language to do so. Also, installing anything open source on a Mac is an exercise in futility (assuming you can find anything).

And it cracks me up that MacHeads always go on about the evuls of MS - at least MS only control the OS (and their own apps), not the device and every single piece of goddamned software you can put on it (pretty much). Unless you're a graphic/video designer, I don't see the point of buying a machine for 50% more cost, but not 50% more performance, no matter how pretty it looks.

[brothersterno.livejournal.com]

I already have that icon.

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

Seconded. :-D

[darkblade1.livejournal.com]

Agreed. You'll fit in just fine.

Just like my gem 2 weeks ago where this lady got a brand new HDTV and was trying to hook up her cable. She had NO COMPLETE IDEA how to work it.

I asked her straight up "Did you even read the manual?"

"Umm, no. Should I?"

(oy vey!)

Fine, i'll schedule a tech. Charge that b*ch.

[benatwork.livejournal.com]

Actually, macbook pros are significantly cheaper than a comparable laptop. (For example, Dell 17" laptops costs more than a thousand more, with nearly identical specs) and once you get windows installed on it, makes for an excellent gaming laptop.

Itunes does suck, though. If only Amarok had a windows port as well. *wistful sigh*

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

Not in Australia they don't. The Macbook Pro is only three hundred cheaper than the comparable Dell, and has half the graphics power (in terms of RAM). But I think Macbook Pros are fine, I was more thinking of the desktop systems.

And I totally hear you re Amarok - it's one of the reasons I pretty much use Kubuntu all the time now.

[benatwork.livejournal.com]

Half the graphics RAM, but twice the system memory and drive space. But yeah, the desktop systems.. definitely overpriced. Sucks that they're that much more expensive over there, though.