Note to people who call for support ..

[lihan161051.livejournal.com]

It's important to stop talking once in a while and allow the person you called for support to ask questions or otherwise work toward some sort of solution for you. And if they interrupt, they're not being rude, they're trying to get to a solution for you in something less than the 6 hours it will take if they just have to sit there and listen to a firehose stream of gibberish.

I'm not kidding, last call was literally half an hour of listening to a steady stream of words that more or less formed complete sentences with NO BREAK. ANYWHERE. Not even to breathe, apparently. Kind of hard to ask for fills/repeats or additional detail, or otherwise figure out what the fuck is going on, if every time I grab a free moment to try to ask a question I hear the person talking over me after only a word or two (which if I could send a LART via TCP/IP would have damn sure fetched one) and then going on as though I hadn't said anything at all.

What is up with people who just don't get verbal handshaking, or understand that when they're asking technical questions it's kind of important to allow the person they just asked to answer them without starting off immediately on some other insane tangent? (The actual problem? A scratch on the case of the computer that you can maybe see if the light hits it just right, and the usual outrage at having had the machine repaired with a "refurbished" part. The only good side? No tantrums to speak of, just conversation that made me really want to tell her to lay off the speed ..)

Comments

[mewlaz.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Although sometimes I wonder if they actually want a practical solution or if they just want to talk about their "issue" at great length for some time. I took a call like that the other day, half an hour of listening to rambling and I gave up trying to interrupt with suggestions and questions. Eventually she said sincerely "thank you for your help" and ended the call somewhat happier. Very strange.

[ateji.livejournal.com]

They're trying to get to a solution for you in something less than the 6 hours it will take if they just have to sit there and listen to a firehose stream of gibberish.

Jeez, yes. Your life story is not necessary for any type of social interaction unless you're dictating to a ghost writer for your (auto)biography.

(Reposted for stupid homonym mistake.)

[lihan161051.livejournal.com]

And what's more, if there's a significant bit of information buried in the stream, an interruption is likely to follow simply as a way of backing up to that and getting some more detail on it. :) If I interrupt in such a situation and I can tell from the bits of speech I hear between my own syllables that they haven't stopped talking .. well, there's no guarantee I'll remember it 5-10 minutes later when I can finally rein them in and scramble to get back some control of the call ..

[ateji.livejournal.com]

Yikes, yeah. I've had those types. I usually just start talking over them anyway. Since I had a lot of if-then statements in my head regarding consequences of actions at work, I tended to have scratch paper for that kind of thing.

My sympathies.

[lillyflowers.livejournal.com]

I wonder if that was my mother-in-law. She could talk a dog off a meat wagon. Never shuts up for a second that one.

[fnordx.livejournal.com]

Normally in those situations I just put my phone on mute and stop responding entirely, and wait for the "Hello? Hello are you still there?"

After that I normally give them something like "Oh, is it my turn to talk now?" and that will often shut them up. If not, then I'll do the same thing again.

The good news is, they can't complain to my boss about it, because he's the one who told me to do it.

[pixelchik.livejournal.com]

I just had to do that yesterday! I think the guy just wanted to flex his technical knowledge, or all of the guys at his job are morons such that when he talks to someone that does understand he thinks "oh, someone who understands!" and commences a brain dump that even he can't control.

Either way I just sat there until he said, "Hello?", and I said, "OK, so what error are you actually getting?" :)

[canray.livejournal.com]

I just verbally step on them. It's rude, but gets the job done.

And, frankly, as a Canadian, a little bit of rudeness gets people's attention. So unlike my countrymen. ;-P

[ateji.livejournal.com]

You're that jerk Canadian Scott, aren't you? */South Park*

[louisville-mike.livejournal.com]

Ugh. Yes. I have one customer who does this. Every. Single. Call. I am normally very calm, but this guy causes me to mute my head set and start throwing things out of sheer frustration.

And the calls generally last about an hour.

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

Ignore the blather and ask your normal questions over the top. If the stream of verbiage doesn't cease, go into the usual "I can't help you if you won't listen", but in a quiet friendly tone that's only *just* loud enough to get down the phone line. If there's no change then, hang up. There's no profit in having tech personnel and incoming phone slots tied up with someone who obviously does not want their problem solved.

Now THAT'S call control! :)