Typical day at my work

[moopet.livejournal.com]

Customer: Hello? Do you do, like, data recovery?
Moopet: Sure, what do you need recovered?
Customer: Well, I accidentally deleted my hard drive.
Moopet: Could you explain? It's pretty hard to delete everything on your system by accident.
Customer: Well, I turned my machine on and it said, "Press F11 to recover".
Moopet: Uh huh... Did you want to recover to a factory image?
Customer: Well it was turning on, so it was recovering the desktop, right? So I pressed F11. Then it asked me a bunch of questions so I clicked next a lot. And now all my word files are gone!
Moopet: Please bring your system in, so I can put a face to this FAIL.

Comments

[fuzzyr.livejournal.com]

You're entitled to your opinion. Frankly, the mockery is not over them not knowing, it's over them doing one of three things:
1) Ignoring messages warning them that doing something is BAD NEWS (TM).
2) Ignoring their support folk's warnings that doing something is BAD NEWS (TM).
3) Not even trying to follow instructions when their support folks are trying to help them.

I suspect I won't be the last reply.

[alexmizell.livejournal.com]

It's pretty hard to delete everything on your system by accident.

This is wrong. Using a "recovery CD" provided by the OEM it is relatively easy to delete your entire system by accident.

If you are an experienced tech you have likely seen this happen before.

I'm not saying the client didn't make a mistake - I'm just saying that when they come to you for help you are better off treating them like a human being who fucked up than like a "luser" for which you have utter disdain.

Or maybe you don't care what your customers think of you - I don't know. I want mine to like me enough to hire me again. Perhaps your lusers have no choice. I pity them.

[mashiroikaze.livejournal.com]

You're right - it's very easy to delete the complete system and do a clean install with the recovery CD...

if you completely ignore every warning that pops on screen while you randomly mash buttons.

EVERY recovery CD I have ever run across puts multiple warnings on screen that what you are about to do will destroy all of your data. If a user ignores the various warnings and continues on without actually reading said warnings, they get what they deserve. That is, a clean install of the OS.

I would agree with you if the case were a boot and nuke or an unattended install CD - but both of those are tech tools that are very hard for the average layman to lay hands on, and even those examples usually include warnings.

Fix the Computer, Then Fix the Client

[alexmizell.livejournal.com]

I would characterize this as an accident. I doubt if the user "randomly pushed buttons." They simply didn't read what appears at first glance to to be a EULA, which almost nobody ever reads. The second mistake is assuming that software developers care as much about preserving their data as they do. In a perfect world that would be true.

Surely you can summon the empathy to see that this is an issue that even a smart person can have. When this person asks for your help should you a.) ridicule them and make them feel even worse just after they've experienced a preventable data loss that may have cost them years of work and/or thousands of dollars or b.) listen patiently, try to offer comfort and good advice to avoid the problem in the future?

Which one makes you more money in the long run? Which one makes you a better tech?

Re: Fix the Computer, Then Fix the Client

[moopet.livejournal.com]

Which one makes them think, "shit, I won't do that again!"

Re: Fix the Computer, Then Fix the Client

[alexmizell.livejournal.com]

The data death hurts them more than your scorn ever could.

Re: Fix the Computer, Then Fix the Client

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

Most people will just assume it is the mfr's fault unless it is made clear what they did and why it is their fault.