Ahhh, HellDesk, how I loathe thee

[grayhawkfh.livejournal.com]

Background: I'm the Desktop Engineer and 3rd tier Windows support here.

HellDesk moron comes to me and says "I need your help with this ticket".

Ticket reads: "User receiving error message: 'Novell Error xxxx'."

I toss the error number into Google (and print out the relevant TID) while suggesting that in the future, he go to the NOVELL team for assistance with NOVELL errors.

The look on the HellDesk tech's face suggested that my statement was the functional equivalent of Moses bringing down the tablets with the 10 Commandments from Mt. Sinai.

When he left, the Security tech across the aisle just shook his head and chuckled.

Comments

[xforge.livejournal.com]

Our first-level team leader wouldn't have let that guy outta the Pit with that ticket. We ain't perfect but we tryin'. Doesn't stop the sysadmins from bouncing back tickets with research and documentation on 'em the length of the Manhattan phone directory saying "it works for me," but we keep tryin'.

[canray.livejournal.com]

I used to wish I could beat people with tablets like those when they mistransfered to me. Again, and again, and again...

How is "I can't get my E-Mail" a Wireless Issue (The area I specialized in) when they're getting an Outlook Error, and can otherwise get on the InterTubes?

[awarrenfells.livejournal.com]

I also hate when people call me to fix, setup, or troubleshoot their router.

Sorry, we are your ISP. My responsibility ends at the CPE. :P

[spaz-own-joo.livejournal.com]

Well clearly, your microwave is kicking out EM interference, with harmonic components in it which perfectly cancel out 802.11 frames, but only those which are carrying SMTP packets. Other packets have a whole 'nother set of frequencies with pass through unaffected.

[canray.livejournal.com]

Which is so obviously a Hardware Issue, they should have just rolled a truck and let the untrained shaved ape (Sorry, Minimum Wage, Outsourced, Field Technician whose only English is "I Tech! I fix!") deal with the situation.

[canray.livejournal.com]

Settings questions are OK for this. Anything more, the damn thing came with a manual for a reason.

RTFM!!!

[awarrenfells.livejournal.com]

THIS!

[wolfhound668.livejournal.com]

We've got a helldesk operator where the extent of the case notes on pretty much every ticket is "opened ticket".

[amynnah.livejournal.com]

Yeah... I (Helldesk) try hard not to bother the DIG (Desktop Engineering) guys... especially since they're doubling as off-site Support at the moment because off-site is a) short-staffed, b) one's out on disability, c) on vacation.

There's only three or four guys on off-site Support at any given time. At the moment, we're down to one. And he's overstressed. So our DIG guys (who are awesome) are also acting as off-site Support... which means old hard-drives are acting as hockey-pucks down the hallway. :)

I wouldn't ask them such a stupid question... we have a Senior member of Helldesk for that kind of crap.

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

We used to a have a pretty good balance at one place I worked. If a n00bdesker sent a shoddy ticket up the line, the L3 who got it would physically run down the connecting hallway and they and the n00bervisor would take turns growling at the tech for many minutes.

On the rare occasion that the L3 ran down the hallway with a ticket which _did_ have all the information on it, and they had missed it, the tech was allowed to tell the L3 in no uncertain terms to take their head out of their ass.

Eventually, everyone learned to triple-check tickets before doing anything rash, and much joy was had by all.

(Although I still cherish the moment a L3 appeared over my cubicle wall, brandishing a printout of one of my tickets, and I simply took it, swiped a highlighter over the lines he said were missing, and handed it back without a word. Cue slinking back up the hallway...)

Doing things this way meant that a lot of drama and repetition was saved at all levels, and L2 and L3 started to be able to trust each other's judgement a lot more. And when I, in turn, spent some time in the L3 jobs at that place, you can bet that I eyeballed the living heck out of any ticket I was considering sending back down the line.