[identity profile] sdx.livejournal.com posting in [community profile] techrecovery
http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/pit/320304562.html


Hi! I'm your Technical Support Rep. I have a considerable amount of control over one or more important aspects of your daily life: television, telephone, and internet. Sometimes one, sometimes all three. Before we interact, I'd like to share some thoughts with you:



* I am here, simply put, to fix your shit. My job is not complete until said shit is fixed. Please just help me fix this shit.

* With that out of the way, know that I hate you exactly as much as you hate me. No more, no less. If you are at least relatively pleasant, I'm happy to help you- even to make small talk as I attend to the issue at hand. Conversely, if you are a total and complete jackass, I will make this the worst 10 minutes of your week.

* Neither I, nor any of my coworkers, are out to fuck you. We are not idiots. We are college graduates in technical disciplines, the vast majority of whom are here to work their way up the IT ladder to more fulfilling positions. Sometimes we have off days, sure, but we know EXACTLY what we are doing. Note that this does not apply to anyone outside of our department. They are, in all reality, idiots who are out to fuck you.

* So you've already unplugged the "internet box" and plugged it back in? Brace yourself, you're going to do it again. Most of the time I do this for a reason...unless you're a dick. Then I do it to see how mad it makes you.

* Don't lie to me- I can tell you have a router. It isn't illegal.

* To those who think they are "computer illiterate": The vast majority of the time, you are lovely customers: Patient, willing to learn, and most importantly, willing to listen. Thank you!

* To those who think they are CompSci PHD's: The vast majority of the time, you are retarded: If you already cycled your equipment and it didn't work, why did it work when I made you do it again? If you are so well educated, stay the hell out of the queue so that people who need help can get it.

* Supervisors don't have a magic wand that they can wave to make everything better. They are governed by the same protocol and use the same utilities as I do. In fact, supervisors are more likely to tell you to fuck off- believe it or not, they have other pressing issues to attend to. If a node goes down, they WILL put those 200 subscribers before you in Priorityland.

* Threatening to cancel does not intimidate us. We have an entire department that is paid to care about that, which means that I don't have to. Harsh? Sure, but I have more than enough work to do fixing shit, yelling at field techs, following up on cases, and explaining the concept of email to your grandmother that it won't cause me to lose any sleep.

* It worked fine yesterday? Oh, then I must be wrong. Let me reconsider the 40 minutes I spent troubleshooting your Win98 box. Check it out: Shit breaks (see point 1); If shit did not break, I would be mowing your lawn instead of sitting in this office.

* Speakerphone? Turn it the fuck off.

* Don't call back and have another rep troubleshoot the same problem. He will read the notes I left about how you spilled coke into your cable box. Even if he didn't, he would come to the same conclusion, and more people with undiagnosed problems would be stuck listening to that god-awful hold music.

* I am not blowing smoke when I say that I understand how frustrating it is to wait on hold, get transferred, and deal with bad agents. I too have called Dell's tech support line. The difference is that I actually DO care about your problem, so please just calm down before I kill your family.

* My company has over 20 million subscribers. I handle a region of about 2 million. To this day, none of them have ever called in to say "I just wanted you to know that my shit is working correctly." Maybe someday?



So what can I help you with today?



I laughed and agreed heavily.
I do DSL tech support, and by the end of the day these people just make my brain bleed sometimes.

Date: 2010-01-05 08:24 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kizayaen.livejournal.com
Seen this before. There's one I cannot under any circumstances agree with.

My company has over 20 million subscribers. I handle a region of about 2 million. To this day, none of them have ever called in to say "I just wanted you to know that my shit is working correctly." Maybe someday?

If I had a user run up my queues just to tell me they had no problem? To say heads would roll would be criminally understating the issue.

Date: 2010-01-05 09:56 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] the-s-guy.livejournal.com
I've had this. OK, only once in ten years under the headset, but it did happen.

I spent at least three minutes afterwards brainlocked, just mentally thinking "...wtf?" over and over.

Date: 2010-01-05 10:45 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] spaz-own-joo.livejournal.com
I've gotten tons of calls from people who had already opened tickets, just to let us know that things were resolved.

It's not the same as calling up when nothing's happened at all, but it's something, and I always enjoy hearing that they're happy with us, whatever the circumstances.

Date: 2010-01-05 11:20 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kizayaen.livejournal.com
Now that I definitely do agree with. "Situation resolved, ticket can be closed" is worthwhile and saves work and assists in the smooth flow of things. "I'm calling because I don't need help" is exactly the opposite.

Date: 2010-01-05 02:50 pm (UTC)
melstav: (Default)
From: [personal profile] melstav
I'm usually in the middle of way too many things. Techsupport isn't my only responsibility. (Yay for working at a small company w/ <12 employees?)

Phone calls are an annoyance. Support calls are a justifiable annoyance. Calling me up to just say "thanks".... I guess it'd depend on my mood how I reacted.

I did have somebody send me a thank-you card for helping them get up and running. That was pretty boggling. It's still pinned to my wall.

Date: 2010-01-05 01:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nirvanaqween.livejournal.com
Ah what a great way to start my morning! I am so glad I've moved up from this (after 10 years) lol- i really do miss those stupid calls tho.

I once got a bucket of M&M's

Date: 2010-01-05 02:37 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emt-hawk.livejournal.com
for fixing a user's problem.

--H

Re: I once got a bucket of M&M's

Date: 2010-01-05 04:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] thecrazyfinn.livejournal.com
Got a bottle of homemade wine once for installing RedHat 5.2 on a customer's machine (Back in '99, I was the only tech in town that would do it, Local university was running a Linux night course. Installed a lot of RH that september).

Date: 2010-01-05 08:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] reanimated.livejournal.com
*supervisors do not have magic wands
*oh, it worked yesterday? shit breaks!
*do not call back...

truth.

Date: 2010-01-09 02:20 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] devilish69angel.livejournal.com
<3 this, thanks for posting - i of course immediately spread it around my office lol

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