Stupid tech tricks...

[ravenshrinkery.livejournal.com]

Hey, I'm new.  I do consumer fee-based PC support, contracted to a major computer manufacturer.  Names will be changed to protect the guilty :).

I don't tend to rant much about stupid customers because the majority are outright dumb.  We've come to accept that when you sell a product on price to anyone who will take it pretty much anyone will take it.  Technicians on the other hand... let's just say dealing with PO'd customers because somebody decided to be a BOFH is getting old.  When dealing with such a large userbase, any given asshat goes away pretty quickly if properly "serviced" - and if improperly serviced will be a pain in our ass for days on end.

Which leads me to tonight's stupidity.  Customer calls warranty support, has no warranty, has a sound card issue.  Sent to fee-based.  All's good.  First tech gets the call, very shoddy notes, has apparently started this customer on a OS reload for no apparent reason.  I get the second call to continue providing instructions on how to finish the reload.  Customer figures out that the reload wasn't really necessary.  This goes downhill.  Fast.

It's not that I don't think stupid customers shouldn't get the screw, it's just that screwing the ones that haven't proven themselves imbeciles yet really does bad things to our ears.  Ya know, try blowing out the drivers first next time?

Your opinions: Rebooting before calling?

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

After engaging in a... difference of philosophy with another employee, I thought I should check whether my viewpoint was wildly out of synch with reality.

So, here's what I want to know.

If you could get all your callers to reboot their PC before they called, would you -

a) Think this was a good idea
b) Think this was a bad idea
c) Think something else?


** UPDATE ** This is from the perspective of first-contact helpdesk for a large corporate staff on WAN-connected LANs. Broken PCs can be replaced, busted software can be re-ghosted, all backups are automatic etc.

(no subject)

[jacobine.livejournal.com]

We all have the problem users.

This one, I'm so tired of. So very tired of.

He calls and emails us all the time about how slow the system is. All. The. Time. We have replaced switches. We have upgraded his site's line. We've replaced his machine. We've tweaked the system. He still bitches. He's the only one who is griping about this, too. He's at a remote site, but it's a big site. They have two T1s.

At this point, I think he expects the system to be bionic superman blink an eye and get results fast. Oh, to hell with that, he wants to think about it and it appears!

He's so bad that my former manager actually has a rule to automatically delete any email he gets from the guy. We've given up on responding to his help desk emails because we just don't have an answer for him.

I really don't know what he expects, but nobody else is complaining. He's got to have some hyper ADD.

In need of a clue-by-four... pronto

[seattleotaku.livejournal.com]

From the same call...

Okay, how do I click it?
...
I have to put the phone number in the box?  Do I need to open it up to put it somewhere inside the computer box?
...
So now what do I do?

Apparently hold our hands for their entire Internet experience. I frankly don't care what they do from that point on, so long as they don't mess up the connection. You know they'll call again for exactly that reason, though.

wow

[anivair.livejournal.com]

My Boss: I'm drawing a blank here. When I e-mail I just need to put the name at wherever dot com, right? I don't need to put the www, right?

Me: umm . . .yes. (wow).

Amusing thoughts...

[tadiera.livejournal.com]

It's amazing that some people don't realize that threatening their ISP with "Suchandsuch ISP is starting to look really good!" to try to force you to magically make things work for them is not really a threat.

Someday, I'm going to give in to my inner urges and say: "Sounds good, sir. Don't let the door hit you on the way out."

What's your pet micromanagement hate?

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

Is it scripts you have to read? Or things you aren't allowed to say? How about restrictive dress codes, needlessly byzantine resolution processes, or constant interference by people who've never taken a call in their life?

There's always something preventing us from just damn well doing our jobs. But what's the worst bit? The one niggle that gives you rifle-and-clocktower thoughts every time you run into it?

For me, it's the Red Tape Fossil, who sits around oozing flow charts and new administrative processes, blocking ideas that would work in the real world, and having too much blackmail material for management to move desk and occupant to the nearest dumpster. Die, fossil, die!

l33t speak

[lissrac.livejournal.com]

l33t survey
I'm doing a survey for a linguistics class. My project topic is l33t/leet speak. So, if anyone would be willing, leave a comment with your answers or email them to me at kaufmans1@mail.montclair.edu. You don't have to answer everything. Any input is appreciated.

I need your:
Age (approximate is fine, if you want to round it off)
General location (Hometown or County and State) If you live on campus, not that location.

There are twelve words. The general question set below applies to all of the words.

The words are: l33t (leet), teh, w00t (woot), pwned, r0x0rs, n00b, w00t, j00, w4r3z (warez), k3wl, d00d, flame

Feel free to add any words that you want aside from these.

I don't know why I offered multiple spellings for some, but if you know l33t speak I'm sure it's pretty easy to figure out. :)

Here are the questions:

How would you spell this in leet?
Definition:
Synonyms:
Who uses this?
Perceptions of this word:
First seen or heard:
Is it spoken, typed, or both?
Do you use it?
If yes, do you use it in speech, AIM, gaming, etc? Which?
Use it in a sentence:
What are some related words:
General comments:


Thanks for your help! Seriously...feel free to only do some of the words or answer only some of of the questions. The more help I get, the better the project will be. It's a study on the variation of the answers I get.

x-posted to linguaphiles (I am posting this for a friend)