Dear Customers: Don't try to take shortcuts.

[laptop-mechanic.livejournal.com]

I don't care what the Dell phone support monkey told you. Nope. Not a bit. Dell will only issue us a labor reimbursement for warranty parts that WE order, not parts that YOU get sent to us before even bringing us your machine. Never mind that unless we have a record of having ordered the part, the warehouse will automatically refuse to accept said shipment once it arrives, so it would get sent back anyway.  So if you want us to install the part, you will have to pay labor even though your machine is under warranty.

So yes, you will have to leave your Precious with us for a proper evaluation so we can verify your problem and get the correct parts for the machine ordered. These rules exist for YOUR protection, and will actually create less downtime for you than having somebody who has never seen your machine guessing whats wrong with it and guessing wrong. So quit trying to shortcut procedure and suck it up.

(no subject)

[mtupyro.livejournal.com]

User comes in almost crying and talking\stammering a mile a minute. Starts speaking to me even though my back is turned towards him and someone else already asked how we could help him. This is what I picked up from his stammering:

"Hi. I could really use some help because I've been trying to get this file to print off and I'm already late for class and I've tried like 6 different computers and...something something...late for class and it won't print and I just need some help."

$COWORKER1 goes off to help him, comes back in 5 minutes.

$COWORKER2: what was the issue?
$COWORKER1: uh, his mommy and daddy are brother and sister?

Turns out he had somehow saved a file at home in wps format using Word. We now run Office 2007 (GAH!) in our labs and they have no idea what wps is. $COWORKER1 explains this to the guy and tells him he'll have to go home and resave it, he calms down a bit and runs off to class.

I almost feel bad for laughing at his dumb ass, but you can't do this job without a little bit of laughter.

(no subject)

[aelsa.livejournal.com]

I work in a computing lab in a university library. Our service is actually really good. As well as the several hundred normal computers in the building, my lab has lots of extra stuff. Lots of scanners. Readers for digital cameras and other things. Computers with huge screens. Printers that print on really big paper. And lots of expensive multimedia software. We also loan out things like digital cameras, camcorders and laptops. And if they break their own personal laptops, we'll advise them on how to fix it.

So, they really don't have any reason to complain about our service. And generally, they don't. We don't even get many stupid questions. There are a few novice computer users, but they're not unpleasant to deal with.

What I can't understand is why we get the occasional spate of bad student behaviour. Last year it was mobile phones. For the last few months, it's been eating and drinking in the lab. Now, that's being overtaken by people leaving all their belongings at a computer and disappearing for ages. (Probably to have lunch, since we kept telling them off for eating.) This isn't allowed normally, so it's definitely not allowed in our special lab. They can lock their computers for up to 20 mins. After that, they get auto-logged out, and the computer becomes free. Unless of course, someone has left their shit all over the desk.

But now, we get to collect up all their crap, take it back to the helpdesk, and leave a sign telling them what's happened to it. It's actually quite pathetic how much fun I have doing this. But I've found so many cool things over the past two days - scarves, coats, piles of books, pens, bags, USB drives, plus a fancy mobile phone and an MP3 player. (No, I didn't actually keep any of it.) There was one girl who had so much stuff that it took me three trips to carry it all. Unfortunately, I can only do it when they're actually obstructing a lab computer, or I could have added several laptops to my collection.


Don't hog the computers, or we will take all your stuff.