I do not...
Nov. 1st, 2004 09:27 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
jacobine.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
techrecoveryYes, that's right, I'm the Help Desk.
Help Desk means I do IT support.
It does not mean that I know anything about the mail room. It does not mean that I know the number to the location in Podunk, Utah. It does not mean that I can tell you who to talk to in HR about your benefits. It does not mean that I can get the bathroom door fixed for you. It does not mean that I can help you order drill bits, and we have a lot of salespeople so I don't know who handles what. No, I won't give you the phone number to the department director, but I will send you to his admin. And while yes, I know that fax machines are somewhat techy, your office manager should be able to find someone to fix it a lot easier than I can, given we don't work on those things. Remember that we have two toll-free numbers. One of these is the main line. Give that number out, not the help desk line, when talking to your customers, because I really dislike being used as a call transfer facilitator unless you actually work in IT.
However, I'm sure if you call our main number and talk to the receptionist, she would be able to help you a whole lot more easily than I can!
Help Desk means I do IT support.
It does not mean that I know anything about the mail room. It does not mean that I know the number to the location in Podunk, Utah. It does not mean that I can tell you who to talk to in HR about your benefits. It does not mean that I can get the bathroom door fixed for you. It does not mean that I can help you order drill bits, and we have a lot of salespeople so I don't know who handles what. No, I won't give you the phone number to the department director, but I will send you to his admin. And while yes, I know that fax machines are somewhat techy, your office manager should be able to find someone to fix it a lot easier than I can, given we don't work on those things. Remember that we have two toll-free numbers. One of these is the main line. Give that number out, not the help desk line, when talking to your customers, because I really dislike being used as a call transfer facilitator unless you actually work in IT.
However, I'm sure if you call our main number and talk to the receptionist, she would be able to help you a whole lot more easily than I can!
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no subject
Date: 2004-11-01 08:14 am (UTC)I/T used to be responsible for all the office incidentials before my time when the company was based in New York. They ordered carpeting, furniture etc . . .
I got here right when they moved to Illinois and I'd always find odd bits of mail in my mailbox because they didn't know who it went to (so it must be for I/T if it's anything confusing) once the Credit manager was making me write memos for her dept "because people would listen to me". My boss put a quick end to that when I complained.
I'd get calls about how to program the fax machine when the manual was sitting right in front of them (and we didn't support those things either, that was up to them). The best was when one lady said to me about that "Well what if I get too excited trying to figure this out and just start hitting a bunch of buttons?!?! We can't do this!" I looked at her and said "If that happens then you certainly wouldn't be capable of using anything computerized or have the job that you have now" Which shut her up. Her manager was there too and I think was trying to keep from laughing.
I could go on but I'll stop there. I will say though that some days I seriously wondered if I'd get an emergency call from the bathroom because someone forgot how to wipe themselves.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-01 09:25 am (UTC)And we actually did get an email from someone complaining that the men's room door closed too slowly. After staring at it and laughing, we sent it to the office manager.
She responded with: Quick girls! To the bathroom on 5! Free show!
She did pass it along to building maintenance, but I still can't figure what this guy thought IT could do.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-01 11:03 am (UTC)I think they come to think of the HelpDesk as an all encompassing mommy. It gets very old.
Ah here's another good one. The secretary to the CEO comes into my office my 2nd week on the job (back in Feb of 2001) and tells me I need to sit at the front desk and play receptionist. My boss works remotely out of her home in Texas, she was on the phone and I couldn't get ahold of her so since this other lady was right under the CEO I did what she said. Next thing I get this call from my boss "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW PISSED I AM RIGHT NOW?!?! I'M NOT MAD AT YOU, I'M MAD AT THEM AT THEM!! YOU ARE NOT TO BE DOING FRONT DESK, YOUR JOB IS HELPDESK THEY SHOULD NOT HAVE PUT YOU IN THAT POSITION I WISH I WAS THERE TO DEFEND YOU WITH STUFF LIKE THIS" on and on for a bit then she said she was going to make a couple of calls to remedy this. Next thing the secretary came back up and said "You can go back to your office now, we're getting a temp"
I've also been asked to send out departmental e-mails for other departments and stuff like that. It got rather annoying. After my first month or so of being here I learned how to say no. :-)
no subject
Date: 2004-11-01 01:45 pm (UTC)Mind you, when I was doing more hands-on production work versus the "beta-tester" kind of work that I do now, I would get calls from the receptionist asking if I could cover her on the switchboard because "she had to go to the bathroom right away and couldn't get anyone."
I suppose fortunately for me, I was trained on the Meridan switchboard and could do what she had asked. My boss wasn't too happy with it, however. It wasn't too frequent so I don't think much was said.
Now, in my beta-tester sort of role, I get the "you don't do any production work, so you'll just tell me everything I need to know about this policy,kthanksbye" from this one coworker of mine who hasn't learned that you don't get promoted by batting your eyelashes, giggling pretty-ish and smiling. You get promoted by proactively doing things. To her response for me 'tell her everything' so that she could process the manual adjustment and essentially do my job, I responded with a "Yeah, sure, k, whatever." and a roll of the eyes.
And then I went to MY boss, the director of the department, and asked her how much information I should give Pissybitchbabe, especially about help desk tickets.
Pissybitchbabe is going to FREAK when she finds out that of the information I'm to give her, she's going to be doing straight data-entry work.
Oh, darn.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-01 03:49 pm (UTC)Like when some non-company bill collector dofus gets our helpline number, has been re-directed 5 times to the main company line, and still calls!
IT support
Date: 2004-11-01 05:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-01 11:54 pm (UTC)how to work the coffee maker,
how to program/modify a watch for daylight savings time,
questions on how to reload an automatic stapler,
how to take pictures with a personal cell phone w/camera in it,
Yeah, the help desk is the dumping ground for all questions they cannot figure out. I work at an internal helpdesk, meaning I deal with the company employee's and contractors. Yet every month or so, someone forwards a company customer on to me. We are not even an IT company, we are a financial institution. How am I suppose to know what's up with someones account?