Annoyances

[eightofspades.livejournal.com]

Snipped and x-posted from my own LJ.

...is when I'm followed into my office when I get in... please, please, just let me get settled in first! My job is to get everything functional, yes. That means I won't be outright rude to you, even though I might want to be. Obviously, I'll attend to your concern as soon as I can fit it in and it needs it - but first, I will turn on my computer and check both my email and my voicemail. I will also likely set up my laptop, and possibly would like to change into the company supplied clothing hanging besides you. Sadly, you are currently telling me about your issue - which more often than not is not that urgent (ed. - the people who follow me into my office don't bring critical problems, I've noticed. They speak of malfunctioning printers and such) - which in turn means that I cannot change, nor can I check my voicemail without being overtly rude. I can, however, put it on speakerphone, which might (should) tell you something.

The second is the assumption of immediate availability. Again, this is often from those who follow succinct paths of work, instead of those doing eight projects at once like I and much of management does. This is always made by the same people, often the perps of the above crime, but not always. It should be, and is, obvious to most people that if I'm working on an issue, the best way to get a solution to your issue is *not* to walk up and start talking to the back of my head about it, assuming I'm listening (I am, but in annoyance that increases forthwith.) Therefore, you should not be surprised when I turn around and tell you to hold on a second, or continue the previous conversation you jumped in on. It's not part of my job description to be rude, and I will probably apologize about it, but the fact that computers are not your native language (that's ok, believe me, I don't know a thing about the stuff you maintain) doesn't mean that you have a free license to interrupt me with a request that turns out to be as simple as deselecting a checkbox.

Note: This includes, oddly enough, using "Alert" instead of call on a phone. I don't understand why - they're functionally the same, but I find one far ruder - especially when it's, again, a relatively minor issue. Of course, that's a whole 'nother barrel of frothing monkeys.

Comments

[jecook]

A-FREAKIN-men.

I really, REALLY, want my own office, instead of a desk.

This way, I can sneak into my office at the crack of dawn, shut and lock the door behind me, and actually get some work done.

[tmercenary.livejournal.com]

When I was working deskside support, we made it a policy to only take issues via Phone or email. That way when someone came up to the work area, we said, "Email it to me, and I'll take a look as soon as possible."

[kyndig.livejournal.com]

I did something similar. After a very annoying two weeks I sent out a memo explaining that my process was to have the issue emailed to me and I would assign the importance. Any attempt at communication about the subject without an email in my box (unless it was a genuine network wide outage or something of that nature) would be summarily ignored. Worked wonders for my sanity.

[tmercenary.livejournal.com]

Someone asked that of me once. I said, "because I forget everything I hear, but remember everything I read"

[eightofspades.livejournal.com]

Our environment is usually better than that - also, while we have a tracking system on a corporate level, I don't deal with one, so logging isn't an issue.

[eightofspades.livejournal.com]

I support an environment that doesn't work well with that. It'd be almost rude - it's not like our office is that large (the corporation is, and the plant is, but we don't need that many people with computers - I support 120 or so desktops and 20 or so servers.)

Frankly, I like getting told what the issue is in person so I can fish out the details without confusion. Usually, however, the people who stop by or call know I schedule things, and are just letting me know they need attention at some point. It's just the people who have no understanding of that - and they are relatively rare - that irk me.

[gravito.livejournal.com]

I suppose that one of the big issues that people have to accept is that technical support people cannot always work magic quickly. The user needs to know that they are not a good judge of the amount of time an issue will take. I often compare computers to cars. That's because while it may seem that there is simply an issue of wiper fluid, there may be an underlying issue that is CAUSING that. Therefore, the problem they perceive is actually a symptom of a great problem that needs time to be addressed.

I also take the magic route. All problems are solved by magic. It just takes a special kind of magician to solve the problem quickly. Sometimes I'm not the best magician for the job, but nevertheless I CAN solve the problem, I just need time to research the best spell to remove the curse. Or charm.

I think that if users knew that IT folks had to mitigate not only issues but priorities, it'd be a lot easier for them to understand.

[eightofspades.livejournal.com]

Oddly, most of my users know this. It's only a few select who don't.

[jcaswell.livejournal.com]

I hear ya. The worst culprit in the school I work in is the ex-Head of IT, so you'd think he'd know better, right? Oh no. He regularly collars me as I get out of my car to ask if the network's ok. Cos, y'know, I'm psychic as well as being an all round Goddess.

[jcaswell.livejournal.com]

Oh, and the languages teacher who yesterday wanted to know exactly when we'd be installing a new PC in her office. I explained to her the issues we're having - 4 people, 400 computers, 1300 vandalising children - and that our priority has to be to the classrooms, and not the teacher offices - especially when they all have laptops provided by the school, not to mention there's already a computer in her office. It's slow, yeah, but it works, which is more than can be said for a lot of others (including my own yesterday...killed the motherboard. Lucky it's under warranty :)). None of that was good enough for her, and she still demanded to know when we'd do it. It was really hard not to reply with "when we can be bothered...and the more you nag, the lower down the list you get" :)

[jacobine.livejournal.com]

I usually don't get accosted before I get to my desk, fortunately, but only because I'm in at 7 am and that's earlier than most people. When I worked as a PC tech, I had most folks pretty trained to call for a ticket, because I'd tell them 'I can't do that right now, but if you open a ticket that'll make sure I don't forget.'

I have, however, had people ask me about their tickets in the elevator. Because of course, I always remember who they are and what their problem is.

Our techs have been trying to train their users, too. One of them is frustrated because his (small) site has a fit if he leaves. No, they don't have a problem. But they MIGHT!

[eightofspades.livejournal.com]

Desktop support is only one part of my job (the rest being IT projects, server and network maintenance, etc) and as I don't have any other IT staff around, I don't mind visits to my office. Most people call anyhow, and those that visit usually do so because they're near me. Just one or two annoying ones don't get it.

And the follow into my office thing I just have to figure out a way to address...

It would be nice to have a low-level tech to handle said grunt work, but c'est la vie.

[taleya.livejournal.com]

We have an email that was sent to all staff regarding the network support staff stuck to the wall near the entrance to our alcove. Basically it lists all the hoops that you MUST jump through before you can even come NEAR us.

There's a rumour going around that people who fail to adhere to the email will have a hardcopy forcibly inserted into their person. We're encouraging it as much as possible :P