(no subject)

[funkybenn.livejournal.com]

ok this is getting up my ticker.. I work for an isp.. woot for me :P Ive had people of late who can hardly use a pc. I mean its a strech for these ma & pa kettles to open internet explorer. Thats not the bad thing though. My complaint is that if I ask them to click or do something they want to know the complete ins and outs of each thing. ie todays case. We'll call him Mr. 72yearold customer, after trouble shooting his trashy old windows 98 machine that has NEVER been upgraded, defraged or even scanned, and getting him on he asks what was the issue. I know its a tcpip stack issue because the machine is a heap of shit, but I cant really say that so I explain it in laymans terms. These users arnt taking that for an answer though, they ask more, then asks what tcpip means & stands for!? IT IS NOT MY JOB TO TEACH YOU THE INS AND OUTS OF INTERNET CONNECTIONS! FUCK! I got it working, what more do you want? If i tell you what tcpip stands for and the technology behind the protocol, what are you going to do with that knowledge? Over enquisitive bastards. Then the fucker has the nerve to get annoyed that Im cutting him off? Sorry buddy but 40mins out of my 8hour shift is more than enough to listen to you drivel on about the weather, how your grandchildren are, the cricket, more about the weather. I suggested to you at the beginning of the call to perhaps take a pc course when you couldnt find RUN in the start command, and you said you were having trouble. Dont get pissed at me if you dont know something.. I am TECH SUPPORT, that means technical assistance, not i will hold your hand whilst you fart-arse around. I was patient. I was nice even! goddamn it I hate getting abused for nothing

Comments

[zig-mover.livejournal.com]

TCP/IP="the language the computer talks to the interweb in."

That's all you need to tell them. Just break it down as simply as you can.. other techs at my office talk to customers about FOC dates and DSLAMs and CPEs and noise margins.. They haven't figured out that the way they talk to each other around the office isn't something the customer can understand. You just have to think of some really simple analogy.. something that would make sense to a two-year old.

Note: telling a DSL customer that "an IP address is sort of like your computer's telephone number on the internet" won't work, becuase they'll get pissed and say I THOUGHT DSL DIDNT USE MY PHONE LINE.

If they want to know what certain acronyms stand for, I tell them they don't need to worry abou it, it's just some technical term. Sometimes they like being left in the dark.

[jacobine.livejournal.com]

My new manager once gave me a nice complicated description to tell a user. Something like 'Tell him the threaded counts are just fine and well below IBMs levels where they think we have to worry.' I told him there's no way the users would understand that, I'd just tell them everything was running smoothly.

[funkybenn.livejournal.com]

yeah i tried that, the bugger still wouldnt take it, he smelt i knew it I think.. his come back was firstly 'how does it do that?' and 'surely you MUST know what it is and could tell me in half a minute, its your job isnt it?' grr.. I said no, he started to spout crap about being a manager and staff need to be able to handle any query blah blah blah... :) thnx for the suggestion tho

hehe yeah I learnt the phone thing the hard way my 1st week.. now no more mention of even phone lines, its cord to the wall from now on ;)

[loosechanj.livejournal.com]

If i tell you what tcpip stands for and the technology behind the protocol, what are you going to do with that knowledge?

Not even come close to understanding it is what they'd do.

[prozacnation.livejournal.com]

I send them to webopedia.com and tell them that has the info if they have a computer question. I also say that we (ISP) do not endorse the site - - it is just used as reference.

[dmsalem00.livejournal.com]

I was once accused of using too many big words. Was advised to speak at a seventh grade level.

Not just to the customers, but to management and the other techs, too.

*many repeated headdesks*

[sputtertoo.livejournal.com]

Happens to me a lot, it got even worse when I waited tables. I had co-workers and regulars who would have pads of paper, while waiting tables, so they could write down my "big words", I spew. One of my current customers at the ISP I work for told me I should write a BS tech jargon tome for other techs. I told her such a thing already exists on the web.