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techrecoveryA call from yesterday.
Being a large organisation, we have many IT helpdesks scattered around the country, who mostly each deal with their own little app. We're the exception, being the "everything else" desk.
So I get a call from Desk A, saying they have a caller on the line who cannot log into Desk B's remote terminal app. B's expertise lies within the app itself, not the security access to it. A's expertise is security, but they think this problem is with the app itself, not the access. I take the call, find out that the person originally called Desk C (non-local back-end systems), was put through to B and then A, and then us.
I remote to her desktop and notice that the app is behaving weirdly. To log on, users put in their userid, password, and press F2 (not Enter or anything sane). The results screen she gets is one I have never seen before. I try F2, works normally. Desk A agrees that they also tried that remotely and it worked A-OK for them.
I check application-specific macros. Nothing. Windows macros. Nothing. Swap keyboards and tell her to try F2. No change. Swap PCs and tell her to try F2. No change. Blow away her entire home server profile, relogin and tell her to try F2. No change. I ask her to try Shift-F2, Ctrl-F2 and Alt-F2 in desperation. No help whatsoever.
I call back Desk B in case they've ever heard of the weird screen coming up. Nada. In desperation, I even try Desk D (local back-end systems). Zilch.
An hour has passed, and I am about to scream. And then the user says...
"So I put in my userID and password, press Shift-F2..."
Yes, every time anyone had told her to press F2, she had decided, for no apparent reason, to press Shift-F2 instead. Which is not, cannot be, and has never in the twenty-year history of the app EVER been linked to the login function.
So for an hour, this woman had not only forgotten how to use a login function she had happily used every day for the past five years, but decided to then lie to every single person she spoke to about what she was actually doing.
Lady, see a damn shrink. You have issues.
Being a large organisation, we have many IT helpdesks scattered around the country, who mostly each deal with their own little app. We're the exception, being the "everything else" desk.
So I get a call from Desk A, saying they have a caller on the line who cannot log into Desk B's remote terminal app. B's expertise lies within the app itself, not the security access to it. A's expertise is security, but they think this problem is with the app itself, not the access. I take the call, find out that the person originally called Desk C (non-local back-end systems), was put through to B and then A, and then us.
I remote to her desktop and notice that the app is behaving weirdly. To log on, users put in their userid, password, and press F2 (not Enter or anything sane). The results screen she gets is one I have never seen before. I try F2, works normally. Desk A agrees that they also tried that remotely and it worked A-OK for them.
I check application-specific macros. Nothing. Windows macros. Nothing. Swap keyboards and tell her to try F2. No change. Swap PCs and tell her to try F2. No change. Blow away her entire home server profile, relogin and tell her to try F2. No change. I ask her to try Shift-F2, Ctrl-F2 and Alt-F2 in desperation. No help whatsoever.
I call back Desk B in case they've ever heard of the weird screen coming up. Nada. In desperation, I even try Desk D (local back-end systems). Zilch.
An hour has passed, and I am about to scream. And then the user says...
"So I put in my userID and password, press Shift-F2..."
Yes, every time anyone had told her to press F2, she had decided, for no apparent reason, to press Shift-F2 instead. Which is not, cannot be, and has never in the twenty-year history of the app EVER been linked to the login function.
So for an hour, this woman had not only forgotten how to use a login function she had happily used every day for the past five years, but decided to then lie to every single person she spoke to about what she was actually doing.
Lady, see a damn shrink. You have issues.
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>.<
Date: 2006-01-19 11:06 am (UTC)this reminds me of the time i had a user complain that their keyboard was "mysteriously" malfunctioning. they grudgingly admitted after i turned it upside down and liquid dribbled onto the desk that they'd spilled their drink into it.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-19 02:05 pm (UTC)*nods understandingly*
Ah, the standard PEBKAC error...
*sends calming, soothing snuggles*
Re: >.<
Date: 2006-01-19 04:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-19 04:18 pm (UTC)benefit of the doubt
Date: 2006-01-19 05:37 pm (UTC)It must be just me
Date: 2006-01-19 06:31 pm (UTC)I suppose I have an advantage in being deskside support--it's one thing to be a pissed-off tech, but for the users to actually see a normally mild-mannered and easy-going helpful guy turn into an a mass of seething rage and frustration under a thin mask of civility...
Yes, I seem to have that effect on people ;)