We do NOT FRICKIN' SUPPORT IT. Even if you are a district manager.

[kizayaen.livejournal.com]

District Manager: "I can't connect to the VPN."

(I walk the DM through some troubleshooting and get him connected)

DM: "Okay, I'm on the VPN, but now I can't connect to Lotus Notes. Just in case it matters, I'm on wireless. I know it's not supported, but [insert whining and bitching about how it's just not convenient enough to connect with a cable when he wants to watch football]" (paraphrased)

Me: "Yeah, the VPN will actively terminate connections if it detects that you're on wireless. That's for security reasons."

DM: "Well, [insert more whining and bitching]"

Me: "Let me have you go ahead and connect using an Ethernet cable even though you've got wireless. I think that's probably what's keeping you from connecting to anything."

DM: "So you're telling me that the CEO of the company doesn't log onto the network using wireless?"

Me: "I couldn't speak for the CEO." (What, you think you merit the same considerations the CEO does? Pfft.)

DM: "But I don't want to use a cable. I'm very busy and I go to hotels where they only support wireless and blah blah blah. I can't be troubled to reconfigure my laptop every time I go back and forth from home to a hotel." (paraphrased)

Me: "I'm sorry. It's not supported. I can't help you with your wireless."

DM: "Well, do you support other clients?" (Subtext: "You can tell THEM how to get their wireless working, why can't you tell me?")

Me: "No, we're a dedicated helpdesk. We only support you."

DM: "I mean, when you take other calls..."

Me: "We only take calls from you. We're a dedicated helpdesk."

DM: "Well, [insert more bitching]"

(I finally get the DM to take out his wireless card, plug in an Ethernet cable, and presto, everything works just fine)

DM: "So you're telling me that this wireless card I bought is worthless and that I wasted my money?"

What I want to say: "Yes. You dumbass, everyone tells you that it's not supported and that you can't use it. I know you know this because you told me yourself that you know it. Why do you think you can use it when nobody else can?"

What I say: "Unfortunately, like I said, the technical aspects of the issue keep you from being able to connect. So yes, that appears to be the case."

DM: "But it would be possible to connect otherwise?"

Me: "Theoretically, if they disabled the functionality of the VPN which terminates wireless connections, then yes, you could connect via wireless."

DM: [insert more bitching]

Me: "I can submit a complaint for you if you like."

DM: "Okay. But don't make me sound like an asshole." (paraphrased)

Me: "I'll only put in here what you've said to me."

Comments

[kedemel.livejournal.com]

Heh, sounds like my old job...where doy ou work?

[kizayaen.livejournal.com]

I work for a company called Dendrite International. We provide outsourced technical support and services for pharmaceutical companies.

[kedemel.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a blast.

[fragbert.livejournal.com]

This is precisely what I mean when I talk about people living in Entitlement Acres.

[kizayaen.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I love that term. I'm going to have to steal it.

You should read a post I wrote from awhile back, before I joined this comm. Talk about Entitlement Acres? The entire company was infested with W32.Zotog and the freaking CEO of the company came out and released a statement saying nobody should so much as turn their laptops on until they got the servers patched and back up. We, the helpdesk, were instructed not to do any troubleshooting whatsoever that involved network connectivity or Internet. Should have made it a slow, easy night, right? Wrong. Call volume was double normal from people saying that they were trying to connect anyway, because they were a special circumstance, and they couldn't. They just could not understand that the servers were down.

http://kizayaen.livejournal.com/121483.html

[rileydag.livejournal.com]

"Hey, I just sent you an email about the email being down!!"

I bet you have heard that one a few times too! I know I have and we are NOT supposed to shoot these people?

[redqueenmeg.livejournal.com]

Ohhh *sympathy* if I get one more call about wireless VPN...

[kizayaen.livejournal.com]

Most of the time, when people call up about wireless, then they know they haven't a leg to stand on and don't give us crap. And then there are assholes like this guy.

He also asked me when they were going to get new laptops to replace these "super old slow" machines. They're running Dell Latitude C610s with Pentium 4 chips. Sure, it's not a top end gaming rig, but it's the best I've ever seen for companies keeping up with computer tech. His reasoning for deciding it's super old and slow? Because it uses Windows 2000. That clearly makes it a six year old laptop, right?

[redqueenmeg.livejournal.com]

What a dip. I'd tell him that they loaded it with Windows 2000 so as not to overheat the processor because XP boots too fast. *snicker*

Yeah, we aren't supposed to have to support wireless VPN, but they've basically told us it's "best effort" support. This means that people can get mad at us and report us no matter what we do/don't do. Yay.

[dirtymatt.livejournal.com]

*sigh* we had someone complaining recently about her "antiquated" PC. It was only a 3Ghz p4 with a gig of RAM. Yah we really cheaped out on her. It turned out her real complaint was that the newer machines, which are basically the same (I think they're 3.2Ghz p4s), look prettier. Sorry, we're not going to upgrade your machine for aesthetic reasons.

[(Anonymous)]

Jeez.

My GAMING rig... which I also use for industrial-strength graphic art and design... is only an AthlonXP 3200+ with a gig of PC3200 and a suitably beefy 3d accelerator. It's two years old and I still haven't found anything it won't run just beautifully. I cannot conceive of somebody complaining about such a machine.

[kizayaen.livejournal.com]

Whoops, that was me.

[shirenomad]

Last line for the win!

[ihateemo.livejournal.com]

If it's policy to not have wireless access to the VPN and people are told it's not supported, then fair enough. But I, for one, don't see a problem with it. The company I work for allows it...