Ever had the joys of having a help desk technician that is simply the worst of the worst? I have. Ticket responses rarely made sense, things took forever to get done. I was so thankful when I moved and started to experience the tech support I deserved again. Reading through The Chronicles of George reminded me of the bad times though. Scary, very scary. If you think your tech support is bad, just check these out! [via #!/usr/bin/girl]
So, what was your worst tech support or help desk experience?
16 replies on “Help Desk Werkers…”
are you havening a laugh at poor George’s expense? consider yourself lucky if your hole area can send email!
Nothing will ever compare to the Time Warner PHD candidate who told my wife “Hold on while I transfer you to network services, they can help you with this problem right away” around 7PM when the department closed at 5.
Trust me, it’s much worse on the other side. Not in that “the clients are so stupid” way you hear complained about all the time, but in the “I have to work with these freaks?” way that makes me so, so proud to work at a real Zoo now instead. 😉
i agree with cis…
i’ve been on both sides of this equation and it’s soooo much worse helping out the people. i’d much rather tell a tech guy he’s stupid and speak to his manager to get my problem fixed than telling the idiot caller they shouldn’t even be around a computer and not hear the end of it from my supervisor.
you’d be surprised at some of the doozies i had to deal with on some calls.
Oh Dave, I wouldn’t be surprised at all. I’ve been there, done that. Thank goodness for mute buttons on phones, because I have muted calls and just screamed at people while dealing with their stupidity.
hmmm… *mute* button?!? that’s ingeniuous! dammit, why didn’t i think of that?!?! i wish i knew ya back in my tech support days, that mute button woudl have saved my hide countless times! 🙂
Oh yeah, I even asked someone once if they could hold “so I could get an answer” for them, and just sat their and screamed. Then I picked the phone back up with my calm happy voice and gave them the answer. It’s an old trick from my waitress days – I used to go in to the huge walk in freezer and just scream when I was stressed – nothing feels quite as good.
I wish we had a walk-in freezer here at my office – let’s just say we’ve started calling them the “no-help desk.”
hmmm… feezer eh??
actually, we have a huge whale-sized safe i think i can get into… however my unlucky butt would manage to lock myself in there. :-/
I’ve done helpdesk work for 8 years, with training in the middle of that time period. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is worse than answering a clueless user…er…I mean client.
The mute idea that Christine suggests is a daily occurrence. Why?
Client: My computer says press any key to continue. I don’t see the Any Key.
I’ve had enough of those calls (they’re real, trust me) to write a sitcom.
True, true, true. But not what I was saying, exactly.
I meant they don’t completely segregate (though god knows we try on our own) the good help desk techs from the bad in the call centers. So I’ve been sitting there, trying to correctly help a client, while being completely distracted by the absurdity and plain lame-ass-ness of the “answers” being offered by a technician sitting beside me.
I was commenting that I sympathize with bad tech support victims because not only have I had to repair the damage that’s been caused (both to the client’s system and their opinion of tech support); I’ve also had to sit next to these stupid bastards and try not to laugh out loud / strangle them with their headset.
Sounds like my situation. I work with a bunch of unhelpful idiots, many of whom are upset because we’re likely losing our jobs by this time next year in a massive reorg.
Fun, fun, fun. However, I’ll take the 37 weeks of severance that’ll come my way if they don’t retain me. . .
That site is great, here is another one you must check out: http://www.techcomedy.com/
sadly, having worked for two ISP’s… this is like 1/2 the emails we get. don’t get me wrong, it’s hilarious to read…but deep down, i want to cry in sympathy.
(i strongly suggest perusing the tech tales archives…)
Christine,
At least you didn’t put two guys on hold to really lookup an answer for them in a Kbase on a product you don’t officially Support, only to have to listen to how you’d never be able to get an answer for them because,you’re well,
well… god forbid, Female.
I did answer their questions, with a snippy comment added. (They knew I heard them when I returned.) Sleezoids.
-Z
OK, about time. I have had Chronicles of George in my blog for months! 🙂