The following is an actual conversation between me and an end user:
End user: My computer keeps turning off on it's own!
Me: Are you using a docking station for your laptop?
End user: Yes I have a docking station.
Me: Is the green light on?
End user: No it isn't.
Me: Hit the power button on the docking station and tell me if the green light comes on.
End user: It doesn't come on.
Me: Is the blue light on that indicates the laptop is connected to the dock?
End user: No. Does the laptop have to be sitting in the docking station?
Me: ..... yes ma'am. Where is your laptop?
End user: It's sitting on my desk.
Me: So it's not on your docking station?
End user: No, my docking station is on the other side of my desk and I need my computer where it is.
Me: Ok. Do you have your travel AC adapter with you?
End user: Yeah...it's in my bag.
Me: Can you get it out and plug it into the laptop?
End user: Sure...but I don't know how that will help.
I hear her rustling around in the background...
End user: Do I need to plug it into the wall as well?
Trying to seriously stifle a laugh and rude comment...
Me: Yes ma'am
I hear more rustling in the background...then the Windows startup sound.
End user: Hey! My laptop just came back on!
Me: Yes ma'am. It sounds like your battery died. You'll need to leave it plugged in so the battery can charge all the way up.
End user: Oh...so it doesn't charge the battery if it's not on the docking station.
Me: No ma'am
Yes...that really happened. ROFL
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
Epic fail
Evidently some of our corporate users feel it's ok to deface company equipment or personalize them like they belong to them. A tech brought a system in earlier that someone had hand painted the department name on the lid of the laptop...in White Out. Yeah...really. I didn't think to take a picture at the time, that would've been awesome!
I just got a system in for repair from one of my users that decided his laptop needed some color. Not exactly sure why they feel it's ok, but for some reason they do.
I just got a system in for repair from one of my users that decided his laptop needed some color. Not exactly sure why they feel it's ok, but for some reason they do.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Karma in the workplace
Yesterday I had my work load down pretty far and asked my co-workers if they needed any help. One of the techs handed me a high priority ticket and said he’d been trying to contact the end user for 2 days unsuccessfully. I told him I would take care of it. After leaving 5 voicemails in an hour, she decided to call me back. She explained she uses an application to program the phone systems here on our main campus, as well as at 2 of our large distributors, but recently she hasn’t been able to connect to the 2 distributor systems. I asked if it was just happening on her system or on any system she logged in to. She tried another system and had the same issue. That eliminated an issue with her computer. I went through several other steps, eliminating the network, Data Security, and any potential firewall or proxy issues, leaving only the application itself.
I explained to the user everything I had done and my findings, and that she would need to call the vendor because we don’t support that software. The user starts yelling at me saying it wasn’t the software, that I had to fix it, and it was all my fault. Um…ok. So I went and talked to my boss, explaining everything I had done, and asked if there was anything else I could try or do. My boss calls the users boss and explains everything to him. The users boss wasn’t even sure why she called in a ticket for the issue since it wasn’t we supported. He said he would go talk to her. My boss gives me an update but asks me to leave the ticket open just in case. So I leave for the day thinking the issue is resolved and the end user was going to call the software vendor. See where this is going?
This morning, the end user calls again asking why I hadn’t fixed the issue, and what was I going to do about it. I calmly explained that all the troubleshooting we had done pointed at the application itself, which we did not support. You can imagine how happy she was to hear that. So I get another ear full about how I’m supposed to magically fix this, and yes it’s still somehow my fault. I got off the phone with her and started double checking everything from network connectivity to group policies to active directory and so on. Everything still point right back at the client application.
The user, in the meantime, has decided I’m evidently incapable of doing my job and runs to the desktop operations manager. What she didn’t know was said manager had overheard how the user had talked to me, and said manager happens to like me and considers me a very capable technician. You can imagine how that conversation backfired. Finally I get an email from the end user saying how she appreciated all the help I had given her and the she now feels it’s an issue with the application and will call the vendor.
…wow…wonder why I didn’t think of that!
I explained to the user everything I had done and my findings, and that she would need to call the vendor because we don’t support that software. The user starts yelling at me saying it wasn’t the software, that I had to fix it, and it was all my fault. Um…ok. So I went and talked to my boss, explaining everything I had done, and asked if there was anything else I could try or do. My boss calls the users boss and explains everything to him. The users boss wasn’t even sure why she called in a ticket for the issue since it wasn’t we supported. He said he would go talk to her. My boss gives me an update but asks me to leave the ticket open just in case. So I leave for the day thinking the issue is resolved and the end user was going to call the software vendor. See where this is going?
This morning, the end user calls again asking why I hadn’t fixed the issue, and what was I going to do about it. I calmly explained that all the troubleshooting we had done pointed at the application itself, which we did not support. You can imagine how happy she was to hear that. So I get another ear full about how I’m supposed to magically fix this, and yes it’s still somehow my fault. I got off the phone with her and started double checking everything from network connectivity to group policies to active directory and so on. Everything still point right back at the client application.
The user, in the meantime, has decided I’m evidently incapable of doing my job and runs to the desktop operations manager. What she didn’t know was said manager had overheard how the user had talked to me, and said manager happens to like me and considers me a very capable technician. You can imagine how that conversation backfired. Finally I get an email from the end user saying how she appreciated all the help I had given her and the she now feels it’s an issue with the application and will call the vendor.
…wow…wonder why I didn’t think of that!
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