(no subject)

[digitaldiscipline]

I hate Randall Munroe just a little bit for today's XKCD.

Comments

[vatine]

It's so true, though. Although, I have had fast-passes at some helpdesks. "Just log a ticket, ask $FJUK to look at it, if s/he says close it, you can call me back and call me stupid."

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

step 1) get their name
step 2) if i get a script-kiddie ;) and i know in advance it's going to be tedious, or PLEASE INSTALL OUR MONITOR PROGRAM, or something, i immediately ask for a supervisor.
step 3) profit!

it really IS nice getting the clued person.

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[etcet.livejournal.com]

I've found that playing the BTDT card works on the rare occasions I need to call for support with my cable modem or cable box.

"I don't envy you guys. When I was doing broadband support, DOCSIS 1.1 was just coming out. I think some of the crap I wrote might still be in the Motorola manuals..."

I don't get asked to reboot again if I've told them I've already done so.

[sskipstress.livejournal.com]

Once upon a time, I had 3-hour on-site coverage for some hardware. Unfortunately the only way to get them to come was to get through the script, which inevitably ended in "We don't support your operating system". My solution? Call back and act too dumb to follow the script so they sent the tech in frustration. Then when the tech calls to in frustration to get more information because the ticket is useless, describe the problem in meaningful detail (the computer can't read the CD-rom drive, but the drive works fine in a different computer).

[cheez-ball.livejournal.com]

I just giggled because Shibboleet looks so much like Shibboleth. Most likely intentionally.

Want to really bake the brains of the script readers? Ask about things like firefox-zotero compatibility issues on an older mac. The ones in my college just say "we can't help you" and hang up after I inform them I've already rebooted and reinstalled both programs. When I looked into it myself and wasted an entire weekend on it I found out it was an odd error message and they actually worked sorta fine together. Not perfect, but alright as long as I remember to keep hitting the "cancel" button with each dialog box.

I'm not complaining about IT, in general. Just the ones in my college. The department has a huge turnover so I've learned not to get too attached to the ones who know what they're doing. The script readers tend to be the only ones who stay. :-/ For advanced stuff I call an IT friend in a different college and pay in beer/food.

[drcuriosity]

I think my first thought was something along the lines of "Oh yeah, Randall's made himself some friends in the call centre today, for sure."