The worst users to support

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There are quite a few people in here who are doing or have done IT support for an end user so i was just wondering who you thought were the worst type of people to do IT support for?

For me, it would have to be teachers, especially ICT teachers and i always think of the old addage "those who can, do, those who can't, teach".

 

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People who think they know IT, but don't.

Some of us teach by choice, my friend.

 

The ones the come barging into your office and explain there problem like its your fault

 

None - they "pay" my wage.

 

Agreed (In general). Training teachers is even worse.

Kids looking for a reason not to work on a Friday afternoon, so find or make faults on their computer, so they can muck about for five minutes whilst the problem is resolved.

Also, my mother.

Maria

 

Yes, but would you ever phone me up, complain your pc isn't turning on and then give the "i'm a bloody ict teacher, of course i've checked it's plugged in, do you think i'm stupid" line before one of the onsites is sent over and reports back "issue resolved: plugged in pc."

 

After spending 8 months working at a High School I can confirm this. ICT Teachers are abysmal, trainee NQTs are even worse. I had one break some £900 speakers because she plugged one of the Audio cables from a speaker (the one that goes into the sub woofer) into a PS/2 Port, breaking the connectors for the speakers, and the PS/2 Connector on the PC. The first I heard of it was "WHY ARE MY SPEAKERS NOT WORKING AFTER YOU TOOK THEM INTO THE SPORTS HALL FOR AN ASSEMBLY"

So I wander over to find the teacher underneath the desk trying to jam them into the back of the PC... Nice!

I agree with this; you provide a service that assures the business can carry on generating revenue. You should jot down at some point all the services you provide on a daily basis, and just what they effect business-wide if they are not done. Management will soon change their tune when they realise just how much of a good deal they get for their money. It's 100% about showing that you provide value.

 

Working in a law firm can be...erm...interesting

The thing is that the associate directors and partners are fine with you (well, most of them). But it's the newly qualified solicitors and paralegals who think that they own the place, lol! And how the partners secretaries think that if they put the word URGENT in the subject heading on an email to the IT department, their request will be dealt with faster.

Some years back I got blamed for a partner taking a laptop home and having it robbed out of his car. The thing is he left it on the back seat! And this is before the firm encrypted laptops using SafeBoot. I was fuming because he wanted a replacement straight away, and I was up to my eyes that day. I sent an email to my manager saying he's out of order and that not all black people are theives ! He'd actually implied that I was in on getting his car broken into. Suffice to say I had to be stopped from going upto his office by my colleagues, and I'm glad they did. It's just rubbish that the minority spoil it.

Some solicitors can be spoilt to say the least! As soon as one of them gets a shiny new laptop, their direct colleagues come up with some lame excuse that theirs is 'too heavy' and they want a 'smaller one' because they travel to the other offices quite frequently. I'm quite happy with my HP 8710w home laptop (which is a beast) and my HP EliteBook 6930p work laptop thanks!

And who has users who send you a snotty email, but blind copy your manager in on it as well? Now that is well sneaky! Luckily my manager would come to me and ask about the issue rather than she kicking off at me and trying to lay blame.

But all in all, I have found that if I am keeping the user informed of their ongoing problem, even if I know I have not done anything since I gave them their last update, they are usually cool with you.

 

Thankfully my users are open enough to copy my manager in rather than BCC so I normally know whats coming before he arrives at my desk. The worse one are those who feel a desperate need to go over both mine and my managers head and go straight to the MD who has the same response to everything 'can't we just replace it?'


short answer: No.

long answer: not if you actually want to turn a profit this year rather than massively and unnecessarily exceeding the IT budget. Oh, and if we do go for the second option it'll take 2 days to get the hardware here anyway which is longer than fixing the original (and prior to this conversation unknown to IT) fault would take.

 

Worst users

PA's to someone important

and users who wish for strange software to be installed, and then when told it cant be installed due to the software not being tested on the network, security policies in place or cost etc............simply reply.

WELL THATS JUST STUPID. Pass me to someone who I can discuss this with, as I demand that software to be installed.

Your at work, on a corporate network............

Group Policy dictates to users, not the other way around

DEAL WITH IT!

 

All of them, but especially my dad.

One of those users who doesn't know what the problem or the solution is, but is convinced that he knows what it isn't.

So troubleshooting is always a headache.

'Have you tried uninstalling ... ?'
'No, it isn't that.'
'Have you tired it with ... unplugged?'
'No, that's not it.'
'Have you turned it off and back on again?'
'Don't think that will help.'

Sigh.

 

ahhh yes, and you get the opposite as well who think that 2 entirely seperate problems with unrelated software/hardware MUST be related.

At its best when the 2 problems occur with at least 3 months gap between them.

I've had the WELL THATS JUST STUPID thing before as well, from a woman who thought we obviously had an infinite budget and could afford to replace our entire infrastructure to meet her requirements....

 

I once had a user tell me that they were sick of the paper getting stuck in the duplex unit on their printer when it printed, and then said to me "just go to the shops with 20 quid from Acccounts and get another one - job sorted!"

Yes, like duplex units for laser printers cost £20

You've got to love these IT amateurs, lol!

 

Do you work in the same company as me?

We have some really annoying pas to partners who think just because it is a partner with a problem i know how to fix absolutely everything. Or the whole IT department for the whole of the UK should turn their attention to this one problem.

People that have worked for a company for many of years and think they own the place aswell.

We also have the people that when pc/pda replacement comes around and new models are released that if they just break their device we will give them a brand spanking new one, their face when we advise they will get another one with roughly the same life end date is amazing or an even older device.

I also dont like people that are hgh up in IT and rather grow some balls and tell a bunch of partners a certain device/app would not be a good idea they just roll over and let it get released.

 

Defo agree with that! PA's that think that you are their personal asistant and that its your job role to replace the paper in their office photocopier and burn CD's for them. Especially when they are fresh out of Uni and believe it is the role of support staff to provide full training on the MS office suite and other training for their role that they should already know!

 

What I find funny is when the PA / Partners secretary kicks off and says that whoever they're working for is angry and demands that someone come up and take a look at this problem now! Yet when you go up there, the partner either isn't there or they thank you for being prompt and they are not in any angry mood that their PA said they were in.

And unfortunately, some IT managers are a bunch of "Yes" people and need to grow a pair! I'm the type of person who treats everyone equally generally, but in my last job I have been asked to give "people of importance" preferential treatment over others. If you're a MD, partner or an office junior, it doesn't matter to me as I'll talk to you all the same.

 

True... but your statement of "Those who can't, teach" demean those of us who have the ability but teach by choice.

In truth, your problem isn't with ICT teachers... it's with ICT teachers who don't know a thing about IT.

 

i.e. most of 'em :P (jk)

I'm rapidly finding myself hitting my stride as a cynical old bastard at the moment, largely because of users and management. So I'm probably spotting more 'worst' users than I normally would.

Its not their fault really, but in the absence of anyone else to blame....