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I, hand to your preferred deity, took an "I can't get on the internet" call at an ISP where the cause was a power outage. They were on a land line phone and their mind was blown that wired telephones didn't get their power from your household electric. Determined that since the phone and computer both get plugged into phone lines they should both work. Yeah, I know. I've outed myself as being old as fuck before.
I was actually an electrician once. Most people don't understand the differences between low and high voltage lines, which is fine. We can't all know everything. But maybe know a little to not be totally helpless πŸ˜‚ I used to see all sorts of goofy shit. Especially on old houses where people would do what I called "straight pipe" an old breaker that kept tripping. Why update the panel and wiring for modern draw when you can just burn the fucking house down? Lol
this one still gets me to this day... i replaced all of the computers at a law firm once. it was done after hours. it took me all evening. i was proud when it was done. new desktops, new laptops, everything worked with their existing infrastructure, etc. i went to bed exhausted sometime after midnight. i got a phone call at 7am because a woman said he computer wouldn't work. i was freaking out because she was one of the partner's secretaries and had been there since time began. she was also a very nice lady that i always enjoyed talking to. so i quickly showered and rushed in there. i get there and one of the partners sees me in the hallway and essentially berates me because his secretary is unable to do her job and she has work to do. the issue was none of her desktop icons were in the order that they were previously in on her old computer she would start her day and go down the line of icons from far left top to bottom clicking on law program 1, law program 2, law program 3, email, internet. i don't remember the order i had them in. all i knew was that all of her law programs were there and automatically signed in like she requested and all data was there. i would have never thought she would be unable to use her computer because the icons were out of order. she panicked because icons were not where she wanted them to be and was literally unable to do her job. i think i learned very quickly right then and there that sometimes people panick and their brains shut off when it comes to technology and things they don't understand.
Support staff play a huge educational role in helping people understand the technology they are using. Their role is so important that it's almost a social service. I don't know if those who work in that role realize what an important and wholesome job they have, even if it can get insanely frustrating.
I consider myself above average in technical abilities but I was humbled hard the other day at work. I had to get a HDMI to DP replacement cable for my monitor and when I plugged it in nothing happened so I assumed it only worked one way and told IT I needed a new one. The IT guy came to my cubicle, switched the input and it lit right up πŸ˜‚. I was so ashamed, he must’ve thought I was a moron.
Recurring topic of frustration amongst the so called tech people of all levels. And a way to distinguish themselves from so called normies. Having worked in various so called tech support roles over many many years on different levels with different demographics and educational backgrounds I can only observe that people think differently. And that’s normal. And people (re-)act in different ways when stress level rise. And that’s normal. Even though with my experience I’ve caught myself sometimes with the simplest of seemingly easy to solve tech situations not getting anywhere. Also the magic of just being present with the client/normie often just solves the tech issue. It happens to the best of us and my attitude by now is to stay humble because other people are better at other things than me/us. πŸ’₯
I was half the asshole once. I was working a Network Operations Center helpdesk for a while, and one of our field techs called in (after hours on a weekend) saying his laptop is busted. Now, I was no rookie, I'd been building my own computers for a decade, but this was one of our top field technicians, so I dutifully created the ticket. When he typed, it just printed garbage on the screen. He went online, found his motherboard, and found a post discussing the same problem, which turned out to be a KB9 keyboard chipset error. The laptop needed to be replaced immediately for an important job tomorrow. I called the on-call manager and conferenced him in. After 10 seconds of the tech explaining, the manager asked if he checked NumLock. It was fixed. Scariest words I ever heard: "Gentlemen, we will discuss this on Monday morning. *click*"
One of my first jobs was remote help desk. I got really good at assuming they know nothing and walk them through each and every single click Or push hard to remotely connect when they can't follow basic instructions. One time i picked up my personal phone like with a greeting like a work call, It was at that moment i realized i had to move to something else or risk turning into a robot.
Younger people today are as bad as older people were a decade ago. Smart phones, Chromebooks. These kids don't even know what a folder is, they don't know how to navigate files, and google don't work the way it used to, on YouTube nothing but slop that comes up when you're looking for tutorials. It must be stressful for tech support with this new generation. I can imagine them saying things like "but chatgpt told me it wasn't that so I'm not checking that" Or just not understanding how to navigate things and needing to be hand held the entire way