The IT people in my office

The BBQ Pit
1

It seems that I have a unique ability to come up with insoluble problems for the IT people who are meant to provide “support.” In every office I have worked in, both private sector (a subsidiary of BT that provided “technological solutions,” for Pete’s sake!) and government (which is more understandable), I manage to stump them.

Now, I am an artsie. I have two degrees in subjects entirely unrelated to technology. I am not, however, an idiot, and I have managed to make myself pretty familiar with what I need to know to do my job, plus what I need to know when something goes wrong. Which has more than once (too often to count, in fact) resulted in me calling IT, taking many minutes to explain my problem to the poor sap who answers, telling them that I’ve already tried the eight solutions that they suggest, and having them say “Oh.”

Often, I manage to figure out a solution for myself before they get back to me.

I have on occasion found them quite helpful. I am glad they are there. I in no way mean to disparage the intelligent and capable people who work in IT. I’m just wondering how it is that I, and only I, manage to come up with these ‘challenges.’ Is it because, upon running into a problem, many people will just give up, while I will chase down the solution? Is it because I, in my menial, low-grade admin office jobs, have more challenging tasks than anyone else in the land? (This is really the crux of it. My jobs never require me to ask much of my computer. I’m sure if I wanted to do remote-control neurosurgery, they would be very very helpful. Posting Acrobat documents on the Intranet site, on the other hand, is beyond their capabilities.)

In the past, problems have included things like my computer, randomly and without warning, crashing. Yes I know I can’t have too many windows open at once. Guess what: I don’t. Yes I know you don’t know why it’s happening. Yes I know it’s strange. I also have software problems, particularly involving tables in Word, that IT people solve only after I have taken them step-by-step through the twelve ways I have already approached it, sent it off to them for the evening, where they have most likely made use of their (a) paid time to sort these things out and (b) extensive network of people they can call and say “Hey, do you know how to fix this?” Things that I could have done if I had had those resources.

Today’s problem, with the Acrobat documents, is particularly annoying. My web support people say it’s an Acrobat problem, my IT support people say it’s a Web problem. Either way, it’s my problem, although I know almost nothing about the Web or Acrobat. Grr.

Lame rant, really. I like and appreciate the IT people. I just wanna know, what is it about my work that makes IT people say “Oh, I’ve never seen this happen before!”

2

One thing someone should have mentioned to you: computers can be lemons just like cars can. Your crashing could be any one of a jillion possible physical problems with various parts of the computer. Subtle overheating of this component or that component is a common bugbear.

…

You should post the details of your Acrobat issue in GQ. Odds are, you’ll get helpful advice.

3

Did you try rebooting?

4

Try turning it off, then back on again…

: d&r :

5

Damn you Goober McFly!

6

Mangetout

Actually, I once worked in the customer service dept of a cable company, and people sometimes called in to report problems with their service which I knew (but was not permitted to tell) could be solved with a kick to the set-top box. Once an engineer actually went out to a customer’s house and did exactly that … the customer was not impressed. But isn’t that kind of thing the first thing you do, even before calling the cable company?

Some people … sheesh !

7

The last place I worked, “Turn it off, then back on again” was pretty much the only response you could get from the IT helpdesk; now I have moved on and I find myself in an IT support role; I also find myself suggesting a reboot on most support calls.

That’s right - I have become that which I despise.

8

Well, let’s try reformatting and installing Windows again.
[doesn’t stop to duck, just runs]

9

Heh, heh. I sent the evil document in question to the helpful IT guy, and his advice: remove the links, re-insert them, save it, and then it will work.

It doesn’t. At least, it worked for him, it doesn’t work for me.

I’m out of my league on this one - normally I can do what I want with my computer but this particular problem is one I think I am ready to give up on.

I’d take it to GQ but I think it would take at least three hours to effectively describe what I need to do (it’s a bit complicated and very situation-specific), and then there would be three pages of clarification, and by then I probably would have jumped out the window.

I think the only solution is for them to send me away for some training.

I understand the problems IT people must have: some people who call you are utter morons, and some people probably know more than you do, and it’s very bad to assume that someone is one and not the other.

Maybe I should become an IT person. The only relevant experience my resume would show, though, is “being apparently smarter than most of the IT people I have ever worked with.”

10

I’m in IT support, and it’s easy to see why people get frustrated and if you have multiple helpdesks the frustration compounds. However while it would be nice if we knew the instant answer to your problem, we sometimes don’t.

From what I see you explained what you already did to troubleshoot the issue, left the issue with them overnight where they brainstormed and used techical resources to solve the issue for the next day. I fail to see the problem here. After you eliminate the obvious problems, the answer is usually obscure and requires research.

11

That’s a little harsh. I’m sure you can run circles around me with Word and Adobe, but there is a heck of a lot more to IT than “situation-specific” application support.

12

I’m sorry, anonymous, I didn’t mean to suggest that the IT people are dumber than me. I’m just frustrated, I guess, because problems that have simple answers (“reboot” or “change host file”) are ones I can usually solve myself, and the ones I call IT for are real stumpers. I do get frustrated with IT people treating me like an idiot but that hasn’t happened lately, seems my practice of “be overly nice to everyone that you want something from” seems to be effective. Plus maybe they’ve had enough stumpers from me that they realize I know what I’m talking about …

And, all I ever use IT for are “situation-specific” application support.

The good news is: my head hurts quite a lot, but it looks like my particular problem may be on the way to being solved. Too bad it’s so situation-specific that I can never put it on my resume!

13

Without being familiar with your office or your specific situation, I don’t want to come off as too snarky. But, is Adobe a corporately supported tool? Is your desktop configuration a standard corporate install? As an IT person, I try to be as helpful as possible but when I get calls from someone who installed or upgraded a piece of software that falls outside the standard, I’ll still try to help but they may be SOL. If it’s the corporate standard, the problem should be reproduceable (unless it’s a hardware problem). But you said your IT guy couldn’t reproduce your problem. This suggests that there is something different about your setup. It could be something as simple as a different version of Acrobat or a Windows Office patch that was/wasn’t installed. With Windows as buggy as it is, it’s amazing that most non-Microsoft software doesn’t cause more problems inter-operating with other applications.

14

Some conversations I’ve had over the years with users.
User: I need help in Excel formatting my spreadsheet.
Me: I’m the Supervisor. Have you called the help desk? Do you have an issue with one of the help desk people?
User: No, they never seem to be able to help me.
Me: I see. How much of your day is spent on Excel?
User: 6 hours
Me: I use Excel once every 5 weeks to fill in my time sheet and travel request. I also have my rotation schedule in Excel which I check occasionally. You use it 6 hours a day everyday. The help desk deals with these problems on a daily basis, while I deal with WAN, LAN, Server, Planning, Management, and Infrastructure issues, but you want me to help you with your excel problem, correct? Sure, I have nothing better to do! How can I help?
<explanation of problem from user. I look at the sheet, remember some items from an old excel course taken 6 years ago, read the help in excel, and fix his problem in ~10 minutes which could have been solved if the user had taken advantage of the frikkin Smartforce program that would teach him how to become an excel expert in three easy lessons which we provide for free to all users. Lazy bastard.>

Or,
User (who uses custom oil mapping program): This program is very slow.
Me: What’s the issue?
User: I’m trying to add layers to this map. It crashes when I do.
Me: Let me look (I poke around but really don’t have a clue, so I call the product help line which is a service we pay for because I certainly am not going to spend time learning one proprietary progam when I have little enough time to learn all the network/server stuff I use on a daily basis).
Me (to tech): The user is having a problem when he adds a layer to his map.
Tech: Hmmm…(pokes around a bit). How many layers are on this map? (I can hear the distress in his voice)
Me: Uh, he told me about 36.
Tech: WHAT!!! You should only use 5 to 6 layers. Is this guy stupid?
Me: (looking at user who hears nothing of this)Well, he says he isn’t, but they always do don’t they?
Tech: Ugh, I hear ya, buddy. Tell him to do it this way.
Me: (I show user. User objects saying he likes his way better. Tech says no way. User objects. Tech states program doesn’t work that way, nor will it ever. User wants them to change it. I leave at that point…)

Or,
Me: (gets call Sunday morning at home at 7:30am from a user who continually complains about this issue. The plotter in question was old and never worked right from the start) Huh, what?
User: I’m trying to plot this map out and the plotter doesn’t work.
Me: What? Who the fuck is this?
User: Joe Idiot and I’d appreciate you not swearing at me.
Me: Someone calls me Sunday morning and wakes me up about some plotter is going to get sweared at. How the hell did you get my number?
User: I looked it up in the phone book (that would be the White Pages, not the company directory which doesn’t have home numbers in it).
Me: Fuck! What is the problem.
User: The 650 plotter on the west end isn’t working and I need these plots for Monday morning.
Me: (totally pissed now) Do you not see the HP1020 plotter right next to the 650? The one I have pointed out to you on many occasions and asked you to use if the 650 is down. Fucking use it!
User: Well, I don’t like using that one because it is so heavily utilized and I can never get my plots off of it with everyone else using it.
Me: THEY AREN’T USING IT ON A BLOODY SUNDAY MORNING AT 7:30AM, THEY DAMN WELL BLOODY WELL HELL THEY AREN’T!! YOU’RE THE ONLY FOOL IN THE DAMN OFFICE, AREN’T YOU?!!
Me: (Monday morning I removed the offending 650 plotter from his location and placed it in the company auction for employees to purchase surplus items. Guess who bought it? I figure by now they must have children!)

15

Being overly nice is not really necessary, just being nice (to someone that you called asking for help) is enough to get me to go above and beyond to correct a user’s problem. Start off a call by being snarky and short though, and the level of service goes waaaay down. I’ll never give substandard service, but treat me like crap when you’re asking for my assistance and you’ll never receive anything more than what I’m obligated to provide.

Pebs
(who’s sick and tired of IT and helpdesk people getting dumped on)

On preview:cowgirl, you may not be dumping on IT workers, but that statement just kind of touched a nerve.

16

Our desktop support people don’t support applications. They support desktops. Have an Excel problem - buy a book, take some training. They are too busy setting up new machines, tracking down viruses, installing software, fixing hardware.

Helping you fix a table (or links) would not be part of their job. However, they end up doing it, putting some time towards it, getting yelled at for it by both the end user “why don’t you do this better! I already did THAT! Do you think I’m stupid! Why don’t you know this answer!” and by their bosses “What in the world were you doing spending three hours helping someone do pivot tables?”

17

I think the root of the problem is that there’s such a distance between what IT people do and know, and what people who use the IT helpdesk do, and know. I come to them with quite specific problems that there’s a good chance they’ve never seen before, so we’re kind of left to puzzle it out together. Or, in the case of posting my document, I am the ONLY ONE who knows about both Acrobat and the web software, even tho I know substantially less than either the IT people or the Web people about either. Harumph.

I anticipate a shift, though: in ten or twenty years, more and more office people will know more and more about their computers, and will be much more able to solve the simple problems themselves (or avoid getting themselves into stupid and unnecessary situations).

18

This is exactly right. There are so many different software programs, each of which now has so many obscure features, that there is no way you can train a helpdesk person to know how to use and help you with every feature of every program.

This wasn’t always the case. Back in my helpdesk days, I could have helped you use every single feature of WordPerfect 5.1. Because, relatively speaking, there weren’t that many. Today, I have to ask Clippy how to do anything in Office XP.

Even if you could train a person to be that knowledgable, there’s no way that it’d be cost-effective to keep him behind the helpdesk. He’d want too much money.

So what you end up with is a helpdesk staffed with people who know how to help people with simple problems. People with your level of knowledge usually give up on calling the helpdesk, as they recognize that the problem will require research and experimenting and experienced users tend to think that they’re better at that sort of thing than their helpdesk (and they usually are, since you probably know the software better simply because you use it every day).

That your helpdesk is still able to help you research and experiment actually speaks very well for your helpdesk people, IMHO.

-lv

19

Actually, I would appreciate it if more end-users would read the help files. Or, hell, even open them up once in a while.

20

I say kill all IT people, for too long they have been the enemies of the workers.