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Thread: Tales from Techsupport

  1. #1081
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    Re: Tales from Techsupport

    Back when I was doing IT work I wouldn't touch someone's personal computer with a ten foot pole. I just wasn't willing to be responsible for it. I would happily give information on where to go for that kind of help, but that was it.
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  2. #1082
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    Re: Tales from Techsupport

    Back when I was doing IT work I wouldn't touch someone's personal computer with a ten foot pole. I just wasn't willing to be responsible for it. I would happily give information on where to go for that kind of help, but that was it.
    Same. Only Family... and friends so close they are family.
    I've got beer to drink and You guys are wasting my time.

  3. #1083
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    Re: Tales from Techsupport

    https://ca.news.yahoo.com/colorado-m...191856963.html

    Colorado man cited for 'killing' uncooperative computer with handgun
    I think we can all relate a bit....

  4. #1084
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    Re: Tales from Techsupport

    Quote Originally Posted by Schezar View Post
    Back when I was doing IT work I wouldn't touch someone's personal computer with a ten foot pole. I just wasn't willing to be responsible for it. I would happily give information on where to go for that kind of help, but that was it.
    Once you touched their PC you owned it for life. No matter how unrelated the problem is to what you fixed, they always come back to you expecting a solution. It's one of the reasons I didn't do work on the side for people. I already had people I didn't know calling me "Hi! I'm a friend of your mom's and she says you fix computers and could help me...".

  5. #1085
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    Re: Tales from Techsupport

    Coworker: Customer's getting an error when working in client data
    Me: I know that error, don't let her make any other changes, send it right into us for examination
    CW: Now the customer can't access the data at all
    Me: Wait, what? What did you do?
    CW: She rebooted and tried to re-access the data and now she's having further problems
    Me: So... why didn't you just have her send in the data like I told you to?
    CW: I didn't believe you

  6. #1086

    Re: Tales from Techsupport

    Quote Originally Posted by Mileron View Post
    Coworker: Customer's getting an error when working in client data
    Me: I know that error, don't let her make any other changes, send it right into us for examination
    CW: Now the customer can't access the data at all
    Me: Wait, what? What did you do?
    CW: She rebooted and tried to re-access the data and now she's having further problems
    Me: So... why didn't you just have her send in the data like I told you to?
    CW: I didn't believe you

  7. #1087
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    Re: Tales from Techsupport

    Quote Originally Posted by Schezar View Post
    Back when I was doing IT work I wouldn't touch someone's personal computer with a ten foot pole. I just wasn't willing to be responsible for it. I would happily give information on where to go for that kind of help, but that was it.
    Same deal. I only help family, the other path leads straight into a bog....
    "Silver bullet solutions are rare, silver bullet sales commonplace"

  8. #1088
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    Re: Tales from Techsupport

    Quote Originally Posted by Schezar View Post
    Back when I was doing IT work I wouldn't touch someone's personal computer with a ten foot pole. I just wasn't willing to be responsible for it. I would happily give information on where to go for that kind of help, but that was it.
    That is why the SOP at most ISPs is to tell people to talk to their computer vendor once you know the link is functional.

    Of course it does not help that customers are so fucking dumb they think the internet is their cable modem and so if they get a virus it clearly came from that rather than their stupidity of clicking things they should not.
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  9. #1089
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    Re: Tales from Techsupport

    This is the month of "Who's on First" and it's getting old

    Co-Lead Tech: Do you know if (specific error) was ever fixed?
    Me: We've only ever had two calls on it, and both are yours
    CLT: Yes, but was it fixed
    Me: And the first one was escalated to development
    CLT: Yes, but was it fixed
    Me: And you were the last person to communicate with either development or the customer about anything that stemmed from the escalation
    CLT: Why are you telling me something I already know? Was it fixed?
    Me: YOU are the one who escalated the problem. YOU are the one who communicated with the customer. YOU are the one who should know, NOT ME. Check your notes. Verify with the programmer. Look at your archived emails. I have NO information.
    CLT: Why not?

  10. #1090
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    Re: Tales from Techsupport

    Problem Coworker: When I'm in the office, everything's really slow
    Me: Have you rebooted?
    PCW: I just got in.
    Me: When you left home, did you shut your computer down or put it to sleep?
    PCW: I put it to sleep
    Me: Go ahead and reboot and let me know how it manages

    (30 minutes later)
    PCW: It's still really slow. This happens all the time when I'm in the office
    Me: *remotely connects to her computer and looks around*
    Me: Do you always connect to the VPN when you're in the office?
    PCW: Yes

  11. #1091
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    Re: Tales from Techsupport

    So, we've got a New Law Enforcement database going in soon. We've got training today, We've got 4 computers setup in a conference room - had to drop a switch in there to have enough network ports (only 2 in the room normaly) -- so, they call in, "jeee we were on the network and connected and suddenly it dropped off, now it's just stuck trying to connect";

    Ok, we'll get somebody to check it out.

    (here comes "Tryphobia" again)
    Me: Hey Other Tech - Go check it out, this is the situation...

    OT: went and looked switch has lights, but they can't connect... Maybe check the uplink port maybe something happened to that?

    Me: Are you joking? sure, fine - login to switch sho int g0/16 -- Line down, Line protocol down; That's Cisco's way of saying cables not plugged in.

    OT: Oh. Yup, cable got nocked loose.

    me: Ya think? Why didn't you check that first?

    OT: Oh, I just though maybe the switch port got disabled...



    Translation - Switch networks confuse me, therefore that must be where the problem lies, because I don't understand it - rather than running through my troubleshooting steps of checking TO SEE IF IT'S FUCKING PLUGGED IN FIRST.
    I've got beer to drink and You guys are wasting my time.

  12. #1092
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    Re: Tales from Techsupport

    Because checking the physical layer requires actual work... Yet checking the cable should be the first step in networking issues when said cable is accessible. It is not hard to unplug it and then reseat it
    Today we sail
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  13. #1093
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    Re: Tales from Techsupport

    Because checking the physical layer requires actual work... Yet checking the cable should be the first step in networking issues when said cable is accessible. It is not hard to unplug it and then reseat it
    Actually it was more work the way he did it.

    He walked down, walked back to ask me to check the uplink port on the remote switch. and then I made him walk back down again after I told him - CABLE is UNPLUGGED!

    Instead of Jee -- maybe this cable lying across the floor of the conference room that people are walking on and around got bumped -- cause that'd be to easy.
    I've got beer to drink and You guys are wasting my time.

  14. #1094
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    Re: Tales from Techsupport

    haha sounds like someone who would call tech support because their plugged in laptop is not charging, Before reaching down and making sure the cord to the outlet did not wiggle out of the power brick itself.
    Today we sail
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    So farewell with a kiss
    Then it's fast for the mist
    Till we're sleeping in the cold below

  15. #1095
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    Re: Tales from Techsupport

    User: OH MY GOD it's all gone! And there's no undo button!
    Me: Did you try Ctrl-Z?
    User: Do what now?

  16. #1096
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    Re: Tales from Techsupport

    Quote Originally Posted by Mileron View Post
    Problem Coworker: When I'm in the office, everything's really slow
    Me: Have you rebooted?
    PCW: I just got in.
    Me: When you left home, did you shut your computer down or put it to sleep?
    PCW: I put it to sleep
    Me: Go ahead and reboot and let me know how it manages

    (30 minutes later)
    PCW: It's still really slow. This happens all the time when I'm in the office
    Me: *remotely connects to her computer and looks around*
    Me: Do you always connect to the VPN when you're in the office?
    PCW: Yes
    I have seen that TOO MANY TIMES TO COUNT in just the last month.

    My favorite is people who don't know that their password for the corporate wireless is their windows username/password...the one they used to log in every day...and every time they've been up from their desks for more than 5 minutes.

    So they connect to guest wireless...then VPN into the network. "It's the only way I can access my network drives!!!"

    /facepalm
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  17. #1097
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    Re: Tales from Techsupport

    Quote Originally Posted by Melcar View Post
    Me: Are you joking? sure, fine - login to switch sho int g0/16 -- Line down, Line protocol down; That's Cisco's way of saying cables not plugged in.

    OT: Oh. Yup, cable got nocked loose.

    me: Ya think? Why didn't you check that first?

    OT: Oh, I just though maybe the switch port got disabled...
    ....I think I've seen a switch port randomly disable itself ONCE....in 15 years (when there were no other problems and the switch wasn't simply in the process of dying).

    It had something to do with PoE and firmware, I think, and it was only the one port. Something about an early version not being able to handle enough load on individual cards or something. It's been years. I got the impression it was literally a coding typo.

    Flashing fixed it.

    DEFINITELY nowhere *near* the first thing I would think of unless I was in a room full of college students who were LEARNING switches and didn't know that a simple mouse click can shut off a port on some models. Heh.
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  18. #1098
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    Re: Tales from Techsupport

    A chatty network card "can" do it. But yeah, switch port going to an error disabled state is rare. That's the thing.

    Step 1 of troubleshooting is: "check to make sure the fucking thing is plugged in"!
    I've got beer to drink and You guys are wasting my time.

  19. #1099
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    Re: Tales from Techsupport

    On a conference call with 18 devs and one other support person, the lead/moderator of the discussion says:

    "We need to have Support write up a list of questions that they ask to help them determine the problem so that we can better understand where they're coming from."

  20. #1100
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    Re: Tales from Techsupport

    "We need to have Support write up a list of questions that they ask to help them determine the problem so that we can better understand where they're coming from."
    Question 1) What are you trying to do exactly?

    Question 2) How exactly are you trying to do it?

    Question 3) What exactly is the problem?

    Question 4) Could you check to make sure it's actually plugged in?
    I've got beer to drink and You guys are wasting my time.

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