Tales from Techsupport

[FilanFyretracker]

Wide gulf of responses today in the bi-weekly password reset reminders that I send.

From:
"Third time's the charm. Thank you for your consistent reminders I keep putting this off and I would have forgotten without at least three notices. Just changed it"

to:
"OK Dad... LOL"

Just to be curious I am hoping you do not require password changes every other week.

[Mileron]

Just to be curious I am hoping you do not require password changes every other week.

no

Because 70+% of our workforce is now using RDS (and the rest VPN) people simply aren't paying attention to the Windows popups that state their password will be expiring soon.

This got really bad the week after our Covid exodus back in March, because almost forty people in one of our non-US offices had their passwords expire.

And of course no one pays attention to IT when we give them alternate means to reset passwords instead of calling their managers and begging for a helpdesk ticket to be opened.

So at the moment, I run a script every Monday and Thursday and alert those people whose passwords will be expiring within the next two weeks.

Thus far, my immediate-change rate is about 25%; change rate by the time the third email is received is close to 80%. There's still some idiots who ignore all three emails, and we still get up to a dozen tickets for password resets every Monday.

[FilanFyretracker]

ahh okay and ouch, People need to pay attention to emails.

when I had an office job I had rules setup for my outlook specifically so lots of the BS emails got shuttled off to other folders. Meaning important notices never got disappeared in a pile.

[Mileron]

I shipped a desktop setup (pc, keyboard, mouse, phone, monitor) to a guy about 30 miles outside of Philly so he could start work.
The monitor arrived DOA (in its original shipping box; also, I had tested it before I shipped it and it worked fine)
So I sent him a replacement monitor - works fine
Need the original monitor back so I can warranty it
I mail him a shipping label (he has no printer)
Follow up with him for a month and he finally ships it back
Due to Covid and the unrest in Philly, it took two weeks to go between two locations that are less than 20 miles apart
I get no updates on it until this morning
YAY delivery scheduled for after 3pm
It's delivered
I check the camera of my office's reception area - no box
I check the tracking info
Delivered
I look at it again
Delivered back at the original location to which I'd shipped it 45+ days ago
I look at the tracking status minutiae
"Barcode Label unreadable and replaced"

Fedex: we can't contact you when barcodes are damaged, so we delivered it to where it came from

NO! You have the fucking tracking number, you should know the address to which it needs to come, why did it go back?

[FilanFyretracker]

wait... hold up...

When I worked for UPS if we had a label that didnt scan it went up this loft area where there was a group of people who would look up the data on the address label, try and scan the 2D/Maxicode(that array of dots with the bullseye in the middle on a UPS label, Kinda looks like a QR code), Etc. They had specific methods to recover the normal barcode and get a package on its way to where it was actually shipped.

[Mileron]

Ticket: We need an RSA token app installed into Windows
Me: You're a remote user, you use RDS, I can't install one app onto 30+ servers for one person. Do they have an alternate option, like a mobile app?
Ticket: Yes, but it won't allow for the same level of functionality (copy/paste) that we need to do our jobs...
Me: RSA token generation is typically 6-8 numerical characters that remains available for 30 seconds, giving you ample time to retype it on your computer
Ticket: But we can't copy/paste from our phones

babystoy.jpg

[Mileron]

wait... hold up...

When I worked for UPS if we had a label that didnt scan it went up this loft area where there was a group of people who would look up the data on the address label, try and scan the 2D/Maxicode(that array of dots with the bullseye in the middle on a UPS label, Kinda looks like a QR code), Etc. They had specific methods to recover the normal barcode and get a package on its way to where it was actually shipped.

I finally talked to a Fedex Trace Dept person this past Monday.
Basically she said "you need to re-send a shipping label".
She couldn't grasp that it was Fedex that fucked up, no matter how many times I showed her the emails or tracking info that showed "label damaged" which had a correct initial destination which was then changed.
Oh well. My office admin can fight with them to get the 21 bucks back.

[FilanFyretracker]

lolz at people having issues copying an RSA key from a fob or phone app. Aint hard to blind type the numpad, I can often enter the key for things like Google or Amazon without looking away from the phone.

[Tinthalas Tigris]

Yeah, but they are morons who leave their cell phones plugged in because they probably think the charger IS the phone line and their kid "installed it" in their bedroom.

[Mileron]

Ticket: I cannot save information into a window in our CRM; the whole browser freezes
Me: Standard troubleshooting for CRM issues commences. Issue still occurs.
Ticket: I need to save this
Me: Escalates to developer
Dev: I have no issues saving the data
Me: Of course not.
Me: Ticket, please try using the CRM through IE, or RDS
Ticket: Still happening in IE!
Me: What about RDS?
Ticket: I'll deal with it as it is and change the information I'm saving to a (lesser result/non-procedure standard window). I don't feel like switching through 10 tabs to get to RDS, I will lose all my work for the day and it stresses me out knowing the screen logs off or goes black every 5-10 minutes.

[Mileron]

Coworker: Have you ever seen this issue?
Me: Yes, it usually happens if their CRM permissions aren't correct. What's her position and name?
Coworker shares it
Me: Huh. Why do I remember this name? ponders Oh, right! She started back in January 2020. Had an issue where HR informed us of the wrong spelling of her last name, and she didn't complain about it for three weeks. We had to fully recreate her accounts.
Coworker: Yeah, she mentioned that. She also mentioned she's had this problem with the CRM since then.
Me: It's an important part of her workflow, how has she not complained about it since then?
Coworker: Beats me

[Mileron]

Coworker: I installed the RSA app for this user
Me: OK
Coworker: How do I tell them to use it?
Me: Why do they need it?
Coworker: I don't know
Me: Why did they need it installed? Is there a specific website or application that requires MFA to access? If that's the case, that vendor should provide them instructions on how to set it up
Coworker: But how do I help them?
Me: You're done, you did all you need to do
Coworker: But how do I set it up?
Me: You already did. Everything you did is all you can do. They need to either answer the reason about why they need it, or follow up with whomever told them they need it.
Coworker: So I should uninstall it?
Me: NO. It's now the user's responsibility to finish. You're done.
Coworker: But how do I tell them to use it?

where's my pakled when you need him

[FilanFyretracker]

sounds like its time for the Clue By Four
31459708.png

[Mileron]

I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

Ticket for phone audio issues gets passed through two other techs (out of 9) because they can't figure it out.

Ticket: Conversation quality is choppy. (provides several example phone calls Calls are breaking up and either I or the other party are hard to hear.

The calls aren't disconnecting, they're just choppy. I have a suspicion. I listen to the calls' recordings and have my answer within the first second.

Me: I listened to the calls you referenced. The audio breaks sound almost like wind, and the noise cancellation in the headset is having issues adjusting for voice versus ambient audio. Do you happen to have a tabletop fan of some kind blowing towards you while you're on the phone?
User: Wow, yeah, I'm sitting right next to my AC unit.

[Tinthalas Tigris]

Me:"Are the textures supposed to be running in parallel lines, or should the textures be covering the entire surface, and not be black everywhere they are not?"
Dude:"What video card do you have?"
Me:"I just need to know if what I am looking at is right. What color is the surface supposed to be? Is it supposed to be mostly black?"
Dude:"Did you update your Direct X Drivers?"
Me:"No. Look, I just need to know what color and texture is supposed to be on the surface."
Dude:"It is a green colored grass like texture, There shouldn't be any black."
Me:"Okay, cool. I know what to look for Thanks."
Dude:"You should update your Direct X."
Me:"I'm running Linux. Everything is under Vega/DXVK"
Dude:"You should still update your Direct X."
Me:"Sure. I'll get right on that. Thanks for your help."
Dude:"No problem. What version of windows are you running?"
Me:"12."

[Mileron]

Ticket: My office desk phone won't turn on. The power brick is making a horrible screeching sound.
Me: Dude, don't use it.
User: You mean that's not the phone calls trying to get through?

[Mileron]

Ticket: I spilled coffee on / closed the lid on my mouse / broke my laptop
Immediate response from manager: Replace those units with a newer model from stock
Follow up ticket less than six months later: I spilled coffee on / closed the lid on my mouse / broke my laptop
Immediate response from manager: Give them an old(er) crappy one until they've learned their lesson and are eligible for an upgrade

Um... isn't that backwards?

[Dale]

Ticket: I spilled coffee on / closed the lid on my mouse / broke my laptop
Immediate response from manager: Replace those units with a newer model from stock
Follow up ticket less than six months later: I spilled coffee on / closed the lid on my mouse / broke my laptop
Immediate response from manager: Give them an old(er) crappy one until they've learned their lesson and are eligible for an upgrade

Um... isn't that backwards?

That actually sounds about right to me. Someone does something stupid they can claim it is an accident or one off and they want to get them up and running quickly. The second time they Harry Dresden equipment they begin to look like a buffoon and if you are lucky the manager making the decision quits catering to their crap.

[FilanFyretracker]

how does one close the lid on their mouse? I mean I have never once considered setting the mouse on top of an open laptop.

[Bonlainy]

how does one close the lid on their mouse? I mean I have never once considered setting the mouse on top of an open laptop.

This doesn't involve a mouse, but our field trucks have Jotto desks in them for laptops, and one version had pretty large clamps that held the computer in place, thus making closing the lid all the way impossible. We had one guy who cracked three screens within about 3 months by putting his arm on the partially closed lid. THREE IN THREE MONTHS!!! So what did they do, they promoted him to a foreman position. You just have to shake your head at times and wonder about people.