Any other IT guys here?

[Bradster]

Is it just me or is this your typical day?


Here’s my last call as an example, nothing out of the ordinary.
Ring… ring..

Me: my department this is Brad how can I help you?
Caller:Yeah, my password didn’t work.
Me: Has it expired?
Caller:I dunno
Me: Have you tried changing it?
Caller:No
Me: click on the link below the sign in called “click here to change your password”
Caller:I can’t find it
Me: Explains location again
Caller:Hmmmmmmm………………………….. ……….. (2mins later) OH I see it now.
Note: This is a picture of our Actual sign on!


Me: Great, all you have to do is follow the directions listed at the top of the page. If you run into any problems I’ll be here until midnight.
Ok thanks
2mins later..
Ok now the directions.

Ring...ring
Caller: Yeah that didn’t work.
Me: Did you read the directions?
Caller: Yeah
Me: How many charicters did you make the password?
Caller: Hmmmm(10sec delay) 7!
Me: Ok, new passwords have to be 8 like the directions.
Caller: Oh ok, thanks
Me: Me wait, how about you assign a new one while I’m on the phone incase you have any more problems.
Caller: Ok
Caller: Yeah it didn’t work again
Me: Did it contain a uppercase, lowercase and a number?

Caller: Oh I need lowercase too?
Me: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH (in my head)



Another call right after, pretty much another way a normal phone call goes.
Me: my department this is Brad how can I help you?
Caller: Hello, my password isn’t work. This happens EVERYTIME, I just want to logon and check my mail!
Me: Have you tried changing it?
Caller: Yes, it won’t let me !
Me: What did it say?
Caller: It said old password is not correct, but it is! Your stupid computer system is broke!
Me: I’ll make sure to forward your complaint (That you’re a fucking retard that can’t write anything down). Would you like me to help you reset your password?
Caller: Yes please!
Me: Ok do you have something to write with handy ?
Caller: Uhh yeah (lies)
Me: Ok your new password is Monitor123 (I don’t follow our policy on password resets of using random letters and numbers, this is too hard for most people, I have better results this way).

The next day

Caller: It forgot my password again!
Me: What was it?
Caller: Screen123 your system is broke!
Me: Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hh

Follow this format on what the calls are like for 10 hours a day.

After 12 years I have to ask, is it me? Am I the one going crazy?

[Team_Supa]

I run a hosting business on the side of my on site support business and the thing is the password policies you have there are a little too much for customers as 3/4 of them are absolute retards or just don't have the time to do think about such things.

My trick was to create a global password that if the customer is literally too retarded to get it through to that i would give them the global one and send it to them in either sms or email so they have a copy at all times.

Other than that the second resort is my remote support applications i have developed which i would make them send me a request and then i would open notepad and make them type the password they want in there so i could see it, and then once they have it correct save it on their desktop and then put it in the pw change.
-Also business support calls feel free to slug them $60-70 p/h for remote support unless they are on a paid contract.

Last thing you want is a customer taking up phone time with stupid questions its easier for 4-5 mins of remote support rather than 20-40 minutes of retarded questions.

[Bradster]

Totally agree 100%, It's a state mandated system across the board. Nothing I can do about. I did make an effort and wrote them about it, along with a few others. They never got back to us.

[Bradster]

I just received another one, forgot this is one of my other favorites

Me: Department name, how can I help you?
Caller: My password didn’t work
Me: Did you read the directions?
Caller: I didn’t have time
So i read the 4 lines for them.

[Bradster]

I don’t do much hardware or software support. I have things pretty stable, nice hardware selection of quality brands (thanks to the state this will be ending soon and most likely get dell >< ).


Any rate before this job, I alone had to support over 1800 machines by myself. I could never break even on the call tickets completing them vs. the incoming. My boss refused to hire more help because he was scared of the school board (I used to work for K-12 education).
The amount of things I’d run in to over the years have been pretty interesting. A lot of computer jokes you hear about, like the computer not plugged in or a power strip plugged into its self is truer than you would ever know.

This teacher grabbed me in the hall once, said the mouse wasn’t working right. It was a bit dirty but that’s not why he was struggling with it, he was using it backwards with the cord facing him. Best part was he worked in the Special ed department haha. Cool guy however.

I once removed a ton of Malware and viruses off a machine, patched it up got it all updated. Around 410 days later she calls and states “My computer is full of viruses; Brad was the last one to work on it!” As if I did it. I have no control on what you do after I leave!


At one point my dream was to have my own repair shop, I just love working with hardware and figuring things out. It’s always something new and I enjoy the hunt on finding the answer. But then I realized it would be a bad idea.Take for example, a car mechanic. You take your car into the shop, it doesn’t start. He fixes it, a week later you get ready for work, jump in your car and it doesn’t start. Whose fault is it? It’s the mechanics fault right?

I do my best to educate on why the problem happened; fact I pride myself on communicating and breaking it down with easy terms and examples for them to understand without all the technical terms. They loved it and always asked me. But despite all of that, they still did it. Least a lot of them were pretty cool about it "Yeah, guess I should of followed your advice on not downloading all those free screen savers" Then we'd have a good laugh about it, month later i'd be back, it;s not funny after the 5th time.


Shortly before i left that job for this one (this is one of the reasons why I left) I had to work in the HR department. A patch cable was bad so I had to run a new line (old one got damaged). So i climb up on the latter moving the ceiling titles, the lady behind one of the desks all the way across the room that I didn't even know screams at me and says " You better no get anything on my jacket Brad, its worth more then your entire life!"

I put the ceiling titles back, packed up my things resumed working on other call tickets and placed a call with the head of HR for a meeting. Nothing happened of it of course. I then was verbally reprimanded for not finishing the job. When I handed in my 2 week notice, I fought back the biggest shit eating grin of all time. Worst job ever!

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Everyone in computers has to deal with that. Only difference is the level of expertise it takes to fuck up. As an example, I do QA management for a Bluetooth chip company (we're #1 in the industry, though you've probably never heard of the name). We create this big document that goes out with all of our software releases. It's called "Release Notes." It has the description of the release, the required prerequisites to get it to install, instructions on how to install it, a list of known problems, a list of problems that were fixed in that build and some technical specification data at the end. Guess which parts nobody ever reads? Yep, the instructions on how to install it or the prerequisites. We get calls from customers asking the most basic questions, like "Does the name of your setup.exe comply with 8.3 filename limits?" (The file is right there in the zip for them to see it themselves.) Or my personal favorite, "When we try to install it, we get this error message saying it cannot install because Vista Service Pack 1 and XXXXXXXXXX are missing. What do we have to do to get it to install?"

So, no, it ain't you. The amount of pay you make doing this is largely based on two factors: 1) whether you write anyone else's annual performance reviews, and 2) the technical level of the "Halp, your chit is brok3d, plz fix it" questions. :P Well, and to some small extent, how far up the boss's ass your nose is.

[Fleecy]

I feel your pain! I'm the IT manager for a international company, I support 180-230 (give or take at any given time) accross 3 countries and 95% of them are females.

I've had comments such as:
".. but don't the files fly around in the air because I have the wireless network thing. Can't you recover them from the air?"

From time-to-time I (the helpdesk) gets a very non-descript request for support, emails such as "my internet is not working", so after many weeks of these types of emails I put together a nice form letter to send back to those who in turn sent my an information lacking email. The size of the font is the actualy size used in the emails. Yet, regardless of this some people still send emails that contain a total of 3 words "net not working?"
Examples of what not to email:
“My computer won’t print”
“I can’t open a file.”
“I can’t scan”
“I can’t send emails” or “My emails bounced back”
"I can’t logon”
“The internet is not working”



This is an actual email to the helpdesk, I have highlighed the important part of the email:

Hi there,
Not sure if you know but I have damaged nerves in my neck and need to have some work done on the way my desk is set up.
Bob is organising parts of it (on behalf of health and safety)…
However I need to have my mouse moved to left side so I stop using my right hand – can someone please come around and do this.

Yes, she wanted us to move the mouse from the right side of the desk to the LEFT side of the desk.


This is an excert from a document I frequently send to staff. This is the VERY first thing when they open the document:

** DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL WITH YOUR DETAILS. FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE DOCUMENT **

(lots of pictures and stuff, simple, small text to read and directions to follow.)

This is whats at the bottom of the document.

The helpdesk will need to know the full computer name, your network logon name and password.
CREATE A NEW EMAIL AND SEND THIS TO THE HELPDESK – DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL WITH YOUR DETAILS.
In an email to the helpdesk include the following:
1. Your computer name (EG: PC1237.DOMAIN.LOCAL)
2. Your network logon (EG: MSMITH)
3. Your password (EG: PASSWORD123)


And this is what a lot of people do:
1. Reply to the email with the word "DONE"
2. Reply to the email with their details
3. Create a new email with the word "DONE"
4. "I can't follow the instructions can you do it for me?"

~200 female staff + computers = my gray

[zanthor]

When I used to work for wells fargo I would get calls of all sorts of stupid...

One Friday I got a call from a gal saying she couldn't log into her computer, she wouldn't read the dialog to me to tell me the exact error she was getting, she was making it up... This went on from about 2pm until about 3pm at which point I asked for her supervisor to test something, her super was able to log in just fine, and when i gave the supervisor the temp password for her, she was able to log in... once we tried to reset the password (supervisor) everthing went down hill again and we blew the better part of 3-4pm... She was normally off at 4pm she said and she just left.

So, A few weeks later, Friday again, 2pm again... I get this gal on the phone again... same problem as before again... I pull up her ticket history this time, and go back over a year, aside from a random real issue, she has this password issue like clockwork, on Fridays, @ 2pm... each time it's got loads and loads of frustrated notes from the tech who finally documents that she'll give up and try again on Monday... Each time that the supervisor is mentioned the names different...

So I'm trying to help this gal with her password "problem" again, and once again she's not able to log in despite our best efforts, making passwords like 12345678 or abcdefghi were far too complex to actually work... I look in active directory, check her supervisors name, and drop them an e-mail while I've got her on the phone... explaining the current issue and mentioning the historic trend... About 3 minutes after I click send I get asked to hold, then the supervisor comes on the line, the supervisor that I e-mailed... explains that we won't be needing any more assistance on this issue, so I document it and hang up.

Burning curiosity gets the best of me three days later, I check the GAL (global address list) and our loving password retard isn't listed anymore... I can only assume that I helped bolster the unemployment rate...

some times they aren't stupid, just retards.

[Bradster]

lol these are amazing thank you! I feel better. I hope we get more stories

[Bradster]

So, no, it ain't you. The amount of pay you make doing this is largely based on two factors: 1) whether you write anyone else's annual performance reviews, and 2) the technical level of the "Halp, your chit is brok3d, plz fix it" questions. :P Well, and to some small extent, how far up the boss's ass your nose is.

It’s funny when I was going to Vo-tech (while in high school) you could expect 60k. Now with 12 years in IT, 30k, they don't need you theres 160 more people they could bring in for a interview that would take it. Least in the north east. I'm in no Major town like Philly, but the larger increase in pay is off-set by the cost of living, or being shot lol.