*GROAN*

I do tech support for a major ISP. I troubleshoot corporate hosting, small business DSL, and regrettably, dialup.

I've never had a more thankless job. I go far out of my way to do whatever I can to fix people (Even if they call up about something I can't fix: I'll point them in the right direction, dig up thier answers, send them a file, whatever). Tech support is an excercise in futility. I may have gotten Ma and Pa Kettle online with thier 24kbps modem, but they'll call back as soon as they try downloading a 49 meg email.

My hairline has receeded with a stunning rapidity in the 18 months I've been here. I've become bitter, a surly husk of a man I once was. I do not carry a cellphone, I get enough phone time at work. When my friends seek my expertise, I tell them to box up the computer and take it back. Even if they just want to know how to change thier desktop.

I find myself doing strange things just to keep a semblance of sanity going. We say strange things to the customer and hope they don't catch it. "Are you on Windows 98, 2000, or 2.0?" "Every graphics engine needs lube now and then. I recommend Penzoil."

If you ever call the IT department, be nice to the guy/gal. We work long hours on bad coffee. Everything is our fault, and we're the closest one in range when you brandish your ire.

Meh. I'm thinking about saying "To hell with it", cashing in my GI bill and going to college full time. But not really feasible when you have an ill parent to look after.

Sorry, guys. Frustrating day at work, and I needed to vent. Mods, feel free to can if need be.

I feel your pain. I work at tech support at my local college - I'm working pretty much fulltime while attending fulltime. It is a thankless job in regards to the clients, but my boss is pretty understanding.

__________________
"4th Law of Modern Thermodynamics: Where Mihoshi is, Chaos Reigns." ~W. Hakubi
"Gun control is hitting your target; Recycling is reloading your brass." ~ Lex of Dirty Work.

Mr. Earl, are you hourly or salary? My brother had your unenviable job at a major clothiers for six years before moving on to server engineering. Fortunately he was salary and sometimes the hourly "store people" would get totally out of line. His solution? "Hey, you can't talk to me like that, your *** is fired." And it would stick too. Can't be having the hourlys blowing guff to the salaries. It hurts morale. Like yours for instance. You have a manager that can help you?

__________________
"The beauty of that discussion of averages is that you don't have to be an expert in Apollo or in photography in order to see where this time study "analysis" breaks down. You just have to be, well...not an idiot." -JayUtah

One of the funniest experiences I've ever had in my life was several years ago, cancelling AOL. Most people recount horrible experiences with them. Mine was hilarious.

I got (from the sound of it) a young African-American gentleman. About two minutes into his shpeel, he said "Man, my job is to keep you on here until you say you're keeping it, but I just don't care anymore. I get AOL for free, and I wouldn't use it." I said "Oh, really?"

He said "Oh yeah, man. Oh wait, here comes my supervisor." He launched into about where he should have been in the conversation, "...we also have several new channels, and offer exclusive and premium content on them..."

Then he cut back to out conversation, and started giving me reasons why he hated his supervisor. He asked if I had a couple of minutes, since he was supposed to keep me on the line anyway. Intrigued, I said "Sure".

He launched into a tirade about his boss, and his company, that would have made Carlos Mencia or Dave Chappelle proud. He dogged everything and everyone. His boss, his company, you name it. It would have been the most annoying thing if he weren't so damn funny. I literally had tears streaming down my cheeks, and my jaw ached from laughing so hard. My wife's expression couldn't have been stranger.

He suddenly said, "Oh, man, I've kept you on here for a half an hour. I'll let you go, brother. Thanks for listening to me vent." I told him no problem, that it was actually the hardest I'd laughed in months, if not years.

It was just such a wierd experience, I'll never forget it. If it wasn't AOL, I mean, if it was anywhere else, I probably would have given them another chance just because of how funny the guy was. But I'll never forget that service cancellation call

__________________
"I have this theory that the Apollo missions were faked when NASA found out that general relativity was wrong because the Earth was expanding due to the Sun's iron core being influenced by magnetic waves from the electric universe after being perturbed by Planet X and thereby causing global warming. Where should I start a thread about this?" ~ ToSeek

"Those are the people that wonder how a thermos knows whether to keep something hot or keep something cold." ~ NeoWatcher

Did he cancel your subscription at least?

__________________
[Dr. Horrible]___________________________[Penny]
Listen close to everybody's heart________And you believe there's good in everybody's heart
And hear that breaking sound_____________Keep it safe and sound
Hopes and dreams are shattering apart____With hope you can do your part
And crashing to the ground_______________To turn a life around

Well I work in a call centre but not tech support. Here if it is not management messing things up it is the head office, or a caller giving a hard over something you can not help them with, somebody here is complaining about the shift they got. In the first few months here I ended up waking in the middle of night doing my spheel and the going "oh *&^% a should be sleeping".

__________________
If it's just us, it seems like an awful waste of space.
Contact Carl Sagan

Yeah, he did, instead of trying to offer me free months, etc...

But it wasn't a bad experience. I honestly had no idea that much time had gone by, he was that constantly hilarious

__________________
"I have this theory that the Apollo missions were faked when NASA found out that general relativity was wrong because the Earth was expanding due to the Sun's iron core being influenced by magnetic waves from the electric universe after being perturbed by Planet X and thereby causing global warming. Where should I start a thread about this?" ~ ToSeek

"Those are the people that wonder how a thermos knows whether to keep something hot or keep something cold." ~ NeoWatcher

there is joke were a guy gets to pearly gates and was refused entry untill Peter( I think) opens his book and says he has already done his time in hell, he worked at a call center so he was allowed in.

__________________
If it's just us, it seems like an awful waste of space.
Contact Carl Sagan

here is a link to a copy of the poem from the previous post http://www.callcentrevoice.com/vtopicf_6_4089.htm

__________________
If it's just us, it seems like an awful waste of space.
Contact Carl Sagan

Mister Earl, I feel your pain. I dislike my job and my boss too, though I'm not in tech support or anything like it.

But I also understand the other side. I've certainly been the poor jerk who just wants to get their whatever working and has to work through some endless menu lists ("Press eleven on your keypad if you would like to talk to a human"), wait on hold for an hour, then finally reach someone who has little interest in helping you and treats you like an idiot (and maybe I am, just don't treat me that way). After all that grief, I finally have a human to take my pain out on. "I've suffered for my computer, now it's your turn".

I think we both suffer from the same problem, big corporations who know they need x employees to do a certain task, and save money by trying to get away with 0.75 x, and who don't give a darn if they fry your brain or your soul in the process.

__________________
At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

Anyone ever seen a spreadsheet for expected
income from a technical product? There must be a
cell for helpline income. And with links to
a measure of initial difficulty understanding
the controls. So the design people carefully
grade the functional properties to maximise
this income without producing a turkey. Is this
happening? ...Must stop getting cynical with
advancing years

My g/f used to do Tech support for COX. Now she does wages and accounts there and is far happier.

Of course, there is a Support Group for Tech Support.

__________________
Howling from the Shadows

It must be fun to lead a life completely unburdened by reality. --- JayUtah

You can't reason an irrational person out of an irrational belief. --- Noclevername

Apollo: The History and the Hoax
Enter the World of Athran

I have some understanding of both sides. Years ago I was doing "PC Hotline" and anti-virus support though I was also doing honest-to-goodness application programming too. See, they didn't have enough dedicated support staff, so they also had some of us programmers take on part of the work.

Crazy bureaucracy story:

For a time on anti-virus, we could only recommend installation of anti-virus software, we couldn't force an installation. There was one section that kept getting boot sector viruses because the staff liked to use floppy disks for everything, and would leave the disks in the machines. (This was also before you could change boot up sequence.) We'd go over, clean the machines with anti-virus software on a floppy, clean all the floppies they gave us, ask very nicely if that was ALL of the floppies ("Yes" they would say), recommend AV software on all machines, and explain very carefully how it happened, which would invariably lead to statements like "Wow. I didn't know that" . . .by the same people every three to four weeks that reinfected the PCs from floppies they hadn't given us. There seemed to be a serious lack of long term memory. Of course, they were charged for our time, and it would have been far cheaper just to get the AV software.

Not actually PC Hotline, but I taught an intermediate Lotus 123 class (including macros, fairly heavy duty stuff). Students were supposed to have gone to beginning Lotus before this class, as well as know basic computer operations. So in one class, I start out the exercises by asking everyone to press the "Slash" key (the standard method to access the menu in Lotus, one of the first things you would learn).

Several people stare at their computer. Three hands rise. "Where's the slash key?" says one.

A couple minutes later. I ask them to press the "down arrow" key. One person stares at their keyboard. A hand rises. "Where's the Dunaro key?"

I've also had it the other way with tech support - spending an hour waiting for a human, stating the problem and the things I checked, only to be asked, "Ok. Is the computer turned on?"

__________________
I say there is an invisible elf in my backyard. How do you prove that I am wrong?

Disclaimer: Avatar is not an official NASA image and does not imply any specific interplanetary or interstellar capability.

The Leif Ericson Cruiser

There's another forum I frequent called CustomersSuck - it's run by a guy named Rapscallion. It's a great board for rants and vents like these, mainly retail, but a lot of tech-related stuff too.

__________________
"4th Law of Modern Thermodynamics: Where Mihoshi is, Chaos Reigns." ~W. Hakubi
"Gun control is hitting your target; Recycling is reloading your brass." ~ Lex of Dirty Work.

I for one really appreciate the people in support roles. I do most of my consulting work for contact center projects.

I know my way around the technology just enough to be dangerous, and REALLY REALLY REALLY value the folks who keep things running (be it my home PC or the monsters at work).

The front line people for the most part operate out of good intentions; they are trying to do a job, trying to make a living. The organizations they work for are all over the board; some are truly despicable.

I've ranted on them before, but they are an example of the bottom of the barrel (by design), and my expereinces with Dell will keep me from ever spending even 1 cent on any of their products.

If you get lousy service, chances are it is the process, not the person. Processes are perfectly designed for the results they produce. Try not to take it out on the staff at the end of the delivery. Vote with your income and never give the company any more of it.

__________________
Don of Borg - Cool, Calm, Collective.

"Within the next generation I believe that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

I would really like to look at the traffic
data for these operations. There must be a big
hump of people who hang on for a few minutes
then give up..life is too short for this..I will
learn the damn thing myself! All pure profit!

Don, you mentioned Dell. One of my customers (I do freelance IT consulting for a living), runs multiple computing clusters, including a 240 node cluster of Dell 750's.

Anytime something on one of the nodes fail, the engineers working there have to go through the same 3 hour checklist on the, outsourced to India, support phone before they can get to the point they already knew they where at from the beginning, "ok, it actually does look like it's a hardware problem, we'll send a tech."

__________________
"God bless thee, my son; I will give thee the greatest jewel I have ...
"The end of our foundation is the knowledge of causes, and secret motions of things; and the enlarging of the bounds of human empire, to the effecting of all things possible."Trying to make sense of computers, The Error Log.

When you think about it, it must be the more
obsessive folk that hang on to get through in
the end. Does this go some way to explain the
frustration of the OP? If I want to visit
somewhere and there is a long queue I may decide
to forget it. This information is not available
when using the phone. But it could be. Spoken
info about probable waiting time would be a
great help. Will it happen? Nooooo

Well, I can say I do get a bit annoyed after hearing "Please stay on the line, your call is important to us" for the tenth time. Especially since it ruins my standard waiting method: Put the musak on speaker and go do other things in the room. Every time the music stops and the voice starts, you have to pay attention to see if, this time, it is a live human. Grrrr.

__________________
I say there is an invisible elf in my backyard. How do you prove that I am wrong?

Disclaimer: Avatar is not an official NASA image and does not imply any specific interplanetary or interstellar capability.

The Leif Ericson Cruiser