Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.

[mietze]

Shit, I can no longer deny that I need bifocals.

[reimesu]

@mietze They're not bad. I kind of adjusted to mine in less than five minutes. (I have progressives.)

[Auspice]

@mietze said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

Shit, I can no longer deny that I need bifocals.

I've been considering bifocals for a while now.

When I worked from home, keeping two separate pairs of glasses was just fine. But a couple years into working outside of the house and I'm sort of sick of my options being 'take glasses to work' or 'deal with the eye strain.'

I need new glasses anyway, so I think I'mma just take the plunge.

[Aria]

So.

Bad news: Looks like someone broke into the trunk of my car.
Good news: Looks like I had so much shit in there they couldn't be bothered going through too much of it for stuff to steal.

Yay, me?

[Auspice]

Since last night, my 'net has been really bad. Super lagged. Things not loading at all. Gave it the night just in case it was a widespread thing (and had to sleep anyhow!)... but it's just as bad today. So I finally called tech support (after doing whatever I could on my end; reset modem, reset computer......find myself wishing I could afford my own equipment...).

Them: "Did you reset your modem?"
Me: "Yes."
Them: "Did you just remove the power or did you also remove the coax cable?"
Me: "Just the power."
Them: "Let's try again, this time removing both cables. You may have some feedback built up in the coax."
Me: "Sure. That sounds like a real thing."

He was quiet for a long moment after that.

But seriously, we wonder why people end up with these really stupid ideas of how tech works and it can so often be traced back to someone in support saying some bullshit.

[Sunny]

@Auspice

Yeah, you caught him. A huge portion of people say they have restarted / reset when they have not, and it will solve the problem. So they have to get you to do it without calling you a liar.

[Auspice]

@Sunny said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

@Auspice

Yeah, you caught him. A huge portion of people say they have restarted / reset when they have not, and it will solve the problem. So they have to get you to do it without calling you a liar.

Here's the thing tho: I've worked tech support. I know that you need to ensure they've reset the modem.
And it's as simple as: 'Can you restart it while we're on the phone so I can watch how it behaves as it boots up?'

That's it.
It's not lying and it helps the customer feel like you are actually paying attention to their issue.

[Sunny]

@Auspice

And I'm sure you could tell people that if you are the one training them. As it stands, if you've worked tech support, then you know the quality of the training they got. He's just doing his job. It's aggravating as hell, but it's a problem with scripting and training. I get it's a peeve, but my peeve is people blaming tech support agents for the policies of their companies.

[Auspice]

@Sunny said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

@Auspice

And I'm sure you could tell people that if you are the one training them. As it stands, if you've worked tech support, then you know the quality of the training they got. He's just doing his job. It's aggravating as hell, but it's a problem with scripting and training. I get it's a peeve, but my peeve is people blaming tech support agents for the policies of their companies.

If it's policy to lie to customers, that deserves shaming from bottom to top.

[Sunny]

@Auspice

Or a little patience for the minimum wage worker. But hey, you do you.

[Auspice]

@Sunny said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

@Auspice

Or a little patience for the minimum wage worker. But hey, you do you.

Why aren't you actively protesting the company you worked for that paid minimum wage?!
The whole reason I've worked a half dozen tech support jobs over the years is they usually paid roughly twice minimum wage. I think the least I made at one was $12/hr, but most in the range of $14-17/hr.

[reimesu]

@Auspice Query: how is the person on the other end supposed to know that you worked as a tech? Did you offer him your resume?

[Auspice]

@reimesu said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

@Auspice Query: how is the person on the other end supposed to know that you worked as a tech? Did you offer him your resume?

I always lay out all the steps I've taken at the beginning of a call.
I don't know about y'all, but I'm generally capable of surmising if someone knows what they're talking about vs. needs hand-holding.

But again, I'm not cool with someone lying. I mean, imagine if a restaurant employee lied about what a food contains if someone has allergies. Lying to a customer is not OK. And sure, this 'doesn't matter' until the day someone destroys their equipment trying to get the 'stuck feedback' out.

[GreenFlashlight]

@Auspice said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

And sure, this 'doesn't matter' until the day someone destroys their equipment trying to get the 'stuck feedback' out.

And why is lying the go-to in the first place? What benefit did lying serve in this position that just telling the truth wouldn't have done better?

[Sunny]

Yeah, still going to go with 'minimum wage worker with upset person on the phone flailed and panicked and spouted nonsense when trying to get his job done' because ISP tech support is not where good money or good training is. I just think everyone has a better time with a little bit of patience in these situations, especially given the realities of the job. Should the kid have lied? Nah. Is he an underpaid worker who gets screamed at by Karens all day and was just trying to do his job without getting screamed at more? Yeah, probably.

[Tinuviel]

He was a tier one schmuck, whose entire job is "Is it plugged in and also not on fire? Escalate."

[GreenFlashlight]

He was just following orders?

[Groth]

@Auspice said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

trying to get the 'stuck feedback' out.

Stuck feedback sounds a lot like someone once being told about how routing table caches work and promptly forgetting all about it except the part where unplugging the Ethernet cable sometimes helps force a reset.

[Sunny]

@GreenFlashlight said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

He was just following orders?

No, he was a poorly trained kid at a customer service job who said something stupid.

[GreenFlashlight]

@Sunny said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:

No, he was a poorly trained kid at a customer service job who said something stupid.

He made a bad choice and the outcome of that choice had consequences? Specifically, the low-stakes consequence of a person he'll never meet saying something snippy to him in response to a lie?

I'm really not getting what the great injustice is here.