Let me say at the get go that I have the greatest respect for IT people, having a degree in programming myself and two sons who make their living in the field. I know all the jokes about the stupid calls they get and have been asked some dumb questions myself a few times. I love the ones that start, “This may be a dumb question, but..”. Now the only answer to that one is to smile and lie, “Of course not, there are no dumb questions.”, but that's another story. I don't want to talk about IT from the inside today but from the actual world outside where people do things we can mostly understand.
Being computer savvy, when I train new employees I tell them that before calling the help desk to first shut everything down and then turn it back on. It usually deflates the voice on the end of the line very effectively when you tell them you already did that, but some of them got wise to me. “But did you unplug the phone first, they ask, or did you hit the delete key three times while holding down on F17 and reciting the alphabet backwards?” I admit I didn't try that and they tell me that should fix it but if it doesn't to call back. Then they hang up before I get their name and extension. In a big company there is a good chance you will never speak to that particular techie again. This is such a shrewd move that they have earned my grudging respect, however this week one outdid himself.
It seems that one of our major applications, the one we use to monitor calls as in, “this call may be recorded for quality assurance”, had a slight glitch. Half of the screen, the video portion, was recording upside down. It was not happening on every call, which for a computer is an even stranger problem. One of my favorite managers found it first and after he quit laughing he called the help desk. They didn't believe him so they asked for a screen shot. He sent a copy to me too just for laughs but since it is protected by HIPAA I cannot include it in this post. The help desk emailed him back about an hour later with instructions on how to safely turn his monitor upside down. Brilliant.
I got the "blue screen of death" yesterday at work. The tech guy tried to convince me that I'd caused it by failing to properly end my Windows session.
ReplyDeleteHe said Windows had apparently been writing something to the registry when I powered down rather than logging off properly. Can you really break a computer simply by shutting it off? I don't know about that....
It is better for the computer if you actually tell it you're leaving. They are occasionally emotional and go into a snit. They are also very like an elephant in their ability to remember, so it is best to be nice.
ReplyDeleteYou know I'm teasing, but here is the almost straight answer. Just shutting down abruptly is like cleaning your desk by opening a drawer and sliding everything inside with one swoop of your arm. Everything is there and mostly nothing is broken, but it may be harder to find the next day.
Now I'm making no comments on why you might want to clear that desk quickly, but hope you enjoyed the time you saved. Hugs
That is hysterical. I only hope he was working from a laptop.
ReplyDeleteFraid not WG, He has two big flat screens on his desk, not easy to rotate, hence the careful instructions. One nice thing is that he has a fabulous sense of humor. One of the other managers emailed me with a very serious, "Have you observed this problem?'
ReplyDelete