Those Evil Computers...

[SapphireSky]

I have learned in the past few years of working for an airline just how "evil" computers are.

I was trying to help someone book a reservation on our website the other day, our website it one of the easiest to follow I have ever seen in my life, and if I can navigate it without problems then really anyone should be able to. Of course by "anyone" I mean any living being that can get two braincells to rub together to make even the smallest of sparks to jolt their brain into functioning status.

So, as I was saying I was helping this cusomter book a reservation online and apparently the computer kept changing the cities she was putting in to fly from and to. Here's little snipit of the conversation.

Cast of Character:

Me:
SC: of course

SC: yeah so what I want to do it fly from Seattle to Miami and then from Los Angeles back to Seattle (this prompted about 3 minutes of conversation about how her and her husband were going on a cruise. I DON'T CARE!)
Me: Ok, well all you have to do is choose the "multi city" option online and put Seattle to Miami as the first leg and the Los Angeles to Seattle as the return.
SC: I tried that but everytime I hit continue the computer changes the cities! *in the most God awful whiney voice*
Me: Hmm...I don't know why it would do that, you did put in SEA (seattle) to MIA (miami) and then LAX (los angeles) to SEA right?
SC: Yes. But then I hit continue and it changes it to SEA-LAX and LAX-LAX.
Me: Ok, well I'm doing the same thing online and it's working just fine for me...
SC: ....


We argue this for about 5 minutes before the customer gives up. I would like to make one point here...you CANNOT book a flight from LAX TO LAX. The website will not let you. It will come up with an error saying we don't have flights that do that. So either this person had managed to work around the websites ability to recognize city codes or she was so dead set on having me book this for her over the phone (which I would have done but we charge a fee for over the phone reservations so I was trying to save her money) that she was actually willing to blame the computer for 10 whole minutes!

Another good one I had was one of our MVP mileage plan members who called in to say when she booked the reservation she reserved MVP seating, but when she pulled up the reservation later aparently that evil computer took out her MVP seats and moved her to other non MVP seats. After a quick look through the history of the seating I found out she NEVER put in seat assignments. Not that I should have been surprised by this.

Well, there's plenty more examples but I think these two are good for now. Thanks for reading!

[IT Grunt]

Some people will do anything to try and cover up their own issues. I had one guy claim that because I installed a printer on the computer he uses, I made the screen all 'fuzzy'.

[Sheldonrs]

Yup. And web sites are evil too. I get a lot of people calling to say "YOUR web site won't let me ____fill in the blank___ (send a card, choose a card, enter a name..)."

It would if you READ the directions!!!

[SuperB]

I'm often surprised at how many people simply do not get the computer. My husband is one. He needs my help to get online and search anything. Brilliant he may be with math and finances, he certainly isn't when it comes to google and email. And I can't count how many times I've tried explaining a simple website to a client.

[smileyeagle1021]

Saphire... I feel your pain... at least once a day I get someone who calls from their room "we booked a room with a microwave and refrigerature, why is there no microwave and refrigerature"...
umm, no you didn't, you book NK1, which is a king WITHOUT micro and fridge... you'll have noticed on the website that it says "select rooms have micro and fridge"... the room you booked does not have microwave and fridge in the room description, ergo it is not one with it included... now if you had gone to the next room on the list, NK2, you'll notice that it is $5 more a night and oh look, it does have microwave and fridge in the description...

but it's all the website's fault that they didn't book the right room and our fault that we didn't magically know they really wanted the NK2...

[Polenicus]

Even people who are computer savvy do this.

I had a couple of roommates who were heavy users of the house internet, which was DSL. Tired of the lag and inconsistent speeds due to their 'heavy useage' periods, I got my own internet in, which was CABLE.

The day after I got my cable in, one of them burst into my room and DEMANDED I call MY internet provider, because THEIR internet wasn't working right, and it was obvious that my internet was screwing theirs up. Even though the day it was installed, both were working fine.

So, let's recap. My internet is:

A different company
A different line
A completely different service, using a completely different connection to the house.

And yet somehow it's what's causing your internet problems?

How about YOU call YOUR internet provider, and troubleshoot YOUR connection a little before blaming me?

(And no, it had nothing to do with my connection. It was one of those local service outages that lasted all of 45 mins)

[Peppergirl]

I feel for you.

My agency owns one of the big military travel websites.

It's absolutely astonishing how often the site just randomly picks the wrong flights for people, despite those pesky 3 confirmation screens that tells the customer what they booked.

As an agent of this company, I have been called all manner of unflattering names due to this phenomenon.

[SG15Z]

I feel for you. People do the same thing at SCO. All they have to do is follow the instructions and everything should work right (most of the time). But I admit that since we're working with POS systems designed by IBM (with a Fujitsu SCO and Radiant Systems Fuel register I might add. You'd think they would stick to one brand to ensure less problems with interfacing) there are times I want to

[Jay 2K Winger]

I deal with things like that with my mom, a lot of the time. Nine times out of ten, it's because she's done something to it herself, but sometimes it's malware of some kind.

She once asked me why the screen was all fuzzy, and I at first assumed it was just her eyes getting bad. When I saw it was actually sort of out of focus somehow, I showed her how to use Windows' Display settings dialog and had it auto-adjust. The problem went away.

Common exchange at my house:
Mom: Jay, the computer's not working.
J2K: You sat in front of it again, didn't you?