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The past few days have just been horrible. I do phone support for a local company... which also turns into tech support in a lot of cases, since the average age of the group I support is around 300. Give or take a decade.
So of course, I'm not surprised when they call, having issues because they're using IE 6.0. And they can't upgrade because they're also running Windows 98.
But that is not what I'm posting about, at least not too much, since most of them are Unsupportable.
But it's the sheer stupidity of these people that gets to me. And the fact that they're mostly EWs. One person made me
way too much... I had to explain IN DETAIL that -180 was in fact a lower number than -175... and the person still didn't really understand it. And he wanted me to do his work for him since he didn't understand why it wasn't working the way he wanted it to work.
Over the past week, my callers have fit into just a few categories:
Too Old for a Computer: "Hi! I'm 680 years old and I'm not very computer literate, but this worked FINE until recently and I can't understand why it's not working and it MUST be YOUR PERSONAL fault, just because you are the person who answered the phone. What type of Operating System do I have? What's that? Oh, I have Windows 98, but it works fine so I don't want to upgrade. I don't care that I can't run the programs/add-ons/etc that your system requires, I shouldn't have to! Your system should conform to MY computer! And as for the other question you asked me before I rambled in your ear for 45 min about how my grandchildren don't stop to visit me, well I'm sorry but I don't know what you mean by Wireless. What is Wireless? What's a router? Do I have one of those? What's a modem? I haven't touched anything the cable-guy did since he was here 3 years ago and plugged it in... and no, of course I don't have anti-virus on my computer... how could it get sick?"
Impatient to the Max: "I've been on hold for 28 seconds and that's too long, so I'm going to hang up just as you pick the phone up and then call back and yell at you about how the service has been horrible for 30 years... what do you mean, your company has only been around since 1995?"
My Lack of Planning is now YOUR Emergency: "How dare you turn my access off? I can't log in? How am I suppose to use the system? Dues? What you do mean by Dues? They were due by the end of December? But it's only Feb, why would you turn my access off just because I didn't pay? What, you turned my access off on January 12 and I didn't notice until now? That doesn't matter because I need to get on now and I can't wait 2 hours for your site to process my payment and reactivate my account.... you HAVE to fix this NOW!"
You mean I have to PAY for that?: "I didn't know I had a payment due... honestly. I didn't see the email you sent to me. Or the 17 notices you put on my home page when I logged in, telling me that I had an invoice available... and then almost due... and then past due and almost done with the grace period... You mean I was supposed to read those? I don't have time to read! So how much are the dues? Can't you just turn me back on... I promise that I'll pay!"
And then... my favorite... and I had one of these tonight and I'm STILL pissed off about it:
The people who call at 8:57pm... when we close at 9pm and I'm the ONLY person on the phone... and want me to walk them through something that is NOT quickly done... and then they think that they're funny by making a joke about how it's a good thing I didn't have anything better to do anyway... Fuck off asshole, I'm on the end of my second 12 hour day in a row, my acid reflux is kicking in bad enough that I can't eat ANYTHING without pain and I can't get in to see a doctor until Thursday morning, and now I have to deal with a prick who ADMITS that he KNEW we closed at 9pm and called anyway because he didn't want to be bothered in the morning.
So of course, I'm not surprised when they call, having issues because they're using IE 6.0. And they can't upgrade because they're also running Windows 98.
But that is not what I'm posting about, at least not too much, since most of them are Unsupportable.
But it's the sheer stupidity of these people that gets to me. And the fact that they're mostly EWs. One person made me
way too much... I had to explain IN DETAIL that -180 was in fact a lower number than -175... and the person still didn't really understand it. And he wanted me to do his work for him since he didn't understand why it wasn't working the way he wanted it to work.Over the past week, my callers have fit into just a few categories:
Too Old for a Computer: "Hi! I'm 680 years old and I'm not very computer literate, but this worked FINE until recently and I can't understand why it's not working and it MUST be YOUR PERSONAL fault, just because you are the person who answered the phone. What type of Operating System do I have? What's that? Oh, I have Windows 98, but it works fine so I don't want to upgrade. I don't care that I can't run the programs/add-ons/etc that your system requires, I shouldn't have to! Your system should conform to MY computer! And as for the other question you asked me before I rambled in your ear for 45 min about how my grandchildren don't stop to visit me, well I'm sorry but I don't know what you mean by Wireless. What is Wireless? What's a router? Do I have one of those? What's a modem? I haven't touched anything the cable-guy did since he was here 3 years ago and plugged it in... and no, of course I don't have anti-virus on my computer... how could it get sick?"
Impatient to the Max: "I've been on hold for 28 seconds and that's too long, so I'm going to hang up just as you pick the phone up and then call back and yell at you about how the service has been horrible for 30 years... what do you mean, your company has only been around since 1995?"
My Lack of Planning is now YOUR Emergency: "How dare you turn my access off? I can't log in? How am I suppose to use the system? Dues? What you do mean by Dues? They were due by the end of December? But it's only Feb, why would you turn my access off just because I didn't pay? What, you turned my access off on January 12 and I didn't notice until now? That doesn't matter because I need to get on now and I can't wait 2 hours for your site to process my payment and reactivate my account.... you HAVE to fix this NOW!"
You mean I have to PAY for that?: "I didn't know I had a payment due... honestly. I didn't see the email you sent to me. Or the 17 notices you put on my home page when I logged in, telling me that I had an invoice available... and then almost due... and then past due and almost done with the grace period... You mean I was supposed to read those? I don't have time to read! So how much are the dues? Can't you just turn me back on... I promise that I'll pay!"
And then... my favorite... and I had one of these tonight and I'm STILL pissed off about it:
The people who call at 8:57pm... when we close at 9pm and I'm the ONLY person on the phone... and want me to walk them through something that is NOT quickly done... and then they think that they're funny by making a joke about how it's a good thing I didn't have anything better to do anyway... Fuck off asshole, I'm on the end of my second 12 hour day in a row, my acid reflux is kicking in bad enough that I can't eat ANYTHING without pain and I can't get in to see a doctor until Thursday morning, and now I have to deal with a prick who ADMITS that he KNEW we closed at 9pm and called anyway because he didn't want to be bothered in the morning.
*shifty eyes*
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