Monday, April 23, 2012

Adventures in Tech Support: Magic




As with any profession, people expect the impossible. I work in the tech support field. Well, the customer service part of the technical support field (masochists with a flair for gadgets). My co-workers and I have developed a sharp and sometimes abrasive form of cynicism. We are realists, not optimists or pessimists. We know what will or will not work, but we also know that sometimes if you give something a shot, it just might work...or not. 

We are often presented with a task of letting people down gently, much like a surgeon who has to break the sad new to a waiting family member. Sometimes the news is met with acceptance or seething hatred. 

Every once and while, we get the clingy ones... the ones who don't take the news, well, at all. Like the ex-girlfriend that keeps calling...every 10 minutes. They keep holding out for that glimmer of hope, no matter how unrealistic. We are either pushed ever so gently with a "please" or shoved by a "do it yesterday, or else."

I guess my point is, we can't "undelete" or shoot radio waves from our eyes. We can't "just do it" for you all the time. We are teachers, but we can't teach the unwilling. Please understand that most people in my line of work are not only tasked with fixing your issue, but we do it while trying to meet unrealistic goals set by our overlords. We are to do this as pleasantly as possible no matter how much we want to reach through the phone and choke the very life out of you. Uh, please forget that last sentence. We love you... er... most of you...some of you. 

Final thought: If you use the excuse, "I'm just not technically savvy." What I understand from that is that you are too lazy to become at least somewhat savvy.  That's like saying, "I'm fully capable of walking across the room and getting it myself, but do it for me because you do it so much better than me."

Trade secret: Customer Service tells you what you want to hear, Tech Support tells you what you need to hear. 

/rant


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