I was unlucky enough to answer a call from a client with a "printer issue" this morning. After 45 minutes, all of the problems were resolved. If it wasn't so sad, the call and subsequent events would have been a comedy of errors. Luckily, I don't handle billing. I help clients, I mark my time down, I move on.
Somehow, this client had not once, not twice, but thrice failed to check the cable between the printer and the computer. This is not rocket science. I happened to ask her to check that cable right after I made sure the printer was turned on and there were no error lights on it (which was my very first series of questions). I asked again later after exhausting most other possibilities, still, the client said that she just checked and everything was solid. Only after another 15 minutes of futility did she FINALLY re-check the cable and, of course, up pops the "new hardware found" balloon in Windows.
I hope she can explain to her boss that she just cost the company quite a bit of money for her stupidity.
Posted by languorous at January 18, 2005 02:09 PMSounds like you need a multi-level helpdesk solution....Oh wait, Tom is the phone operator, level 1 tech, level 2 tech, supervisor, and engineer all in one! :-)
Posted by: Garrett at January 18, 2005 06:24 PMHa, yeah, on the bad days. On the good days, I'm Tom-the-guy-that-is-hard-to-reach-in-the-office-after-noon :-)
Posted by: languorous at January 18, 2005 07:02 PM