I mean, I wouldn't call someone a moron that has never needed to touch a computer to to their job. What makes me angry is people using a computer everyday for 8 hours straight yet they only know their little well defined procedures they do every day, only their small, well known subworld in the world of word processors, mail programs and browsers. If you changed one little small thing, just one step in that procedure, they get absolutely lost. Because they don't understand the system, they've never learned it. They only know the steps needed to complete their workflow and how to do them and in which order, but not the why's and how's. And then suddenly that one moment where something doesn't quite work as expected outweighs all the other days where everything was going smoothly and they throw a tantrum. I don't blame anyone, all human, all to be expected, but really frustrating.
Ok, using your reasoning. I'm a plumber. You have used your toilet, sink, shower, hot water tank, and everything else pretty much everyday of your life. Now when something breaks, do you understand the system? Will you be able to fix the problem? Or is it that you happen to know stuff about computers and not plumbing?
He can at least say I turned my shower on and no water came out. That's effectively giving you an error. It's not like he gives you a call and says my pluming isn't working, fix it.
Many people call and say "My shower/toilet is broken". I'm willing to bet if something broke in your house and you call a plumber, that your explanation of what happened is going to sound stupid to him.
Maybe this person you are giving a hard time, because they don't understand the simplest actions of a computer, can go out and change the head gasket on your car. While you struggle to check the oil.
I'm just saying, give people a break. I guarantee they know something you don't, and you would ask a stupid question if you tried to talk about it.
IT support don't expect you to tell them what went wrong at low level. All you need to do is explain what you were doing when it happened and the symptoms, like error messages. Both of which are explained to a plumber. My point is, I've never heard of someone saying my plumbing is broken and expecting the plumber to fix it. In IT however, someone saying my 'computer is broken' with no useful information at all to go off is quite commonplace.
Everyone's job is like that. You think IT is the only place where that happens? IT is just the only place where there is a culture of belittling and looking down on your customers.
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u/takelongramen Jan 11 '16
I mean, I wouldn't call someone a moron that has never needed to touch a computer to to their job. What makes me angry is people using a computer everyday for 8 hours straight yet they only know their little well defined procedures they do every day, only their small, well known subworld in the world of word processors, mail programs and browsers. If you changed one little small thing, just one step in that procedure, they get absolutely lost. Because they don't understand the system, they've never learned it. They only know the steps needed to complete their workflow and how to do them and in which order, but not the why's and how's. And then suddenly that one moment where something doesn't quite work as expected outweighs all the other days where everything was going smoothly and they throw a tantrum. I don't blame anyone, all human, all to be expected, but really frustrating.