Cute interaction with end user - too bad he doesn’t have input on my salary
Posted by Cassie0peia@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 50 comments
Since our jobs can typically involve dealing with people that simply don’t use common sense, I thought I’d share a nice story for a change. Just got off a call from a new employee. He was adding his email account on his new phone and was getting “Enter bypass code” instead of being asked for authentication. No worries, we’ll just set up MFA on your new phone… look for the text… next try setting up email… easy peasy, done in 5 minutes.
At the end of the call the guy said to me, “Thanks for the help! I’m sure whatever you’re getting paid isn’t enough for helping knuckleheads like myself.” That response surprised me and I had a good laugh. Apparently other people at his location told him that I was the one to call for getting help because I know my stuff. It’s so nice when we’re appreciated by the people we help!
Call-Me-Leo@reddit
It’s a bit funny that people being nice to us is seen as such a rare occurrence that it gives us an emotional high, as opposed to it being the norm
Ok_Upstairs894@reddit
I get this weekly, sometimes i do get someone whos irritated aswell though.
I can understand user frustration sometimes though, used to work at 10k+ user company before, SLA was 10 days... took 5 days until servicedesk had escalated tickets.
Where im at now (2 on the it dep) a ticket is hours, if it takes longer we message the user say that we need to do more troubleshooting and often reply with an estimated time/date where we can troubleshoot it.
Replies and updates is very important for user satisfaction, they dont wanna feel forgotten. often i update a ticket with ill do this tomorrow afternoon or something if im swamped. Always get a reply similar to "take your time its not that important"
fractalfocuser@reddit
seriously depends on your job. My current place I get tons of kudos and constant thanks. Everyone is really nice to eachother and I'm grateful
gusman21@reddit
I know I have not generally heard "Thank you" in an absurdly long amount of time.
OniNoDojo@reddit
Though, I *hate* when a ticket is closed and gets re-opened by a 'thanks' email.
MyClevrUsername@reddit
You’re doing a great job and I appreciate you.
Call-Me-Leo@reddit
Thank you :)
koshka91@reddit
Most end users are nice to me. Whereas most ITs I’ve seen are rude to each other and end users. Do you see a psychological pattern here?
Ordinary-Yam-757@reddit
I'm pretty sure most of my team are autistic and/or ADHD, only my manager has been able to find the friendly ones. All the assholes here either left or got promoted to the server team.
Ssakaa@reddit
I mean, that just sounds better for everyone involved. They, uh, hiring?
Ordinary-Yam-757@reddit
The desktop team position is open but HR requires 3 years of experience.
Ordinary-Yam-757@reddit
I think all the assholes who work in call center and desktop here end up being server administrators and engineers. Those fuckers will kick back a ticket for the stupidest reasons. Most of the help desk and desktop guys are pretty nice, maybe monotone at worst.
zakabog@reddit
In my experience everyone I've dealt with at my current company has been nice to us, it's the users that are extra nice and make nice comments like in OPs case that give the emotional high.
itsmematt88@reddit
Love when users hit you with that unexpected appreciation. like bruh, thank you for not yelling about your email not working because your phone was on airplane mode lmao.
Shame those compliments don’t come with a raise attached, but I’ll still take the ego boost. might not pay the bills but it def keeps burnout away for a bit.
I’ve got a folder in my inbox called “digital hugs” where I save stuff like this for the days everything feels on fire. it helps more than I’d like to admit haha
Cassie0peia@reddit (OP)
That’s a great idea! You should share some of those digital hugs with us. I’d love to hear some of them.
itsmematt88@reddit
They’re usually simple like: You’re doing better than you think. Just little digital pats on the back. 😊
IdiosyncraticBond@reddit
Aa long as the money is good enough, I prefer those pats over a pay raise. And try to return the favour
RamblingReflections@reddit
I work in a high school. There’s one old workshop teacher, who is well past retirement age, that’s stayed on because they simply can’t find anyone to replace him. He’s ex-airforce, and has so much lived experience and wisdom, and spins a great yarn, so much so that I often spend longer chatting with him than I do actually fixing his issues. I can tell from his stories that in his hey day this man was working with some cutting edge technology. He was involved with ordinance, and had been a member of a bomb disposal team, which, at the time was top secret, so much so that even his wife didn’t know exactly what he did, and he couldn’t tell her.
One of my favourite stories was about the time he had to respond to a bomb threat in a public area. Full gear, large exclusion zone, very high profile. It was all over the news. When he got home that night his wife asked him how his day had been. He responded, “oh, nothing exciting. Just another day in the office” and she proceeded to flick him around the ear with a tea towel. “We’ve been married nearly 20 years, Frank! Even in full protective gear I would know that walk and that stance from a mile away! I knew it was you the second I saw the news on the TV, just walking up to that UXO like it was a cupcake!! No! I know you can’t tell me anything. I don’t need you to! I already KNOW!” All the poor bloke could do was smile sheepishly and sit down to dinner.
Anyway, I’m getting carried away.
He knows he’s not tech savvy these days. Frank knows his limits and doesn’t try to pretend he’s something he’s not. Every 3 months, like clockwork, he comes in to see me because he’s changed his password and has managed to then lock himself out of everything. Every 3 months, for years, I have helped this lovely old man update his password manager, unlock his account, and get him signed into everything again. On my end I get hilarious stories of his airforce days, or some nugget of wisdom to tuck away for a later day.
One memorable day he comes in a bit frazzled. That’s not common. He’s Mr Unflappable. I can’t remember exactly why that day was important to him specifically, but whatever it was, he needed his tablet for it, like, stat, and it wouldn’t connect to the wifi. No worries Frank, I gotchu. 2 minutes of work and he’s on his way with a rushed “thank you so much!!”. I didn’t think twice about it.
Next day I come into my office and there’s a box of chocolates and a lovely note in spidery, old school handwriting, telling me that my blood is worth bottling, and thanking me for having patience with a dottery old man. I swear someone was cutting onions nearby when I read that note. I’m not used to being appreciated on my role. Usually no matter how much I do, people just want more and more. That tiny bit of recognition went a very long way.
3 years ago, Frank finally retired, and is off sailing his yacht (the old school racing type, not the millionaire type) off the coast of Australia somewhere. I still have that note, pinned up on my board in my office, and re-read it when I’m feeling overlooked, or just having a bad day.
The world needs more Franks.
IdiosyncraticBond@reddit
That's a lovely story. I think you both made each others lives a tad brighter. Hope he's still sailing and enjoying life
L3veLUP@reddit
This is the kinda wholesome AF story I need to read on a Friday :')
cap10hk@reddit
:')
Cassie0peia@reddit (OP)
What a great story! The chocolates were nice but the letter, priceless!
krazykitties@reddit
I've got one of these. She's always nice so its really not an issue at all.
deadweights@reddit
I make it a point to thank my IT crew regularly and volunteer to beta test new software and procedures. They’re doing a tough job and keeping the systems running for everyone on the team.
thil3000@reddit
I think those last words answers very well a recent post on here on how to overcome the imposter syndrome
MrHaxx1@reddit
Me: "Haha, I have succesfully fooled them into thinking I'm good at my job!"
thil3000@reddit
If they’re happy with the work done you didn’t fool anyone
Cassie0peia@reddit (OP)
Ooh nice connection! You’d think that a comment like that would help mitigate “imposter syndrome,” and yet…
I have a feeling that people working in IT probably have the highest level of “imposter syndrome” because technology changes SO much SO fast that it’s impossible to keep up. We’ve either got “Jack of all trades, master of none” going on, or we know so much about one specific topic that we feel like we’re missing out on so much else.
Anyway, thank you for posting your response. It added an extra nice feel to his statement!
Unhappy_Clue701@reddit
That middle paragraph is so true. I'd also add - the ones in the latter group are always afraid of being left behind, because of things like the VMware lunacy, and the same for Citrix. To be 'the expert' in the company in such products means you have to focus on it almost to the exclusion of all else - and then some bellend in a suit and tie thousands of miles away fucks you over by making your niche untenable to the business any more.
Cassie0peia@reddit (OP)
Very true!
thil3000@reddit
If it can make you feel better the full quote is actually :
Bright_Arm8782@reddit
Yes, at a lot of jobs I've not been the best techie but I have been the one who knows how it all fits together and interacts.
AtarukA@reddit
At a MSP, we had an old woman, nearing retirement being told she now has to do everything she did on paper, on a computer and she had no clue how.
They wanted to fire her because she was seen as useless so my team ended up writing a whole ass manual for their company on how to use their systems on a basic level with some basic troubleshooting, just so she can keep her job.
She managed to keep her job to retirement, and she sent us every years until her tirement 5kg of chocolates at xmas.
anderson01832@reddit
Your reddit name is interesting 👀
Cassie0peia@reddit (OP)
Thank you… Mr. Anderson 😯 (yours reminds me of The Matrix)
fuknthrowaway1@reddit
>too bad he doesn’t have input on my salary
Never know.
More than once I've helped users that, for one reason or another, have the ear of someone way up the org chart.
Like the cursed frequent flyer who introduced me to her VP father as "the only reason I haven't been fired" at a party. To be honest, I kind of deserved the praise because she found more freaky conditions in our software than QA had and suffered more weird hardware failures than her entire department combined. Didn't really get anything out of it other than some idiot from HR interviewing me to determine what made me different than any other college drop-out because I'd been mentioned in a board meeting as 'an excellent hire'.
Or the new guy who'd been putting in tickets for dumb, mostly theoretical questions ever since he started. His father-in law, the owner, yoinked me upstairs at the end of the month to do an early performance review himself. 5/5/5 with the max discretionary raise, for the record, and a very nice whiskey sour while we chatted about work hours and some of those dumb, mostly theoretical questions.
My favorite was giving someone advice over a cigarette on the loading dock. Apparently having the CEO walk up to your desk and thank you is weird. And it's extra weird when you refer to the CEO by his first name in the ensuing conversation with your boss, because that makes him think either you're trying to take the mickey out of him or you're here to replace him. And your coworkers get confused, because they don't know which side to pick.
Turned that situation into so much fun stuff and a couple of promotions.
Cassie0peia@reddit (OP)
You’re so right! You’ve had some great experiences there. I, personally, treat everyone with respect and I’ve rarely had an issue. There are certain senior execs who think the world revolves around them but I just do my job and move along.
CaptainKlamydia@reddit
Two people you always bring souvenirs to after a trip: office manager and IT. I've never waited longer than a day for anything.
Cassie0peia@reddit (OP)
See, u/CaptainKlamydia, you got the right idea! Though, personally, I’d also throw in a souvenir for payroll.
Dinilddp@reddit
In my office everyone is nice to me. To the point they come to me for an opinion other than IT stuffs as well and I usually tell them in not licensed therapist but happy to help.
MyNameIsHuman1877@reddit
I've been called a rarity in IT support as I'm a people person and can usually explain things in a way related to what the person does or something they're interested in. I pick up on cues from conversation and things on their desks.
I'm also very lucky to work with a great group of people, many of whom I've known a long time, who are all very appreciative.
Cassie0peia@reddit (OP)
Based on stories I read on here, that is a blessing!
No_Promotion451@reddit
This brings back memories
princessk8@reddit
There was user, a manager in a different part of the business, who would give me gift cards for helping him! He rarely had to contact tech support and when he did it was usually a bit complicated. Sadly he retired, but that guy was great.
samfisher850@reddit
I find the new employees are usually the most appreciative (at least vocally), but a thanks is always nice.
I'm making an assumption on the platform, and you might already be aware, but just throwing it out. That sounds like Google's known issue of a half enrolled 2SV state. I spent quite a while with their support cause it also breaks our compliance reports. https://support.google.com/a/answer/6166309?hl=en#zippy=%2Cadministration%2Csecurity%2Chalf-enrolled-sv-state
HairyMechanic@reddit
It's two fold positivity as well - one from the new starter who makes the appreciate comment, but also his colleagues who state you're the go-to person.
hurkwurk@reddit
its always nice to get good feedback. i like calls that go smooth and simple.
I havent done desktop support in over 8 years, but recent restructuring has me taking an on-call rotation, this is.. well, foolish money wise, but i actually dont mind because it allows me an opportunity to reconnect with common issues. I have gotted a few calls like this, so its pretty funny for me, since im an engineer now, and my on-call time is at overtime rates. yes... im being paid enough, dont worry about that :)
gusman21@reddit
I know I have not generally heard "Thank you" in an absurdly long amount of time.
jdlnewborn@reddit
Sadly, you never remember these people more than the ones that are problematic.
Good job, hold onto these moments as best you can.
Hoosier_Farmer_@reddit
haha, happy to help - TheBoss@contoso.com loves receiving feedback on how the team is doing, if you want to test out the email on your phone. thanks, have a good one!