IT drives people crazy

Posted by PhreakyPhillip@reddit | talesfromtechsupport | View on Reddit | 30 comments

I was an IT Help Desk & (small) Database Admin guy 20+ years ago... since then I've been the "tech guy" at several different jobs. I'm now a state employee in a small office and everything is controlled by DoIT, which is fine by me...most local offices have the same laptops, printers, software, etc

A typical day I mail documents to a dozen or so customers, handwriting their names and addresses on the envelopes. Today I thought why not have a dedicated printer tray with just envelopes to print on... simple... except I couldn't get the envelopes to print. So I submitted a help desk ticket...

An hour later an IT guy calls me up and I give him remote access. Almost immediately any little typo he made or wrong mouse click made him yell or curse or something else. He tried several times to reinstall the printer, checked numerous printer settings and every time he thought he figured it out I'd go check the printer finding nothing. I had the guy the next desk over to listen when I gave the IT guy the bad news so he could hear the cursing too lol...a couple of times I mentioned to him to see if there was an output setting...but he wasn't interested in checking...

After an hour & a half he said he was tapping out on this one and he'd pass it to someone else. After he ended the call in went into Word and before I clicked Print I checked the Print Settings...saw Output Tray and changed Automatic to the Left Tray and it printed just fine...took a screenshot of the Settings page, added a couple of big bright red arrows and emailed him within 5 minutes of the call ending.

I know everyone has bad days and in IT something may seem super simple but there's no simple fix which is frustrating. But yelling and cursing when things don't work, especially as a state employee, isn't a good idea. It didn't bother me really... it just seemed like his frustration was a mental block for him...

So should this guy be in IT?

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gijsyo@reddit

Printers can be hard to support, and combine that with unfriendly or demanding customers. I get the frustration, even if you were friendly. It could just be an off day though.

3lm1Ster@reddit

And there are so many varieties. If you are used to a 1019 and you are trying to fix something with a 1019A, yea no good. Settings list is a different order, drop down menu is in a different spot, etc.

And then there's HP ;)

ThunderDwn@reddit

~~IT~~ People drive ~~people~~ IT crazy.

FTFY.

IT would be great - if only there were no users.

Xeni966@reddit

Just imagine - if users knew about this tool called Google, we'd be out of a job

Google can't get me your admin password that I need to.access.the locked databases.

Shhhh! Don't say that. I've worked hard to get my black belt in Google-fu!

Tasty-Mall8577@reddit

SkyNet?

Shinhan@reddit

Also, Printers drive IT crazy.

Rawing7@reddit

Depends on the field. For example, programming sucks even without users.

CuahuCowboy@reddit

I worked with a guy like this. Constant complaining and raising his voice at clients. He would get bad reviews and pretend they weren't his fault. There was always an excuse for the guy. Thank goodness he's gone

AshleyJSheridan@reddit

Swearing at printers is an exception. Printers aren't normal. What's to say this printer didn't change it's own damn settings as soon as someone else opened the panel? I wouldn't put it past those infernal machines, they're not normal!

tslnox@reddit

I first read the title and before I checked the sub my first thought went

PENNYWISE LIVES

2020_MadeMeDoIt@reddit

There's a really funny Eddie Izzard bit from a stand up back in the 90s. Basically how frustrating printing is and how he thinks the world will probably end when some general in the military gets frustrated and ends up smashing the nuclear launch button. Lol.

I'll see if I can find a link to it.

lokis_construction@reddit

Way too many are in IT that are minimal employees.

AngryCod@reddit

Let's be fair. Printers share a lot of that blame. Like, a LOT. Fuck printers.

DeuceyBoots@reddit

I’m not even in IT. Just the person in my department who tends to raise the IT tickets and I decided yesterday I will no longer deal with anyone’s printer issue or raise a ticket for them. I want nothing more to do with the bastards. Fuck printers!

WombatLiberationFrnt@reddit

Computers would be great without printers and users.

Raphi_55@reddit

So servers ?

DiligentCockroach700@reddit

Over 30 years in IT support and printers have always been the biggest headache. Even now retired for 10 years, sometimes my home printer refuses to print. I think it's sentient, it knows when you need something printed urgently and fucks you around.

True that!

PXranger@reddit

A core skill for a good IT tech is how to interact with your users. I work for a company with over 15,000 employees, and frequently have to support senior management, pulling a stunt like that in front of one of our VP’s would only happen once.

harrywwc@reddit

…pulling a stunt like that in front of one of our VP’s would only happen once.

because they would laugh and then gently chide you to reform your ways?

georgiomoorlord@reddit

If only.

Solcannon@reddit

Yes, as an IT specialist myself, interpersonal skills are what separates great employees from everyone else.

Working remotely, especially on a printer.. you need to get as much information from the user as possible. A regular test print would have told them which tray it was grabbing from. And figuring out what they wanted to print and what wasn't working. What was in each tray. Get the user to show you what they are doing.

Comfortable_Cup4689@reddit

As some one working in a non NA IT department i ocosianlly switched jobs just because of management. And management are usually people that don’t understand IT but understand managing. But managing something you don’t understand usually leads to shith situations and those situations is a tale as old as time and IT.

And this happens almost everywhere in the world and IT suffers from it because they have to live by management rules and make things so stupid as possible and inconvenient as possible for the workers of it and for the users of the company.