Sometimes I don't like helping people

Posted by Angry_Doragon@reddit | talesfromtechsupport | View on Reddit | 90 comments

I'm not in tech support, but on rare occasions do some troubleshooting for colleagues and decide if something can be fixed in-office (software) or needs a proper technician (hardware).

A colleague asked me to take a look at his laptop. His Microsoft Word is slowing down and Excel is not responding, with a very slow laptop performance. Turns out he has 10+ Chrome tabs open, several Word windows, several Excel windows, and has not rebooted his laptop in weeks.

The real trouble happens when I tell him to save and close the windows, then reboot. Conversation as follows:

Colleague: But Doragon, how do I do work if I close them?

Doragon(me): Then continue from where you left off. Reboot only takes a minute anyway.

Colleague: I need all these files. What happens if they disappear?

Doragon: That's why you should save them. Now do it.

Colleague: Nevermind I'll do it later. But the laptop is still slow. What did you do to make it so slow?

Angry_Doragon: OI hello, you asked me to check it because it was slow and you now blame me?!

At that point, I told him to handle his own problems and went off elsewhere. Always refused to help him after that. I swear, some people exist to piss off others.

[-]

Metalcastr@reddit

Yeah people are like that sometimes. I believe every system should have 32GB of RAM for starters, as 16GB isn't enough to fit both Windows and standard office apps performantly. Also, all the security suites and agents bring everything down to a crawl.

And lastly, Windows Pro does need to be rebooted, as there's no clean way to stop/start and flush everything needed otherwise, it's a spiderweb of dependencies.

[-]

Shazam1269@reddit

32 GB is overkill for office apps. Unless the user is running complex applications like video editing software, graphic design tools, and 3D modeling or rendering applications, then 16 will be fine.

[-]

spaceforcerecruit@reddit

On a personal PC you’re using to do your taxes once a year? Sure. On a work computer that probably has five different security and identity tools running at all times? Not so much.

[-]

himitsumono@reddit

So Windows and Office are fine, it's the shitty security and identity tools that are the problem.

Maybe better tools would be the answer?

OTOH, RAM is cheaper

[-]

blind_ninja_guy@reddit

Ga, I swear, I used to just go make a coffee and take a walk when my work pc ran whatever cursed security scan, the entire machine started crawling.

[-]

randomwindstorm@reddit

You can probably blame fastboot being on by default for that. Many people do turn their computer off but don't even realize it's actually going into a pseudo hibernate.

Horrible decision on microsoft's part.

[-]

Metalcastr@reddit

And the setting may randomly turn itself on!

[-]

CALivintheDream@reddit

I used to work in IT years ago, and when I got calls for help, usually my first go to was to ask them to reboot. It's amazing how often people didn't want to do it and how often it solved their problem. There's a British tv show called the IT Crowd. Every time they answer their phone they immediately say "Have you tried turning it off and back on again?" Too funny.

[-]

Lor1an@reddit

"I'll just put this over here... with the rest of the fire..."

[-]

nymalous@reddit

"Four! I mean five! I mean fire!"

[-]

ravoguy@reddit

Is it plugged in?

[-]

mindcontrol93@reddit

I asked a coworker that one time. They say, "of course it is." I checked. It was not.

[-]

Scotty_dont_@reddit

Weve got a project at the place I work to update everyone on win 10 to 11. Been chasing a woman who apparently had installed it for 2 days before I managed to teamviewer in, just needed a reboot. "Yeah I'll do it end of the day" next day still reporting as win 10 despite her telling me its done. Managed to arrange another teamviewer session and it still showed as needing a reboot to install. She said she'd do it now. Just clicked sign out and left it. I kept the session open for 5 mins to see if she'd reboot. I ended up just logging in with LAPS and doing it myself

[-]

NewUserWhoDisAgain@reddit

Just clicked sign out and left it.

The aversion to Restart or Shut Down is real. One time I sat next to someone who insisted that their computer had a problem restarting.

So I told them, okay lets restart. Watched them click Sign out.

"Okay so you actually clicked Sign out, lets click Restart. Sign back in."

They sign back in and.... click Sign out.

"Okay you... clicked sign out again. This time, let me show you the button."

I move their mouse over Restart.

"Okay there's the restart button right?"

"Yes."

"Click Restart."

Mouse moves.

Clicks Sign out.

[-]

booboootron@reddit

It's like they think there's some special esoteric silver-bullet solution that we'll give them if they simply feign saying that they did it, and then merrily live on with never having to shut down their computer, getting a RAM upgrade or cleaning the fan.

[-]

BlueR1nse@reddit

Had a job in a hospital. Got a ticket for the presentation room in the R&D building. Computer won’t turn on, they’ve tried “everything”. Unplugging and replugging it back in, you know “everything”.

I show up to the room, PLUG IN THE COMPUTER and turn it right on. Turn on the projector, log in to make sure it is showing up through the projector (which it is).

Add a resolution note to the ticket “I plugged in the computer.” What a hard day of work on such a difficult conundrum…

Another one, similar issue “the screen won’t show anything when I turn the computer on”.

I go down to the room, turn on the computer, turn on the monitor… problem solved…

In this day and age, how do some of these people function without the most basic of basic technology skills…?

[-]

DysfnctionalbyChoice@reddit

If it was a PC they were clearly talking about the computer, where the screen is - see green light os on! What do you mean the big metal box? That's just the hard drive.

[-]

Marmot418@reddit

No, no, clearly it's all in the part I look at and I don't look at the box to use the computer

[-]

jen_gecko@reddit

Did tech support in a call center. No joke had someone who's pc wouldn't turn on. They'd plugged the power bar into itself

[-]

bobk2@reddit

Somebody at work did that on purpose. She said if she plugged it into the wall it would be a tripping hazard.
I told her that the computer works better that way. (It wasn't working at all her way.)

[-]

ravoguy@reddit

Infinite power glitch

[-]

ghostlee13@reddit

No, turning the monitor off doesn't count as power cycling or reboot.

[-]

tamesis982@reddit

I thought this was just a joke until I worked a service desk position. It is so, so true.

[-]

TechStumbler@reddit

Get this once a week...

[-]

ChatahoocheeRiverRat@reddit

Do you know what a button is?

[-]

hsvwxguy@reddit

Have you tried forcing an unexpected reboot?

[-]

ManWhoIsDrunk@reddit

Are you from the past?

[-]

bob152637485@reddit

Even as an industrial electrician/engineer, this fixes about 90% of all the calls I get. It's only about 10% of the time that I actually need to use my brain lol.

Best explanation I've gotten is that turning things off and on gives the change for capacitors to discharge, as well as any residual capacitance that's just there naturally.

[-]

Ricama@reddit

For a computer system it's the buffers. A number got corrupted and the only way to fix it is to force the computer to forget it and rebuild it

[-]

bob152637485@reddit

Ah, gotcha. And here I assumed it was the capacitors on the motherboard and such as well! Thanks.

[-]

jonoghue@reddit

I remember an episode where the phone was connected to a tape recorder that just said "hello IT?..... Have you tried turning it off and on again?...... You're welcome."

[-]

CALivintheDream@reddit

I remember that one, so funny!!!

[-]

jasondbk@reddit

My medical directive if on life support: unplug me then plug me back in.

[-]

ShirazGypsy@reddit

i take an afternoon nap and call it my system restart

[-]

Tiara-di-Capi@reddit

That is 💯💯acurate.

[-]

CALivintheDream@reddit

My friend has a Tshirt with that saying on it. lol

[-]

Z4-Driver@reddit

"My screen doesn't work, I don't see the desktop"

"Is it turned on?"

"Yes"

"Please turn it off"

"Now it works"

[-]

Ok_Pomelo_2685@reddit

I also work in IT and helping end-users can be painful at times. I worked a 3-day music festival this past weekend and part of my job was registering people with disabilities with ADA wristbands so they can utilize the ADA platforms for each stage, which was far more rewarding than helping some of the end-users in my full-time job.

[-]

NewUserWhoDisAgain@reddit

Those are some of the real classics.

"Help me."

"Here are solutions."

"I dont want those solutions. I want you to help me."

"I cannot help you if you dont want those solutions."

"Why am I still having these problems why didnt you fix them!?"

[-]

Overall_Motor9918@reddit

I’m a retired Network Engineer. I find helping people who are completely ignorant about anything computer related frustrating. First you have to translate their complaints. This one friend calls his desktop computer a database. His router is a rooter and his monitor has a virus. Attempts to troubleshoot over the phone never works because he can’t understand simple instructions. I can’t imagine doing this for a living anymore.

[-]

tybbiesniffer@reddit

I spent 6 years on a help desk and now I work tangentially to IT. From my years doing tech support, I'm a stickler for the correct vocabulary. I have to play a game of 20 questions to figure out what people are talking about every time we a ticket.

I also can't stand when people send you completely out of context screenshots 10 pixels wide and ask why "this" is happening.

[-]

K1yco@reddit

I also can't stand when people send you completely out of context screenshots 10 pixels wide and ask why "this" is happening.

We sometimes get tickets with subject No context and a single picture with zero text.

[-]

anubisviech@reddit

You're supposed to know all their workflow, silly!

[-]

K1yco@reddit

Colleague: I need all these files. What happens if they disappear?

When you put papers in your filing cabinet, do they disappear forever?

[-]

ManagementTiny3800@reddit

Used to work in a call center for an ISP. Had a guy who was well known for asking for advice on something, then after you tell him how you would work on it, he'd say something to the effect of, "no, i don't think that's the right way to do it. let me go check with X...." And X would tell him the exact same thing you had told him.

[-]

action_lawyer_comics@reddit

At least you have an easy fix. “Go ask X”

[-]

ManagementTiny3800@reddit

nah, he pulled that with everyone on the team at least once. we all were sick of him doing that.

[-]

Awlson@reddit

Obviously needed a group call when he would call, where all of you would get on the line and tell him what to do. Would prevent that bs real quick. Though, honestly, you guys should have reported him to your manager, so he could talk to that guy's manager about wasting everyone's time.

[-]

UristImiknorris@reddit

Then obviously you need to redirect him between everyone on the team, before sending him back to the first person for the answer.

[-]

Veloreyn@reddit

It's easier to give him bad advice a few times and after that he'll think you're the idiot and stop asking. Weaponized incompetence is not always a bad thing.

[-]

bob152637485@reddit

This would honestly be hilarious, I need to see this happen!

[-]

CLE-Mosh@reddit

ASKHOLE

[-]

Angry_Doragon@reddit (OP)

I learnt a new word today lol

[-]

Dustquake@reddit

It's an intentional time burn. Why only ask one person when you can ask 2 and burn twice the time?

[-]

mikedsnto@reddit

My favourite acronym is PICNIC

Problem in chair, not in computer

[-]

SnakeBit74@reddit

Mine is Computer User Non Technical

[-]

Rogerdodger1946@reddit

ID 10T situation.

[-]

ducktape8856@reddit

I often struggle with layer 8 issues.

[-]

JustAMassiveNoob@reddit

Or PEBKAC problem exists between computer and chair

[-]

Zonnebloempje@reddit

Komputer?

[-]

JustAMassiveNoob@reddit

Lol mistyped, edited to say keyboard

[-]

robsterva@reddit

That's a refinement of the earlier PEBCAK -- problem exists between chair and keyboard.

I think because PICNIC is an actual world, it got more traction.

[-]

Doip@reddit

>10+ tabs

Bruh is he on a Celeron?

[-]

ManWhoIsDrunk@reddit

Was about to say the same. Those are amateur numbers.

I've had so many chrome windows open that the start-bar preview turns into a list with scroll-bars, and each window har 6-7 tabs on average...

[-]

LupercaniusAB@reddit

I currently have 41 tabs open on my phone.

[-]

lesethx@reddit

Dang, I'm only about 30 on my phone, but I try to conserve there.

[-]

LupercaniusAB@reddit

I try to stop at 40.

[-]

blind_ninja_guy@reddit

when I need to go to a site, I go find a tab to evict from chrome to load the site. It's so much easier than closing all 50+, and I don't think that many tabs on mobile cause problems, because chrome won't load any until they're actually used.

[-]

BronL-1912@reddit

Last week i closed all 300 and something tabs in Safari on my mother's iPad.

[-]

nico282@reddit

If you're still on 8GB of Ram, 10 tabs will eat half of them. Add in the mix antivirus, word and excel, and you're out of memory.

Sometimes I have "runaway tabs", something goes wrong behind the scenes and they become unresponsive but going berserk on the cpu.

[-]

Doip@reddit

Weird, my last laptop was 8 and chrome was always in the 150-250 tab range. I just swapped to Firefox on a 64gig machine and I’ve got a runaway memory leak that eats like a gig a minute at its worst

[-]

ShirazGypsy@reddit

150-250 tabs? Are you well?1?

[-]

Doip@reddit

Anyone with less than 50 needs to be examined and quarantined

[-]

ShirazGypsy@reddit

I close and shut all of my tabs every night. I want to start fresh the next morning .

[-]

thedolanduck@reddit

I was like this until tab groups showed up.

[-]

CoolTom@reddit

Is that a computer powered by celery?

[-]

Angry_Doragon@reddit (OP)

Nah, but it does slow down a lot.

[-]

seimungbing@reddit

our IT ticket system as a bold warning before anyone submit a ticket:

Our technician will reboot your system during troubleshooting, please save your important works before submitting your ticket!

Type “I have saved my work” to submit the ticket.

of course that was the fantasy of our IT team, and this message is forever sitting in the “Draft” PR with a bottle of whiskey in a cabinet waiting for a day some higher up accidentally approves it.

[-]

SeanBZA@reddit

Attach it as part of a regular notice they all approve, and it will be approved.

[-]

ecp001@reddit

Back when I was tech support an on-scene arrival started with closing all apps, clearing all cookies and temp files, emptying the recycle bin, shutting down, restarting. After all that I asked to be shown the problem. I encountered very few real problems.

[-]

jonoghue@reddit

You touch it, you own it

[-]

Blizerwin@reddit

Here is a tip for you Make stuff sound like they can help

If they need to reboot. Just tell them to give you proper option to support you need to see a certain code that sadly only is visible in the phase the computer boots up. (For pc it's simpler. You need to check a code on the wall side of the cable, but you can use the same as for notebooks)

If someone feels involved in solving the problem, they are more likely to be cooperative

[-]

paulcaar@reddit

Or you just say it like it is, in a friendly but firm way.

You're coming to me for advice, this is my advice. It's totally fine if you don't want to follow through on it, but that doesn't change it.

[-]

Blizerwin@reddit

That works as well

I'm talking from a "hard user that isn't cooperativ" So primarily users that are on my hot list for being annoying or hard to work with.

[-]

Angry_Doragon@reddit (OP)

Man, that does sound like a good idea. Thanks

[-]

AngryCod@reddit

"Doctor, I came in with a pain in my chest. Why did you give me cancer?"

[-]

cascading_error@reddit

I had a famly friend who genuanly thought like that. Like the diagnosis was prescriptive instead of desctriptive. We dont talk to her anymore. She never figured out writing either. Not that she couldnt write or spell. Just never figured out how to actualy comunicate with it.

[-]