Tales from the Book, Part LXXIX
Happy New Year, everyone!
Tech:Close any programs you may have open.
Caller:Oh, I don't have anything open. I'm just online with *ISP*.
Tech:Close that window.
Caller:Press 'Next'?
Tech:No, close the window.
Caller:I pressed 'Next'.
In addition, because he didn't know the difference between a successful installation and a successful connection, he'd been reinstalling for two days, and not getting anywhere. In the end, it was a hardware error.
Bear in mind, *ISP* is in fact a three-initial company, immortalized by Weird Al:
Tech:Click on *ISP*.
Caller:Online Services?
"I connect using Fie-Ox."
Stuff that's supposed to happen - you can only have a screen name signed on through one location at a time:
"When my boss is signed on on *screenname* and I try to sign on through *screenname* I get bumped off!"
Apparently they'd been able to do it for a year, by using our primary (classic) client and a trial program that didn't last out a year and was no longer supported at this time. I explained, forthrightly but nicely, that that's not supposed to happen, was an error in and of itself, and that this was the server correcting itself. (It didn't help that we weren't supposed to walk people through downloading this thing anymore, and someone had done just that, as if having her uninstall and reinstall would solve a server issue.) She didn't get mad. She got whiny. Imagine a put-upon, female, Droopy Dog. Away you go.
Some people appreciate us. One woman, on her session with an ATT tech:
"We were on the phone for hours. Oh, that poor girl! If I were her, I'd go out drinking every night."
It's not always the callers:
Some idiot from *ISP* told a caller she had to wait 36 hours before files posted to a different location on her computer's hard drive would appear, and also that the local folder from which they were copied would disappear from its original location once the copypaste "took". She'd gotten me because that hadn't sounded right to her, and she'd called back for a different opinion.
Tech:Close any programs you may have open.
Caller:Oh, I don't have anything open. I'm just online with *ISP*.
Tech:Close that window.
Caller:Press 'Next'?
Tech:No, close the window.
Caller:I pressed 'Next'.
In addition, because he didn't know the difference between a successful installation and a successful connection, he'd been reinstalling for two days, and not getting anywhere. In the end, it was a hardware error.
Bear in mind, *ISP* is in fact a three-initial company, immortalized by Weird Al:
Tech:Click on *ISP*.
Caller:Online Services?
"I connect using Fie-Ox."
Stuff that's supposed to happen - you can only have a screen name signed on through one location at a time:
"When my boss is signed on on *screenname* and I try to sign on through *screenname* I get bumped off!"
Apparently they'd been able to do it for a year, by using our primary (classic) client and a trial program that didn't last out a year and was no longer supported at this time. I explained, forthrightly but nicely, that that's not supposed to happen, was an error in and of itself, and that this was the server correcting itself. (It didn't help that we weren't supposed to walk people through downloading this thing anymore, and someone had done just that, as if having her uninstall and reinstall would solve a server issue.) She didn't get mad. She got whiny. Imagine a put-upon, female, Droopy Dog. Away you go.
Some people appreciate us. One woman, on her session with an ATT tech:
"We were on the phone for hours. Oh, that poor girl! If I were her, I'd go out drinking every night."
It's not always the callers:
Some idiot from *ISP* told a caller she had to wait 36 hours before files posted to a different location on her computer's hard drive would appear, and also that the local folder from which they were copied would disappear from its original location once the copypaste "took". She'd gotten me because that hadn't sounded right to her, and she'd called back for a different opinion.