Saturday, March 31, 2007
Stupidity from a different direction
This post won't be quite like the usual fare. Instead, this is going to deal with the frustration of trying to work with software that works in a frustrating manner. In this case, I'm talking about Windows Vista.
Previous versions of Windows back to Windows 98 have reported connection errors in basically the same way. You try connecting, and for some reason it doesn't work out, so you get an error, find out why it failed, and correct the problem. However, Vista works a bit different.
Let's say I'm trying to establish a dialup connection, but I have forgotten to plug the phone cord into the modem. I create my dialup connection from the Network and Sharing Center and hit connect. Unsurprisingly, it fails. Windows lets me know that it didn't work, but doesn't say why. It does, however, have an option to diagnose the problem. OK! I click on that... and find out that Windows can't tell why it didn't work.
Great.
If you create a shortcut to that connection and place it on the desktop, or if you go to the screen that lets you "manage" your connections and connect from there, you'd get error 680, indicating that there was no dial tone. If you go to the Network and Sharing Center or use the Start menu's 'Connect to' button, you don't. This struck me as odd.
And what if you need to get the error and can't retry with a shortcut for some reason? Well, I found a way, but it's ridiculous. You can click Start, then Search, then type in 'event', it'll find the Event Viewer, open that, doubleclick on Windows Logs, then Applications, and check the log for anything with a level of "Error" and a source of "RasClient". The only other way to get to Event Viewer that I could find was to open Windows help, search for event viewer, and use the link there to open it.
Seriously? How awkward is that? Why would you setup your system so that it generates an error but doesn't report it?
Anyway, the point is that it's not always the user's fault. Sometimes the software that they're using is confusing or crappy. So far, every time I've been in a position to recommend which version of Windows an individual uses, I've recommended XP, and to hold off on Vista for about a year. Vista's got a lot of good going for it, but I think it's a bit more intimidating to get used to, and its Control Panel has a silly number of layers to get to anything in its standard view, which makes my job more difficult. I hope that in time it'll get a bit easier to use.
Previous versions of Windows back to Windows 98 have reported connection errors in basically the same way. You try connecting, and for some reason it doesn't work out, so you get an error, find out why it failed, and correct the problem. However, Vista works a bit different.
Let's say I'm trying to establish a dialup connection, but I have forgotten to plug the phone cord into the modem. I create my dialup connection from the Network and Sharing Center and hit connect. Unsurprisingly, it fails. Windows lets me know that it didn't work, but doesn't say why. It does, however, have an option to diagnose the problem. OK! I click on that... and find out that Windows can't tell why it didn't work.
Great.
If you create a shortcut to that connection and place it on the desktop, or if you go to the screen that lets you "manage" your connections and connect from there, you'd get error 680, indicating that there was no dial tone. If you go to the Network and Sharing Center or use the Start menu's 'Connect to' button, you don't. This struck me as odd.
And what if you need to get the error and can't retry with a shortcut for some reason? Well, I found a way, but it's ridiculous. You can click Start, then Search, then type in 'event', it'll find the Event Viewer, open that, doubleclick on Windows Logs, then Applications, and check the log for anything with a level of "Error" and a source of "RasClient". The only other way to get to Event Viewer that I could find was to open Windows help, search for event viewer, and use the link there to open it.
Seriously? How awkward is that? Why would you setup your system so that it generates an error but doesn't report it?
Anyway, the point is that it's not always the user's fault. Sometimes the software that they're using is confusing or crappy. So far, every time I've been in a position to recommend which version of Windows an individual uses, I've recommended XP, and to hold off on Vista for about a year. Vista's got a lot of good going for it, but I think it's a bit more intimidating to get used to, and its Control Panel has a silly number of layers to get to anything in its standard view, which makes my job more difficult. I hope that in time it'll get a bit easier to use.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Feel the power
If your internet service isn't working, and none of the lights on your modem are on, I suggest plugging it back in.
Labels: obvious
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Just... but... you... argh!!
Oh good, another reason to post. And it's not even 11am as I start to type this!
One of the most important skills for a tech support agent to have is the ability to figure out what's actually happening based on what the caller is telling you. In ideal situations, the caller is telling you exactly what's happening and you can proceed accordingly. In most real life cases, the caller isn't familiar with the terminology or isn't sure what's actually happening, and so they try the best they can. From there, it's usually not too hard to mentally translate what they're saying into what they're actually seeing.
However, the outright omission of information can be a problem sometimes. For example, one caller earlier today told me that her computer was connected, but it wasn't behaving the way a connected computer normally does. She said that the computer was indicating that it was connected, and I'd been having her click the OurCompany icon each time to make sure that the computer was establishing its link.
The problem is that the caller was clicking the icon, and nothing was happening because the shortcut was broken, and then she was seeing that the local area connection was indicating that it was connected, so she assumed that she was. Since she didn't sound like she was doing anything wrong, I didn't bother checking the usage logs to see if she was successfully re-establishing the connection each time.
This was a case of the caller sounding like she was following my instructions but probably not realizing that what she was looking at and what was happening weren't actually what I was talking about. Consequently, an issue that should have taken 5-10 minutes to resolve took 41 minutes.
Oh well. At least we both learned something.
One of the most important skills for a tech support agent to have is the ability to figure out what's actually happening based on what the caller is telling you. In ideal situations, the caller is telling you exactly what's happening and you can proceed accordingly. In most real life cases, the caller isn't familiar with the terminology or isn't sure what's actually happening, and so they try the best they can. From there, it's usually not too hard to mentally translate what they're saying into what they're actually seeing.
However, the outright omission of information can be a problem sometimes. For example, one caller earlier today told me that her computer was connected, but it wasn't behaving the way a connected computer normally does. She said that the computer was indicating that it was connected, and I'd been having her click the OurCompany icon each time to make sure that the computer was establishing its link.
The problem is that the caller was clicking the icon, and nothing was happening because the shortcut was broken, and then she was seeing that the local area connection was indicating that it was connected, so she assumed that she was. Since she didn't sound like she was doing anything wrong, I didn't bother checking the usage logs to see if she was successfully re-establishing the connection each time.
This was a case of the caller sounding like she was following my instructions but probably not realizing that what she was looking at and what was happening weren't actually what I was talking about. Consequently, an issue that should have taken 5-10 minutes to resolve took 41 minutes.
Oh well. At least we both learned something.
Labels: communication, futility
"Uh, it just mysteriously happened..."
Sure it did.
That's what I usually think whenever someone calls in and says something like this:
Caller: "Yeah, for some reason my modem's setup page just came up. All on its own. I didn't do anything to it."
I mean, it might be just the way the caller says, but because most modems only bring up their setup pages when you reset them, and because most modems require you to push in a difficult-to-reach button for about 7 seconds to reset them, and most importantly, when you sound so damn defensive right off the bat, it's hard not to assume that you are, for some reason, trying to ensure that I don't know that you've tried resetting the modem on your own.
I don't care if you have tried resetting the modem. I don't know why you'd bother, but it really doesn't matter to me. I do care about people lying about the problem and what might have caused it, because that sort of thing makes the problem much harder to fix sometimes.
If you reset your modem because you thought it would help something, just say so. You're going to have to run the risk that I'm a bit of a jerk (I am, but not when I'm at work). You're also going to get your problem fixed much, much more quickly.
That's what I usually think whenever someone calls in and says something like this:
Caller: "Yeah, for some reason my modem's setup page just came up. All on its own. I didn't do anything to it."
I mean, it might be just the way the caller says, but because most modems only bring up their setup pages when you reset them, and because most modems require you to push in a difficult-to-reach button for about 7 seconds to reset them, and most importantly, when you sound so damn defensive right off the bat, it's hard not to assume that you are, for some reason, trying to ensure that I don't know that you've tried resetting the modem on your own.
I don't care if you have tried resetting the modem. I don't know why you'd bother, but it really doesn't matter to me. I do care about people lying about the problem and what might have caused it, because that sort of thing makes the problem much harder to fix sometimes.
If you reset your modem because you thought it would help something, just say so. You're going to have to run the risk that I'm a bit of a jerk (I am, but not when I'm at work). You're also going to get your problem fixed much, much more quickly.
Labels: communication, lying
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Stupid Rodents
I did a field trip at work yesterday in which I learned that the majority of calls some of our technicians have to go deal with involves rodents chewing wires. If the cables are strung up, it's squirrels, and if they're buried, it's mice or rats. It's a wonder that bats haven't found a way to combine their skills and be a nuisance in both situations.
The obvious solution: wipe out the rodent population. There aren't any conceivable negative consequences.
The obvious solution: wipe out the rodent population. There aren't any conceivable negative consequences.
Labels: rodents
Sunday, March 11, 2007
What makes the job so much fun?
All from the same customer:
Me: "What kind of error message are you seeing when your email doesn't work?"
Caller: "There's no error, it just says 'Contact CompanyName.'"
Me: "Your computer doesn't know who we are, so I don't think it can give you an error that says that exactly. Do you know what else that error message said?"
Caller: "No."
...
Me: "So that setting was most likely causing your computer to hang up after it checked your email. Now that we've turned that setting off, that should no longer happen."
Caller: "It still says it can't find the server."
Me: "Have you connected again?"
Caller: "Yes."
Me: "Where does your computer indicate that it's connected?"
Caller: "I dunno."
Me: "How do you know that it's connected?"
Caller: "It said 'connecting' before it said it can't find the server."
Me: "So that means it was trying to reach the server, then gave up because it couldn't find the server, which probably means your computer isn't connected to us right now."
Caller: "It should be."
Me: "What did you click on to tell your computer to connect?"
Caller: "My email."
Me: "That doesn't tell it to connect to us. Before you open it, you need to click on the
CompanyName icon. Go ahead and try that now."
Caller: "Oh, now it says CompanyName is now connected."
...
Caller: "I'm in Outbox Express."
Me: "Do you mean Outlook Express?"
Caller: "No, I'm in the inbox."
...
Me: "Now click on the sent items folder so that we can see if those messages went out successfully."
Caller: "I can't. Nothing's happening."
Me: "What are you clicking on?"
Caller: silence
Me: "Sir? What are you trying to click on?"
Caller: "Sent items, but nothing's happening. It just stays there."
Me: "Try clicking on your inbox. Does it show you the contents of the inbox?"
Caller: "Yes."
Me: "OK, now try clicking on the outbox. Is it showing you any messages there?"
Caller: "No, it says it's empty."
Me: "Great, that's a good sign. Now just below the outbox, on the left side, you should see the sent items folder. Try clicking on there."
Caller: "Oh, on the left."
...
Seriously. There should be a licensing program for operating these things.
Me: "What kind of error message are you seeing when your email doesn't work?"
Caller: "There's no error, it just says 'Contact CompanyName.'"
Me: "Your computer doesn't know who we are, so I don't think it can give you an error that says that exactly. Do you know what else that error message said?"
Caller: "No."
...
Me: "So that setting was most likely causing your computer to hang up after it checked your email. Now that we've turned that setting off, that should no longer happen."
Caller: "It still says it can't find the server."
Me: "Have you connected again?"
Caller: "Yes."
Me: "Where does your computer indicate that it's connected?"
Caller: "I dunno."
Me: "How do you know that it's connected?"
Caller: "It said 'connecting' before it said it can't find the server."
Me: "So that means it was trying to reach the server, then gave up because it couldn't find the server, which probably means your computer isn't connected to us right now."
Caller: "It should be."
Me: "What did you click on to tell your computer to connect?"
Caller: "My email."
Me: "That doesn't tell it to connect to us. Before you open it, you need to click on the
CompanyName icon. Go ahead and try that now."
Caller: "Oh, now it says CompanyName is now connected."
...
Caller: "I'm in Outbox Express."
Me: "Do you mean Outlook Express?"
Caller: "No, I'm in the inbox."
...
Me: "Now click on the sent items folder so that we can see if those messages went out successfully."
Caller: "I can't. Nothing's happening."
Me: "What are you clicking on?"
Caller: silence
Me: "Sir? What are you trying to click on?"
Caller: "Sent items, but nothing's happening. It just stays there."
Me: "Try clicking on your inbox. Does it show you the contents of the inbox?"
Caller: "Yes."
Me: "OK, now try clicking on the outbox. Is it showing you any messages there?"
Caller: "No, it says it's empty."
Me: "Great, that's a good sign. Now just below the outbox, on the left side, you should see the sent items folder. Try clicking on there."
Caller: "Oh, on the left."
...
Seriously. There should be a licensing program for operating these things.
Labels: frustration, pebkac
Friday, March 09, 2007
Say what you want!
Caller: "I can't get into Outlook Express!"
Me: "What happens when you try?"
Caller: "OK, I can get into Outlook, I just can't access my old emails! They were on the old computer, which got fried."
Me: "Alright, so those old emails are stored on the older computer. If you can access the hard drive, you'll be able to retrieve and probably export those messages to the new computer."
Caller: "Oh, no, I don't care about that, I just want to be able to check my email on this computer."
Me: "So you need to have Outlook Express setup to check new email on this computer?"
Caller: "Yes, exactly."
Yes, exactly, indeed.
Me: "What happens when you try?"
Caller: "OK, I can get into Outlook, I just can't access my old emails! They were on the old computer, which got fried."
Me: "Alright, so those old emails are stored on the older computer. If you can access the hard drive, you'll be able to retrieve and probably export those messages to the new computer."
Caller: "Oh, no, I don't care about that, I just want to be able to check my email on this computer."
Me: "So you need to have Outlook Express setup to check new email on this computer?"
Caller: "Yes, exactly."
Yes, exactly, indeed.
Labels: communication
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Jesus himself might not be able to save you
In general, I believe that after 60 minutes on the phone with someone, I should be able to say certain basic things with certainty. A recent caller provided a good example of a case where I couldn't, and this frightens me a little.
This customer was having a bit of trouble with her router, and after an hour, I couldn't get it going properly. It partially worked, but not quite like it should have. I had to get someone notified to replace her router.
The thing is, I'm still not 100% sure that she needs it replaced. She was actually using two routers in addition to her cable modem, and whenever I would ask her to try and change the configuration of the cords going from one box to another, she'd get a bit flustered. Initially she had trouble distinguishing between her modem and router, so I started referring to each one by its brand name, since they were all from different manufacturers.
Even so, she'd get flustered, even if I just asked her to move the network cable from port 1 on her router to port 2. After 30 minutes of trying to get the proper response from the problem router, I had to give up and order a new one on her behalf, but even so, after more than 30 minutes of work on it, I couldn't ascertain that she had the cables in correctly.
That's still not the worst experience of its type that I've had. Another time, I spent about 20 minutes trying to explain to a woman how the phone cord goes from her phone jack to her dialup modem. To this day I don't understand how she could fail to understand that. It's one cord with identical ends, and it pretty much just goes in where it fits. After 20 minutes I had to give up and suggest she get someone over to help her.
I don't generally expect much from the people I talk to in terms of computer skills, but I would hope that they can negotiate the cords that plug their computer into other things.
This customer was having a bit of trouble with her router, and after an hour, I couldn't get it going properly. It partially worked, but not quite like it should have. I had to get someone notified to replace her router.
The thing is, I'm still not 100% sure that she needs it replaced. She was actually using two routers in addition to her cable modem, and whenever I would ask her to try and change the configuration of the cords going from one box to another, she'd get a bit flustered. Initially she had trouble distinguishing between her modem and router, so I started referring to each one by its brand name, since they were all from different manufacturers.
Even so, she'd get flustered, even if I just asked her to move the network cable from port 1 on her router to port 2. After 30 minutes of trying to get the proper response from the problem router, I had to give up and order a new one on her behalf, but even so, after more than 30 minutes of work on it, I couldn't ascertain that she had the cables in correctly.
That's still not the worst experience of its type that I've had. Another time, I spent about 20 minutes trying to explain to a woman how the phone cord goes from her phone jack to her dialup modem. To this day I don't understand how she could fail to understand that. It's one cord with identical ends, and it pretty much just goes in where it fits. After 20 minutes I had to give up and suggest she get someone over to help her.
I don't generally expect much from the people I talk to in terms of computer skills, but I would hope that they can negotiate the cords that plug their computer into other things.
Labels: futility
Saturday, March 03, 2007
What's so funny?
Me: "OK, next we'll need to try bypassing your router and plugging your computer directly into the modem."
Caller: "Oh dear. Heh heh heh. Oh my god. Heh heh heh. Oh dear. Heh heh heh. Hee hee hee!"
Honestly, don't do that when you're talking to us. It's creepy.
Caller: "Oh dear. Heh heh heh. Oh my god. Heh heh heh. Oh dear. Heh heh heh. Hee hee hee!"
Honestly, don't do that when you're talking to us. It's creepy.
Labels: creepy
