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
# posted by Terry @ 6:03 AM 
