this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2023
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Side rant, but do you ever call in to support with a serious problem and they just by default treat you like a granny who doesnt know how to type in a wifi password? That whole process is so frustrating, and they never have the expertise to handle more sophisticated problems.
As someone who works in Level 2 and 3 Tech, the majority of people who do contact me are actual morons who legitimately think turning off and on their monitor is akin to rebooting their PC. I know that has been memed to death, but it's true. I've legitimately had to make a whole presentation on the various ways to restart a computer and present it to a group of about 20 people.
I have so many stories to the point where, if I don't treat everyone like it's their first time touching a computer, it will lead to the user getting pissed off because I didn't tell them that they had to left click on their mouse because they're so used to their phone being touch screen that they assumed that every screen was.
As a fellow level 3 tech you nailed it. We are constantly exposed to a massive amount of tech illiteracy on a daily basis, and have to clean up the messes these people make while trying to keep a smile on our face and be nice. It sucks even more because we get attitude from people who are complete morons with this stuff, blaming us for their mistakes and getting impatient while we cleanup their mess. We’re also lied to consistently about what they’ve done to cause an issue, so we also have trust issues and have to ask boneheaded questions because so many times the bone headed question is the answer.
I've never heard of these different 'levels of tech' - what does it mean to be a level 2 or 3 tech?
as a former tech support person I think the reason why its usually like that is that most of the people who call in are people don't know how to use a computer at least it was for the company I worked at
True for most doesn't mean true for everyone and not being able to switch once it is clear the person does know how to use the computer is really annoying.
Some of that is from management being strict about following the procedures we have to make sure every step is followed or we get in trouble so even if someone seems knowledgable we have to treat them like they aren't
This. I was phone support for dial-up internet for the transition - when I started, we just did our best and frequently worked with customers at their level. I enjoyed that, the customers did too. I got promoted easily.
By the time our jobs were getting shipped overseas and we were all getting fired, they replaced that with a 'knowledge tree' everyone was supposed to follow regardless of our personal experience in order to make sure all customers got the exact same experience. Softened the blow. I never went back to tech support as a job.
(This was like twenty years ago. I imagine it's only gotten more stifling since then.)
Have you tried saying "shiboleet"?
That's because most people including you and myself are in denial of how stupid we are.
This unintentional deception is the purpose of the shit test most tech support has in place.
I am not in denial and am fully aware that I don't know everything and can make mistakes. But that is a bit beyond 'knowing how to use a computer'.
But when I call about the squirrels chewing through the line for the third time and I have pictures of the chewed line I don't need to be told to restart my computer to make sure it isn't that first.
Sir, squirrels are not supported by our internet package. Until you stop using squirrels on our internet connection, I'm afraid we can't help you.
Understandable when most people wouldn't have expertise. The real annoying thing is when you use live chat/email support and list everything you've tried and what you think the root of the problem is. Then they start the basic shit again, when you've already told them you have tried it all.
This is basic troubleshooting for technicians. Our number one rule of thumb: trust but verify.
I was working as IT support a few years ago and 90% of the time, the issue was as simple as a password not written properly or an unplugged cable.
When you have to drive more than 1 hour just for something that stupid, you prefer to make sure it’s not that.
I think the only call I've had with someone who was able to quickly assess my tech-savviness was with an Apple Support manager. He was pretty awesome. My issue ended up being a bug in their OS, now resolved.
Ngl, most first level support I work with are not the brightest. There is a reason they are first level and on phones, and it's not because they are subject matter experts.