Post your comments and questions on the A Guru's World Column #31: The Last Rant

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ActiveTuning - Partner & Director Of Sales & Marketing

JG,

I have to say that I'll be disappointed if you end this column. I think the "BOFH" reference that folks made was not an indicator that you're a malicious tech; rather it indicated the occasional frustration we as techs have with the less educated, who sometimes fail to take our word for it. After all, the vast majority of people out there take the word of their car mechanic or their physician as solid gold, yet the moment they come to someone of technical expertise regarding their computer, they suddenly treat us with the suspicion they might reserve for a used car salesperson. Perhaps it's because they've listened to too many pimple-faced youngsters at a local electronics emporium who know something, but would rather make something up than admit they don't know it all (and possibly have caught them in the act of spewing BS). Perhaps our image has been partially tarnished by some vendor techs who automatically assume every customer knows nothing and therefore treat all of them like sheep and condescend (I remember calling Symantec years back and being treated like an idiot; it was a long time before I called them back again).
Either way, reading this column does me good in a number of ways. It reminds me of what I used to have to deal with on a daily basis, and still have to deal with on occasion. It also keeps fresh in my mind how to handle those situations (at the shop I once worked for, I got a lot of the phone support duties because I was patient and other techs weren't). Finally, it reminds me I'm not the only tech out there that has users like these.
My advice: Don't quit printing the column...and don't let the turkeys get you down.

^LoneWolf (picking up an `01 Specialized Allez Sport this week, booyah!!!)

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I work the help desk for the local state govt. ya know what, it really pisses me off. there are tons of people that call in nd have problems. and like stated in rant31 they throw reason out the window. I'm young, 19, and when a 58 year old employee who has just 2 years till retirement sees a 19 year old walk up saying he is here to fix the computer all hell breaks loose.

from my experience, the ones that give us tech people hell are the same ones that say we are malicious in our slanderings of them when away from work...... wether we actually go off about them is not the issue, we do anyways because per usual we are wrong. personally I'd recant the statement of this being the last rant. I think you have taken this out of context: you must hate these people, etc. if you take it to heart then you are doing the same thing as RMAing a perfectly fine motherboard as you described in your post. it seems you are replacing the motherboard and not actually working through the crap people throw at you to get the job done. by no means am I trying to be critical..... but why deny the tech community of true situations that can amuse us? is this site not made for the tech savvy? then the ones that are reading this should have friends that are illiterate, ignorant, or just plain dont care about computers: thusly they should know what you, and I go through on a daily basis.

I just got off the phone with a client that had his windows die, wont boot cuz its missing a DLL, cant replace it because its NT and being Govt agency we can not use external apps, so I cant just fix it with my apps. he was understanding, and frankly didn't care, now there are a few particular people, I call them problem children, who always give me hell. they could be related to mr software book writer you are used to. they complain, and of course you are wrong because you are young (my case) or they are just vastly more intelligent (of course that is exagerated beyond belief, but still go upon your case you described). if people can not understand what we go through then they do not hae a right to go on about how you must be hateing on this, or that. I hope you do change your mind. this is one of the few places I can still get humor on top of tech news.

Torinalth

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if at first you don't suceede, try again. if at second you dont suceede, get an axe. -Greg: CNA

There's a difference between ranting and hating. I never got the feeling you were hating, jg, but that probably comes from another background I happen to share with you... retail bicycle-shop work.

"I was Just Riding Along when the fork just sort of wilted and choppered way out like this. I had just ridden off the sidewalk onto the grass."

(Uh... oookay, and how many feet was the drop from the sidewalk to the grass at this particular location, sir...?)

"This Schwinn/Raleigh/Trek/Cannondale is a piece of junk! I've been working on the brakes for hours and they don't stop the bike at all!"

(Well, maybe it would work better if the brake cable were routed through the housing stop here... there we go)

"The brakes on my son's bike are locked up. You Worked On It Last, it must be your fault!"

(Um, no, I think the problem is that the bars are spun and the brake cable is wound around the head tube a couple times. *rotates handlebars the other direction* There you go, ma'am. )

And I think we both could go on and on with these! Did I hate my customers? There were a very select few that made me thoroughly exasperated, but mostly they just thought they knew what they were talking about when they didn't. Anyway, you don't come across as hateful, just exasperated. I guess there's always room to be misunderstood, though.

As a customer, some of my general guidlines; for me anyway.

• Always be courteous; It helps noone to get mad. I also used to take ordering calls for the 'large corporation' that takes orders for stuff on tV, so I know the person on the other end's job is so much easier when you're nice.
• Assume the person giving tech support knows more than you. If not, why call?
• provide as much detail as possible.

But you guys wonder why a lot of peple think you are planning to sabatoge them? Well, there used to be a site somewhere that showed compaq's policys regarding tech support, provided by actual tech support persons. It wasn't pretty. Then there are those posts on some other forums where the tech brags about doing something bad to a customer or making up shit instead of saying I don't know. I've actually been told 'I don't know' before and I appreciated that alot more than someone telling me to try shutting down the computer and run 3 circles around it.(exagerated sarcasim) And then of course, there was telocity customer service.

Oh, as far as the articles go, If you're looking for feedback, I say keep 'em comming. Enjoyable, and no, I don't get the impression you're hating

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Road Runner!!!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

say it ain't so jonny! Say it ain't so! *sniff*

I personally thoroughly enjoyed your rants, as I can identify with them all too personally. Working retail in computer sales is equivilant to a tech support desk, if you're one of the few in sales who actually cares about customers. (Unfourtinately I was.) Which meant that half of the dept would hand them off to me, and 80% of what management got for trouble got handed to me. This included idiots, numbskulls, bastards, assholes, and everyone in between. many of which I got upset about somewhat while speaking to them, but got hearty laughs about once I Was done with it and had relaxed a bit.

Don't let the detractors get you down, They don't know what they're talkin about anyways!!!

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HAHAHA, Work's fun.
Then you put in 65 hours in 5 days. What the hell was I thinking?

I agree with everyone else above.
I've worked in Tech for a few years, and I identify fully with your Rant's, and I just Love Guru's World in general. I think it's mainly the people who you write about - those with not too much idea, and very little patience - who tend to get offended or upset.
I think Rants a a perfectly healthy way to express certain things, and also a great way to get various points across. Most people are going to remember something better when they've Laughed at it, or growled at it. People seems to remember better when emotion is attached.
Please don't stop the Rant!!

Just my 2c

Isildur

Say it ain't so Jonny, Say it ain't so!

I'm just taking a hiatus, everyone. Stress getting me down.

I got a lot of positive emails about "the last rant" from readers and all I've got to say is... "Where we're you guys when the shitheads were bringing me down?"

Seriously though, work is more stressful than ever and it's NOT just the customers... and then you've got home. It's best that I keep out of the middle of things for a while. I'll be back when things are better or when I can convince the doctor to prescribe me some happy pills.

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Hey. What kind of party is this? There's no booze and only one hooker. -- Bender (Futurama)

Trust me, happy pills aren't any fun...Sure, they put ya on an even keel...but the side effects can be hard on one's, hmm, err, private life and all. I've decided to stick to short-track speedskating, cycling, and joined a softball team...The activity does as good a job, without the downsides.

^LoneWolf (got my 62cm `01 Specialized Allez A1 Sport and LOVING it)

__________________
AMD Athlon XP 2000+ aircooled
ASUS A7V8X-RAID mobo, Enet, SATA, 1394, USB2.0, all dat junk
512MB Crucial DDR
AOpen HX-08 case, Enermax 430wPS
80GB WD Spedial Edition 8MB cache
(all SCSI) Plextor 40x CD, Yamaha 8x4x24 CDRW, Seagate DDS2 DAT
Visiontek Geforce3 Ti200
Adaptec 2930U2 SCSI
ATI TV Wonder
SB Audigy MP3+