TECH support.. could you handle it?

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AgentZap

Senior member
Sep 1, 2001
730
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I did compaq laptop support for about a year and change then I had to quit for time concerns because they worked us like dogs.

I work part time doing support at a software company now. Just hit my year anniversary there. I have those days when I get those 95 year old people calling in or people that just don't listen or follow directions. Those people can ruin your day for sure :) I still like helping people so that is what keeps me going. You will get that nice person that listens and you really get them out of a jam. That is a rewarding feeling. Then you get ignorant mothers that are bitchy and rude as well. Makes you want to break stuff :)
 

Flyermax2k3

Diamond Member
Mar 1, 2003
3,204
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You think doing tech support over the phone is bad? Try tech support in person :( You actually have to smile and be nice to everyone and you can't make any sarcastic comments or facial expressions. Phone tech support is pretty bad though... People tend to go on and on about irrelevant issues and how much they hate your company.
 

Mayfriday0529

Diamond Member
Sep 15, 2003
7,187
0
71
Phone support yes is the worse, people screaming at you when you?re just the messenger, you didn?t actually create the software, you didn?t create the product, you?re trying to help this person and they are screaming at you about how much it sucks.
I actually really hate the customers that call with a list of things that should be in the software when they paid like 40 bucks for it and want like a million dollar software. ... YOU KNOW WHAT WHY DON'T YOU COME OVER AND CREATED IT YOURSELF IT?S NOT THAT EASY SOMETIMES

i also have to give it out for techs when you do it in person I feel bad for guys who calls us and the customer is breathing down there neck and we can't help them solve the issue because could be hardware related or OS related.
It?s Monday and it sucks already! Two people called in Sick!!
 

TMPadmin

Golden Member
Jul 23, 2001
1,886
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I lasted 2 years. Six months for Intuit (don't mess with people's money!), Six with Sony VAIO support. Then one year with a local ISP. Intuit was the worst for dealing with people. Sony people were the "dumbest" and the ISP was relaxing, I worked nights.
 

isaacmacdonald

Platinum Member
Jun 7, 2002
2,820
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lol. I can empathize. I did support for a while as well, but at least I was external which means that I didn't have to work through the often inept customers.
 

rudder

Lifer
Nov 9, 2000
19,441
86
91
Originally posted by: NathanBWF
i'm pretty sure that i'd snap before then end of my first day. i hate people who are dumber than i am. :D

luckily for you they are few and far between.
 

batmang

Diamond Member
Jul 16, 2003
3,020
1
81
i work here at a hospital and i normally do on site jobs, install request, builds, random pc stuff, but never phone tech support. we have a help desk who sends the calls to us if they cant resolve the problem over the phone, and thats where we come in. but sometimes the help desk people are sick, and im the back up, which is why ive been posting alot lately. :(
 

Mayfriday0529

Diamond Member
Sep 15, 2003
7,187
0
71
Ok everyone i want to know the Truth... all this online places say how much a Tech support person should get paid. the lowest paid tech support average in the US is 18,000 the highest is like 65,000 thats what they said i was like what, the average is between 30-45, what do you all get paid. I'll start ...at my current place i get 22,000 gross.
 

abc

Diamond Member
Nov 26, 1999
3,116
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does that data lump help desk and desktop support into one class.... they ARE technically seperate (i dont mean skillwise)... especially in large user environments, and in different industries, they pay differently. A desktop person with a financial background can make 45 to 90k, because it's the industry, and because you're fiddling with financial applications, and your users need to have their software tools available for them to use so as to trade and lose more... ahem I mean, make more money for the company/and or themselves...
 

MegaloManiaK

Golden Member
May 27, 2003
1,207
0
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Originally posted by: lotust
Ive been working tech support for 7 months and I think ive reached the end of my rope.



When people call in and they just say it dont work. Then you have to twist there arm to make them tell you WHAT dont work.




How long can a human answer tech support calls with out loosing it?

Sorry to say it only gets worse. I did tech support for DSL for 2 years.

I think i lost it after 10 months. I used to like most people i met. Now i hate almost everyone i meet.

Oh well, got to pay those bills.
 

MegaloManiaK

Golden Member
May 27, 2003
1,207
0
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Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt
After 20 minutes I'd be itching to crawl through the phone line and choke some sense into people. On the other side of the coin though I have an equal amount of scorn for most techies too as few have the slightest clue what they're talking about. I normally have to go through several layers of tech support to reach an alpha geek who truly understands the product or service that he's representing. The lower level people are not qualified for much more than "Are you sure your computer is plugged in sir?"

One of the most annoying things about tech support is people who have computers loaded with crap and call up with connection problems and feel like they need to talk to an alpha geek to fix the server when all they had to do was uninstall some crap and reinstall the drivers.

Ive hung up on people before who after doing what i said above the connection starts working and then they say things like "Oh i guess the server came back up"

i hate people so much.

edit: My eye is twitching again. Haven't had this problem since i quit. Going to back out of the thread before i have an anurism.

 

Zombie

Platinum Member
Dec 8, 1999
2,359
1
71
I did my system Admin internship when I was sophmore in college. I got sick of it in 8-9 months.
 

dxkj

Lifer
Feb 17, 2001
11,772
2
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Originally posted by: EyeMWing
Originally posted by: werk
Originally posted by: EyeMWing
I know a guy working in HP's mac support department. Apparently mac users know more... Or maybe it's just their OS is easier to understand. He loves his job.
Wow, he obviously doesn't work in the printer department.

Yeah, he does. Really though, I've NEVER seen a mac user that didn't know how to do somthing associated with their mac software side and they're almost always hugely adept at aftermarket hardware. I know that's waaaaay against stereotypes, but it seems true.

I know practically jack squat about macs, but I've supported them before, and no, the users dont really know much... they just pretend they do.... "please make sure your proxy settings are off" where is that? "its under system preferences in the network area" huh?

yeah I get that a lot... rich kids having hteir parents buy them a mac because they look cool
 

geno

Lifer
Dec 26, 1999
25,074
4
0
Originally posted by: lotust
Ive been working tech support for 7 months and I think ive reached the end of my rope.



When people call in and they just say it dont work. Then you have to twist there arm to make them tell you WHAT dont work.




How long can a human answer tech support calls with out loosing it?

I've been tech support for 4 years now. I'm now a level 2 tech, so I don't get the crap you do still, but I spent 2.5 years doing level 1 crap like that. Suck it up, pansy ;)
 

lotust

Diamond Member
Aug 19, 2000
9,025
0
76
Originally posted by: geno
Originally posted by: lotust
Ive been working tech support for 7 months and I think ive reached the end of my rope.



When people call in and they just say it dont work. Then you have to twist there arm to make them tell you WHAT dont work.




How long can a human answer tech support calls with out loosing it?

I've been tech support for 4 years now. I'm now a level 2 tech, so I don't get the crap you do still, but I spent 2.5 years doing level 1 crap like that. Suck it up, pansy ;)


I would suck it up if i thought there were a future here

:p
 

geno

Lifer
Dec 26, 1999
25,074
4
0
Originally posted by: lotust
Originally posted by: geno
Originally posted by: lotust
Ive been working tech support for 7 months and I think ive reached the end of my rope.



When people call in and they just say it dont work. Then you have to twist there arm to make them tell you WHAT dont work.




How long can a human answer tech support calls with out loosing it?

I've been tech support for 4 years now. I'm now a level 2 tech, so I don't get the crap you do still, but I spent 2.5 years doing level 1 crap like that. Suck it up, pansy ;)


I would suck it up if i thought there were a future here

:p

Well, at my place it's possible to work your way up to sysadmin, but I'm making plenty of money right now, and it's just a weekend job, so I'm alright with it. Who needs a future in that field when I'm only working 16 hours there a week?
 

abc

Diamond Member
Nov 26, 1999
3,116
0
0
Originally posted by: MegaloManiaK
Originally posted by: lotust
Ive been working tech support for 7 months and I think ive reached the end of my rope.



When people call in and they just say it dont work. Then you have to twist there arm to make them tell you WHAT dont work.




How long can a human answer tech support calls with out loosing it?

Sorry to say it only gets worse. I did tech support for DSL for 2 years.

I think i lost it after 10 months. I used to like most people i met. Now i hate almost everyone i meet.

Oh well, got to pay those bills.



ha ha yo... do we get antisocial after doing support? do we use up all our socialness during our work hrs and then once we leave ,we DONT want to talk to anohter human being, don't want to hear of any kind of problem, dont want to hear the phone ring?... I've thought about this little theory.
 

AgentZap

Senior member
Sep 1, 2001
730
0
0
ha ha yo... do we get antisocial after doing support? do we use up all our socialness during our work hrs and then once we leave ,we DONT want to talk to anohter human being, don't want to hear of any kind of problem, dont want to hear the phone ring?... I've thought about this little theory.

I know I do. My patience is shot when I leave work. If friends call me on the phone for help I am really short with them. :)

 

crisp82

Golden Member
Apr 8, 2002
1,920
0
0
Originally posted by: lotust
Ive been working tech support for 7 months and I think ive reached the end of my rope.



When people call in and they just say it dont work. Then you have to twist there arm to make them tell you WHAT dont work.




How long can a human answer tech support calls with out loosing it?
know what you mean.

Someone on my desk asked someone to reboot their comp, and they turned their printer off instead :confused:

ppl are so stupid. :|


 

DaiShan

Diamond Member
Jul 5, 2001
9,617
1
0
Originally posted by: lotust
Ive been working tech support for 7 months and I think ive reached the end of my rope.



When people call in and they just say it dont work. Then you have to twist there arm to make them tell you WHAT dont work.




How long can a human answer tech support calls with out loosing it?

I worked corporate tech support where at least I got hands on with the computer, and that was aweful, just seeing the insane things people do to their work computers. I couldn't handle a day with end-user I don't think. Some people just shouldn't have computers, that should be an acceptable answer to give them.