Tips for getting the most out of your IT Helpdesk (long)(funny)

TheNinja

Lifer
Jan 22, 2003
12,207
1
0
1. When you call us to have your computer moved, be sure to leave it
buried under half a ton of postcards, baby pictures, stuffed
animals, dried flowers, bowling trophies and children's art. We
don't have a life, and we find it deeply moving to catch a fleeting
glimpse of yours.
2. Don't write anything down. Ever. We can play back the error messages
from here.
3. When an I.T. person says he's coming right over, go for coffee. That
way you won't be there when we need your password. It's nothing for
us to remember 300 screen saver passwords.
4. When you call the help desk, state what you want, not what's keeping
you from getting it. We don't need to know that you can't get into
our mail because your computer won't power on at all.
6. When I.T. support sends you an E-Mail with high importance, delete it
at once. We're just testing.
7. When an I.T. person is eating lunch at his desk, walk right in and
spill your guts right out. We exist only to serve.
8. Send urgent email all in uppercase. The mail server picks it up and
flags it as a rush delivery.
9. When the photocopier doesn't work, call computer support. There's
electronics in it.
10. When you're getting a NO DIAL TONE message at home, call computer
support. We can fix your telephone line from here.
11. When you have a dozen old computer screens to get rid of, call
computer support. We're collectors.
12. When something's wrong with your home PC, dump it on an I.T. person's
chair with no name, no phone number and no description of the
problem. We love a puzzle.
13. When an I.T. person tells you that computer screens don't have
cartridges in them, argue. We love a good argument.
14. When an I.T. person tells you that he'll be there shortly, reply in a
scathing tone of voice: "And just how many weeks do you mean by
shortly?" That motivates us.
15. When the printer won't print, re-send the job at least 20 times. Print
jobs frequently get sucked into black holes.
16. When the printer still won't print after 20 tries, send the job to all
68 printers in the company. One of them is bound to work.
17. Don't learn the proper name for anything technical. We know exactly
what you mean by "my thingy blew up".
18. Don't use on-line help. On-line help is for wimps.
19. If the mouse cable keeps knocking down the framed picture of your dog,
lift the computer and stuff the cable under it. Mouse cables were
designed to have 20kg of computer sitting on top of them.
20. If the space bar on your keyboard doesn't work, blame it on the mail
upgrade. Keyboards are actually very happy with half a pound of
muffin crumbs and nail clippings in them.
21. When you get a message saying "Are you sure?" click on that Yes button
as fast as you can. Hell, if you weren't sure, you wouldn't be
doing it, would you?
22. When you find an I.T. person on the phone with his bank, sit uninvited
on the corner of his desk and stare at him until he hangs up. We
don't have any money to speak of anyway.
23. Feel perfectly free to say things like "I don't know nothing about
that computer crap". We don't mind at all hearing our area of
professional expertise referred to as crap.
24. When you need to change the toner cartridge in a printer, call I.T.
support. Changing a toner cartridge is an extremely complex task,
and Hewlett-Packard recommends that it be performed only by a
professional engineer with a master's degree in nuclear physics.
25. When you can't find someone in the government directory, call I.T.
Support.
26. When you have a lock to pick on an old file cabinet, call I.T.
Support. We love to hack.
27. When something's the matter with your computer, ask your secretary
to call the help desk. We enjoy the challenge of having to deal
with a third party who doesn't know anything about the problem.
28. When you receive a 30mb (huge) movie file, send it to everyone as a
mail attachment. We've got lots of disk space on that mail server.
29. Don't even think of breaking large print jobs down into smaller
chunks. Somebody else might get a chance to squeeze a memo into
the queue.
30. When an I.T. person gets on the elevator pushing $100,000 worth of
computer equipment on a cart, ask in a very loud voice: "Good
grief, you take the elevator to go DOWN one floor?!?" That's
another one that cracks us up to no end.
31. When you lose your car keys, send an email to the entire company.
People out in Pofadder like to keep abreast of what's going on.
32. When you bump into an I.T. person at the grocery store on a
Saturday, ask a computer question. We do weekends.
33. Don't bother to tell us when you move computers around on your
own. Computer names are just a cosmetic feature.
34. When you bring your own personal home PC for repair at the office,
leave the documentation at home. We'll find all the settings and
drivers somewhere.


I like 7, 14, 15, 22, and 32
 

iamme

Lifer
Jul 21, 2001
21,058
3
0
17. Don't learn the proper name for anything technical. We know exactly
what you mean by "my thingy blew up".

lol. it should be a rule that you can't say "thing" when describing a computer problem.
 

rutchtkim

Golden Member
Aug 2, 2001
1,880
0
0
12. When something's wrong with your home PC, dump it on an I.T. person's
chair with no name, no phone number and no description of the
problem. We love a puzzle.


LOL!!!!
 

phonemonkey

Senior member
Feb 2, 2003
806
0
0
Wow. On an average day, we see #'s 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 23, 24, 27, 31, and 33 here at work. Sadly, #27 is one of the most common.
 

mandala

Senior member
Dec 24, 2003
210
0
0
#35. Don't worry if your IT person is home sick. They would really appreciate you calling them at home to help you with your problem (especially if it involves #27).
 

edro

Lifer
Apr 5, 2002
24,326
68
91
OMG, 1-7 I deal with almost everyday! Hilarious! This is going up in my Cubical...

THANKS!
 

AvesPKS

Diamond Member
Apr 21, 2000
4,729
0
0
35. We will continue to act like Nick Burns, your company's computer guy, so treating us like crap is justified. ;)
 

dman

Diamond Member
Nov 2, 1999
9,110
0
76
Nice List.

Nominate:
#36 After I fix your problem for you, be sure to directly contact me/my extension in the future. In fact, let your friends and coworkers know I'm the one smart guy. I find it much more efficient to deal directly with you rather than those messy queues the helpdesk setup.

 

Skyclad1uhm1

Lifer
Aug 10, 2001
11,383
87
91
We had that one on the intranet for a while (half serious), but the CEO didn't thought it was all that funny :(
 

Pex

Banned
Aug 21, 2003
1,161
0
0
I'm working at one this summer. I can't wait to bust someone's balls about all these problems. I get my motivation from the Dead Trolls in a Bag help desk skit.
 

AndyHui

Administrator Emeritus<br>Elite Member<br>AT FAQ M
Oct 9, 1999
13,141
17
81
I just want to cry whenever I see that one.
 

djNickb

Senior member
Oct 16, 2003
529
0
0
Originally posted by: dman
Nice List.

Nominate:
#36 After I fix your problem for you, be sure to directly contact me/my extension in the future. In fact, let your friends and coworkers know I'm the one smart guy. I find it much more efficient to deal directly with you rather than those messy queues the helpdesk setup.


I get so pissed of by this, especially the remote users that call and expect me to know who they are before I even answer my phone. Yes this list is so true in fact it's scary.