Support Staff Bite Back
Posted on October 1, 2007 in Uncategorized
It’s official. Computer users are more ignorant and rude to their IT departments than they appear to be in standard helpdesk report logs, reports A.N. Alyst.
Editor’s Note: The furore, which A. N. Analyst has decided to propogate, started with Jasper Gerard’s article in The Telegraph online edition, which seemed to exist solely to incite people and generate some web traffic:
It’s the moment every support analyst dreads – the call comes in from the director of the division vaguely stating that their computer ‘has stopped working’ and you have been called down to come and fix it. Chances are that this person will be the kind of self-important, pompous, ignorant twit mocked in an assortment of programs from Fawlty Towers to Green Wing, from Drop the Dead Donkey to Yes, Minister.
These shows are often funny because we have all come across such characters that seem no more capable of following a simple instruction, thinking about something independently or taking responsibility for their own actions than they are able make a cup of coffee without sending their office junior (strangely called an ‘executive’) down to the local Starbucks or Coffee Republic. It’s funny because we, the viewer, can see that the root of the problem usually stems from having not listened to someone or not read the user guide which has been given to them in plain, simple English with lots of pretty pictures just to make sure it’s comprehensible to all but the most dedicated Luddite.
No wonder support analysts are becoming increasingly disillusioned with their places of work when they receive very little thanks or even recognition for the work they do and the hours they put in. The very article that this user (let’s call him Mr. Gerard) was writing at this time would not have been possible were it not for ‘geeks’. The manner in which this particular writer found the article would not have been possible were it not for ‘geeks’. The phone calls or emails in which Mr. Gerard received the brief for his tar-brush diatribe would not have been possible were it not for ‘geeks’. Douglas Coupeland’s well-observed and uplifting Microserfs should certainly be on Mr. Gerard’s reading list, perhaps once he has finished with his soiled copy of Viz and Private Eye.
Yes, things do go wrong from time to time. Unlike the IT Crowd, however we don’t sit around waiting for them to happen; we actively seek out potential problems while simultaneously dealing with those which occur (and just occasionally are actually reported to us) as well as looking into future systems for the benefit of you, Mr. Gerard, the glorious user, with a view to making your life easier.
I think the fact that some (but by no means all) IT support staff are a little socially inept is to be expected. It is a trait found in many people. How about the gloriously buffoon-like Boris Johnson? Gordon Brown is hardly an outgoing socialite now is he? And don’t get me started on the accounts department. Surely more concerning than a little lack of social ability is the CBI’s findings that:
…school-leavers increasingly lack basic abilities in English and Maths. More than half (52 percent) of the employers questioned in the survey said they are dissatisfied with the basic literacy of school-leavers, and half said the same about numerical skills.
Perhaps this explains why people don’t seem to be able to read Help files or Google simple solutions to simple problems. Just seeing the evil gaze from across the room as you approach the user is enough to break you into a cold sweat. You know nothing, save that "there’s a problem" – could the user have not provided just a little more information? Would you go to the doctor with a stomach ache and not expect him to ask a few questions? You don’t sigh and say "why won’t it just work" to him do you? The main similarity between Mr. Gerard’s corpulent body (he’s a journalist, so I assume he’s corpulent and bloated sitting at his desk with his double mocha latte and a danish) and his computer is that sometimes it will just go wrong. You don’t know why, it just does. Result? You call in the right person to fix it. Is there an implication that all doctors are geeks too?
The assertion that geeks are pasty from looking at too many unsavoury websites and boil in the bag meals is indeed rich. It is rich beyond the sumptuous venison casserole that all users of Mr. Gerard’s ilk consume on a nightly basis in their little pied-à-terre in South Ken cooked by their loving wives (or mistresses wearing heels and skimpy lingerie). Are you aware of that ‘History’ button in that internet browser? You can delete it from your computer, sir, but it’s still logged on the company server. Yes sir, indeed, we know what you’ve been looking at. Blackmail you? No…of course not. But unlike many people in the media, journalism in particular, most people working IT have a modicum of respect and sense of morals. Many users, Mr. Gerard being just one, are just plain rude.
Manners? Users seem to have lost them the moment they started working in the office and received their logon information. They look down on anybody in their company that isn’t directly associated with what the company does – Facilities, Postroom, Kitchen Staff, IT – the people that can and do make their lives easier, or make them a living hell if you get on the wrong side of them.
It’s not that users are inherently monsters, far from it. Rather, they lack the capacity to understand that things sometimes go wrong, and sometimes they will suffer for it. They fail to grasp the basic concept that we as support staff, are here to do just that – support. I suggest he takes it up with the IT Manager who I’m certain he will be able to find through the phone list (provided by IT through the HR system) or perhaps on his corporate Intranet (ditto). Perhaps then he could email him, although given the evident paucity of the facilities at Buckingham Palace Road perhaps he could write him a letter with quill, ink and parchment. Perhaps (gasp!) even go up and talk to him (or her).
If you peer closely at a user when you try to fix their machine, what strikes you first is that they are passive aggressive: they know they can’t shout at you for what is quite possibly their own fault and none of yours, but sit silently seething despising the fact that at this point they are totally and irrevocably indebted to your knowledge and skills with 105 keys, 3 buttons and a little red flashing light. They are not in control. And they hate you for it.
I’m loathe to even touch on the subject of women in IT as the comments made are disparaging and grotesquely inaccurate. In a department of 20 people of which 5 are women I should say yes, the fairer sex is undoubtedly under-represented in this field, but perhaps that’s because women simply aren’t as interested in it. Maybe we should be asking why ethnic minorities are under-represented in the publishing and media industries, leading to things like the ‘Diversity in Publishing scheme run by the Arts Council (as reported by the Independent: http://student.independent.co.uk/magazines/article1869003.ece.)
When users do actually say something, they bang on about the importance of what they were doing, who it is for (‘the CEO needs this NOW’), why it’s important for the business and the almost inevitable "oh, while you’re here, can you just…install iTunes / fix my ipod / explain BeBo / build me a website." When you ask them what they were doing when it went wrong their face goes an interesting shade of crimson as they reveal they were actually poking their mates on Facebook when it crashed; negating the importance of this 2000 word document they should have handed in yesterday but never got around to because of aforementioned poking. Then we go back to our desks, write up the report ("user closed document without saving") and move on to the next call.
Users are great advocates of the won’t-do society – the system won’t do this, won’t do that. What they don’t get is that if they actually ask someone to do something about it instead of bitching to their colleagues over a pint of Stella or a lukewarm chardonnay, they should ask IT, politely, if there’s anything that can be done. Yes, sometimes there might be lyrical waxation on why it’s not possible, but there is usually a ‘yet’ in there somewhere indicating that it may be possible in the future. If it’s that much of an issue, push it higher and get a proper board approved project underway to investigate and finance a solution. It’s not difficult, users just won’t-do it.
In the meantime, the geeks work into the wee hours of the morning running back ups, scheduling events and making sure that the MP3 you lost last week is recovered from the back-up tapes (one of about 20) so that you can use it in your glib, trashy, tacky presentation tomorrow morning.
Being rude to IT staff seems to be a pre-requisite for editors and writers. The number of times I’ve left a user ostensibly happy, then overhead them on their fag-break slagging off the department is quite staggering. If geeks are a little off-hand with users, then perhaps the Mr. Gerard’s of this world should consider whether or not they might have been provoked into this air of apathy, being aware that whatever they do to resolve the issue will not be appreciated, and that all the efforts they make daily to ensure the smooth running of the company are taken wholly for granted.
Users are not like normal people; they are programmed differently. Taking manners, decency, patience, understanding and common sense from a user leaves them as little more than apes with a stick of charcoal and a rock. That said, perhaps they’d be more happy with that?
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