Biosystems Engineering
at Oklahoma State University
Technologically
Challenged
Just in case you think you are TC ("Technologically
Challenged"), the following is an excerpt from an article
in the Wall Street Journal.
1. Compaq is considering changing the command "Press Any
Key" to "Press Return Key" because of the flood
of calls asking where the "Any" key is.
2. AST technical support had a caller complaining that her mouse
was hard to control with the dust cover on. The cover turned out
to be the plastic bag the mouse was packaged in.
3. Another Compaq technician received a call from a man complaining
that the system wouldn't read word processing files from his old
diskettes. The customer had stuck labels on the diskettes, then
rolled them into his typewriter to type on the labels.
4. Another customer was asked to send a copy of her defective
diskettes. A few days later, a letter arrived from the customer
along with photocopies of the floppies.5. A Dell technician advised
a customer to put his troubled floppy back in the drive and close
the door. The customer asked the tech to hold on, and was heard
putting the phone down, getting up and crossing the room to close
the door to his room.
6. Another Dell customer called to say he couldn't get his computer
to fax anything. After 40 minutes of trouble-shooting, the tech
discovered the man was trying to fax a piece of paper by holding
it in front of the monitor screen and hitting the "send"
key.
7. Yet another Dell customer called to complain that his keyboard
no longer worked. He had cleaned it by filling up his tub with
soap and water and soaking the keyboard for a day, then removing
all the keys and washing them individually.
8. A Dell technician received a call from a customer who was enraged
because his computer had told him he was "bad and an invalid".
The tech explained that the computer's "bad command"
and "invalid" responses shouldn't be taken personally.
9. A confused caller to IBM was having troubles printing documents.
He told the technician that the computer had said it "couldn't
find printer". The user had tried turning the computer screen
to face the printer, but that his computer still couldn't "see"
the printer.
10. An exasperated caller to Dell Computer Tech Support couldn't
get her new Dell computer to turn on. After ensuring the computer
was plugged in, the technician asked her what happened when she
pushed the power button. Her response, "I pushed and pushed
on this foot pedal and nothing happened." The "foot
pedal" turned out to be the computer's mouse.
11. Another customer called Compaq Tech Support to say her brand-new
computer wouldn't work. She said she unpacked the unit, plugged
it in and sat there for 20 minutes waiting for something to happen.
When asked what happened when she pressed the power switch, she
asked "What Power switch?
12. True story from a Novell NetWare SysOp: Caller: "Hello,
is this Tech Support?" Tech: "Yes, it is. How may I
help you?" Caller: "The cup holder on my PC is broken
and I am within my warranty period. How do I go about getting
that fixed?" Tech: "I'm sorry, but did you say a cup
holder?" Caller: "Yes, it's attached to the front of
my computer." Tech: "Please excuse me if I seem a bit
stumped, it's because I am. Did you receive this as part of a
promotional, at a trade show?" Caller: "It came with
my computer. I don't know anything about a promotional. It just
has '4X' on it." At this point, the Tech Rep had to mute
the caller, because he couldn't stand it. He was laughing too
hard. The caller had been using the load drawer of the CD-ROM
drive as a cup holder, and snapped it off the drive!
13. Another IBM customer had trouble installing software and rang
for support. "I put in the first disk, and that was OK. It
said to put in the second disk, and I had some problems with that
disk. When it said to put in the third disk - I couldn't even
fit it in...." The user hadn't realized that "Insert
Disk 2" meant to remove Disk 1 first.
THERE NOW, DON'T
YOU FEEL BETTER?
