The Best Anecdotes from Service & Support #2

This is my second Anecdote from Tech Support from Reddit User u/Rattenkermis. Read here about the story what happens when you send a company-wide E-Mail to 30,000 Employees

"I've already tried that, I'm not an idiot. You IT-people are all the same, thinking users are dumb. God!"

User ($user) calls my colleague and tells him that $printer has ceased all functionality. This is of course very urgent and of the utmost importance that someone from IT show up within the timespan of the next five minutes to fix this issue. Preferably, within the following five minutes...

So, my colleague calls me, as I'm the only one from IT who is at this specific location. Naturally, I'm in my office enjoying some well-deserved coffee, which I'm prompted to put down and make my way over to $user as the end of the world appears to be nigh and can only be stopped through the means of one single technician. Unfortunatly that 'one single technician' means $me.

I ask my colleague if the users have made the necessary checks ("Have you tried turning it off and on again? Is it plugged in? ...") before calling us. My colleague informs me that the user didn't really give him much chance to ask and that he has the feeling that asking a question like that would only agitate the user further. I just shrugged and went, figuring I'd see what 's what as soon as I arrived.

So, as I get there, the following conversation ensues between myself and this lovely specimen of user-kind:

$user: FINALLY! We can't work without $printer. Can you fix it this instant?

$me, with a smile and in good spirits: I 'll try to do my best.

$user: No, you won't try to do your best, you will do your best and you will fix it. We  need this printer.

$me, arching an eyebrow: Suuuure... Let me first check if everything is in order.

I first checked the wall sockets, as we're known to have some highly efficient cleaning ladies who often unplug cables, either on purpose ("Hurr durr, my vacuum is more important than your appliance.") or by accident (by running said vacuum next to an ethernet cable with a broken off clip). These were OK, of course. Then, as I check the cables on the printer itself, I begin hearing an increasing amount of agitated huffs and puffs behind me.

$user: I've already tried that, I'm not an idiot. You IT-people are all the same, thinking users are dumb. God!

I didn't deign above remark worthy of a reply of any kind at this exact moment, and sure enough, as I nudge the ethernet cable firmly into the ethernet socket of the printer... 'lo and behold: All the labels $user had been trying to print are being spewed out like the result of a vodka-binge gone wrong.

$user: How did you do this?

$me, unable to resist: I checked if it was plugged in correctly, it wasn't and I fixed that for you. Have a nice day.

After this, I left the premises, kinda wishing I had some sunglasses to dramatically put on my face while giving my last reply.

Atleast I still had some (now cold) coffee.

The Best Anecdotes from Service & Support

Read here about the story what happens when you send a company-wide E-Mail to 30,000 Employees

About the author: Roman Senger, working for Empolis Information Management GmbH from Kaiserslautern as assistant to the management. Empolis understands how to digitize service experts. We enable fantastic service moments for our customers. Our solution Empolis Service Express is purely cloud-based and allows you to get started in just a few minutes. Try it now!