Technically
challenged??
Take heart, anyone among you who believes you are
technologically challenged, you "ain't seen nuthin' yet." This is an excerpt from a Wall Street Journal
article:
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.
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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.
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3. Another AST 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.
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4. A Dell technician advised his 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.
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5. Another Dell customer called to say he couldn't get his computer to
fax anything. After 40 minutes of troubleshooting, the technician 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!
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6. 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.
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7. A Dell technician received a call from a customer who was enraged
because his computer had told him he was "bad and
invalid." The tech explained that the computer's "bad command"
and "invalid" responses shouldn't be taken personally.
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8. A confused caller to IBM was having trouble printing documents. He
told the technician that the computer had said it "couldn't find
printer." The user had also tried turning the computer
screen to face the printer but the
computer still couldn't "see" the printer". _________________________________________________
9. 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 the foot pedal and nothing happened. "The foot pedal" turned out to be the computer's
mouse!
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10. 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?"
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11. Another IBM customer had troubles 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. But 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.
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12. In a similar incident, a customer had followed the instructions for
installing software. The instructions said to remove the disk from its cover
and insert into the drive. The user had physically removed the casing of the
floppy disk and wondered why there were problems.
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13. True story from a Novell NetWire Sysop:
Caller: "Hello, is this the 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? How did you get this
cup holder? Does it have any trademark on it?"
Caller: "It came with my computer. I don't know anything about it being
promotional. It just has '4X' on it." At this point, the Tech Rep had to
mute the caller because 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.
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14. A woman called the Canon help desk with a problem with her printer.
The tech asked her if she was running it under "Windows." The woman
responded, "No, my desk is next to the door. But that is a good point. The
man sitting in the cubicle next to me is under a window, and his printer is
working fine."
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15. Tech: "O.K. Bob, let's press the control and escape keys at the
same time. That brings up a task list in the middle of the screen. Now type the
letter "P" to bring up the Program Manager."
Customer: "I don't have a p."
Tech: "On your keyboard, Bob."
Customer: "What do you mean?"
Tech: "P" on your keyboard, Bob."
Customer:" I'm not going to do that!"