"Help" Desk in action....

[Bandit]

I nominate this as the worst trouble ticket of the year.

Verbatim:

Problem Summary: "URGENT: Three extension numbers"
Problem Details: "User called and reported that there are three extension numbers that are assigned to her phone."

That's it. Really.



User now, of course, cannot be found or bothered to reply to e-mails to find out anything else. Talking to the Help(less) Desk to track the user down is slightly less productive that having an argument with a talking clock.....

Is it drinks time yet?

B

[lordlundar]

I just read that and made the "curious dog" look. You know, the head tilted to one side and a "huh?" look to the face.

And I can't think of any better face to do.

[Der Cute]

Hey, that's better than my BF's mom...who yells "John John come here" and then when he's at her desk, she starts babbling about the latest gossip on a TV show that isn't in season yet.....

And she thinks that it's all the video card's fault if her speshul pictures don't show perfectly. When EVERYTHING ELSE ON THE DAMN LAPPY SHOWS JUST FREAKIN FINE.

Gah. Get me a tequila.

Cutenoob

[Victoria J]

It might not be a tech issue (do you do phone problems ?) but I can see why it's a problem.

The user is getting 3 times the calls in they should - their own, and 2 other extensions.

My colleagues phone does that sometimes. She gets calls to her extension, calls where people have got her number when they shouldn't have it (in really serious cases we take turns to answer and tell them to go away, in really serious cases we answer and pretend to be different people each time), and when our phone system goes weird calls meant for another colleague and calls from the public number. The one that should go straight to an answer message except at certain times of day when someone is scheduled to answer it. The one where people ring up and demand complicated information.

Not good.

Victoria J

[Gerrinson]

It might not be a tech issue (do you do phone problems ?) but I can see why it's a problem.

The user is getting 3 times the calls in they should - their own, and 2 other extensions.

From a tech point of view - something that the Help(less) Desk is supposed to understand - the description is far too vague and leaves a number of questions before any work can be done to resolve the issue:

1) Are all three extensions supposed to go to this phone?

2) If not, where are they supposed to be ringing and which extension(s) should be on the user's phone?

3) Is is just a case of all three lines ringing when only one should ring and the others should light up for status monitoring?

4) If the other extensions need to be assigned someplace else, does the user know who the contact is for that area?

And that's just off the top off my head. Other things may crop up in the process of resolving the issue.

None of that information is in the ticket info and the description is basically useless at expressing the exact nature of the problem. And the user not responding simply makes it harder to identify and resolve the problem.

[Victoria J]

None of that information is in the ticket info and the description is basically useless at expressing the exact nature of the problem. And the user not responding simply makes it harder to identify and resolve the problem.

It's vague and will require a number of questions to get to the bottom of it - it's definitely a bad ticket. But "the worst trouble ticket of the year" ?

I mean at least it doesn't say "I got an error message." or "I can't run my program" or "I'm not able to do that thing I used to be able to do".

A semi-identifiable problem seemed to be more than you guys get half the time.

I don't know your particularly brand of suffering, but the stupidity remains constant in any line of work.

As an adviser I think the classic is :
"I need help. I can't understand this letter I received"
"Can I see the letter ?"
"I didn't bring it with me"
(Sometimes they know who sent it, sometimes they don't. Sometimes they recall vague bits of content and say things like "someone says I owe them money but I don't", and still don't know who sent it).
They are always hurt and amazed that you can't actually answer.

Anyway - I guess my point was (a) I don't like having to answer my extension, I don't want more. Extensions are a carrier for work
And (b) Bandit appears not yet to have realised the hideous depths of human idiocy. (And his post has probably immediately led to the universe sending him 10 worse tickets).

Victoria J

[EricKei]

Extensions are a carrier for work

Yeah, they're like diseases that way

I've had some vague ones, too (support for accounting software). My favorite is "payroll issues" as the entire problem description. This could mean several things:

- Error code in a payroll module
- The damn thing just crashes or freezes when running payroll or printing
- Problems with customizing or printing checks or forms
- Basic payroll setup
- Running W-2's
- "How do I do this?"
- Setting up deductions or vacation

Those are all no problemo, stuff I can help with...but then, it can also mean...

- Accounting for simple errors which are the company's fault or the accountant's fault -- I call in one of our payroll gurus for this
- Outright fraud -- Payroll guru gets called in, I give her an advisement that they should be prepared to cal the IRS about it
- Unintentional errors that could get interpreted as fraud if they were to get audited -- see prior entry
- Anything to do with tax payments or adjustments of same -- call in CPA who has also a payroll guru. I am a tech, not an accountant. On payroll taxes in particular, any errors or bad info could get me, you, your company, AND the employee getting paid all in a shitload of trouble with the IRS.

Any or all of those from a 2-word description. I wonder if they could possibly be more vague?

[Bandit]

Update:

Turns out the (l)user in question was hired on as a call centre agent.

Line 1 is an ACD queue
Line 2 is an ACD queue (I *hate* Crisco "call center" implementations almost as much as the NEC attempt)
Line 3 is a personal extension.

My first suggestion would be to pull the personal extension, but that didn't fly too well with management.

Turns out the ticket was cancelled today. The reason was "User is no longer employed."

Guess she didn't know what she was getting into when things came live.

ID10T.

I know I would last about 3 calls as an agent, and have the utmost respect for those who can do the job. I just support them and keep the phones ringing. But geeze - open a panic ticket with no information that turns out you don't want the job?

ID10T.

B