Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Where's the period key? (long)

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Where's the period key? (long)

    This didn't happen today, but the young lady in question certainly did take the word "Unsupportable" to a completely new level.

    As I've mentioned in earlier posts, I work in a call center and do support on various web-based applications. I'm closing in on my two-year mark working there, so I pretty much know the solutions to most problems like the back of my hand.

    'Lo and behold, on a lovely winter's eve where it was quiet all through the house, I took a call where the lady on the other end of the line was having problems opening a PDF document from one of the aforementioned websites. I asked her if anything happened when she tried, and after a lengthy silence (assumingly searching her screen), she told me no.

    Me: Alright Ma'am. It might be a pop-up blocker causing the problem. Can you-

    Caller: Wait, a what?

    I explain what a pop-up blocker is, after closing my eyes and thanking whatever deity was listening that it wasn't a busy night. This was obviously going to be a long call.

    That done, I try to guide her to "View" -> "Toolbars" in her browser menu, since the blocker in the Yahoo! toolbar is usually what's causing problems like this.

    Of course she had no clue where to find this strange "menu". And what was a "browser"?

    A few more minutes using very simple words like "Top of the window" and "The blue 'e'". Because I'm nice and we had the time anyway.

    Once I get her that far...

    Caller: Oh, wait, there's this yellowish stripe up here saying something about Internet Explorer and security?

    Me: Does it say "Internet Explorer has blocked this website from..." (You know how it goes I'm sure)?

    And indeed it did - halleluja! Apparently something new did happen when she tried to open the document.

    Since this is problem is usually fixed by adding the website to Trusted Sites in the settings, this cheered me up. It's a quick and usually permanent fix (unless they forget why the site was added and delete it, then call back when it doesn't work one more and here we go again!), so I figured I could get this done swiftly. No such luck.

    First, I had to guide her to "Tools"" in the dreaded "browser menu". Which, in case you were wondering, was simply refereed to as "top of the page". And how?

    First by getting her to find "File" in the upper left corner. Because as some may have noticed, we never made it quite that high up last time. Then she and I read through the menu in a way that honestly reminded me of my 4th grade English classes.

    Me: "File."

    Caller: "...File."

    Me: "Edit."

    Caller: "...Edit."

    And so on. At this point I had my elbow on the desk, my forehead in the palm of my hand and my eyes shut tight.

    Then we finally made it to the "Internet Options" and, after I've mimicked choking myself with the cord to my headset a few times, into "Trusted Sites" and the field where she needed to enter the URL (which I of course didn't call it). I'll spare you the painfully slow process of typing in the "https://*" bit.

    Me: Okay, and now a period.

    Caller: ...

    Me: ...

    Caller: ...

    Me: ...Ma'am?

    Caller: ...Where's the period key?

    Me: It's the same one you used to make the two little dots (also known as a "colon" to those more worldly types) earlier, Ma'am. Just don't hold down the thick arrow (shift) on the left this time.

    Silence hung in the air yet again. I muted the call and thumped my head against my desk a few times, much to the amusement of my coworkers.

    Me: Ma'am, could you locate the wide button at the very bottom of your keyboard for me?

    Caller: Um.... Yes, okay.

    Me: Above the right side of that button, there is a smaller botton with a comma on it.

    Caller: Yes, I see it.

    Me: Just beside that button, on the right side, is the period.

    And the cows came home at long, long last. It solved the problem, thank heavens.

    In short, a good 45 minutes spent on a call that really shouldn't have taken more than three, at most. Nice lady, polite and all, but good lord... At least I got kudos from my coworkers because my voice never wavered from my usual cheerfully polite tone.

    I swear, some people really shouldn't be allowed within 100 feet of a computer, let alone sign up for anything online until they've learned how to use the thing.
    "The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein

    Whoever said that "Nothing is impossible" never tried to slam a revolving door.

  • #2
    Wouldn't it have been a little easier to run through it with keyboard shortcuts? (especially the joys of copy and paste)

    We worked that out when any customer who'd dragged their tool bar to the left or right of the screen (must have been a virus as they never touched it ) were completly incapable of following the instructions of "Make sure there's no programs running, click and hold on any part of the grey area and drag your mouse to the bottom".

    In the end it was far easier to tell them to put the mouse to one side and not touch it "...and now press the following keys when I tell you to..."
    Lady, people aren't chocolates. D'you know what they are mostly? Bastards. Bastard-coated bastards with bastard filling. Dr Cox - Scrubs

    Comment


    • #3
      Quoth Naaman View Post
      Wouldn't it have been a little easier to run through it with keyboard shortcuts? (especially the joys of copy and paste)
      Possibly. I just kinda veered away from keyboard shortcuts with this type of callers after I spent some 30 minutes talking to a guy who just couldn't grasp the concept of holding down more than one key at a time.
      "The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein

      Whoever said that "Nothing is impossible" never tried to slam a revolving door.

      Comment


      • #4
        I took a call from some 85 year old lady at 3am the other night, who told me she was on one of the "Orphan Trains" as a kid. But she was doing more with her computer than most people half her age do. She would play and record music on her organ, doing lead and background, then transfer it to the computer. She was dubbing records over, etc. Young and old people can use technology, they just have to stop being stupid about it.

        Comment


        • #5
          I think I may have a one-up on the original poster....

          I once had an end user who didn't even know what a period *was*, never mind locating it on the keyboard. And calling it a "dot" didn't seem to help either (I was trying to get her to type the name of a mail server)
          DJ Particle

          Comment


          • #6
            Quoth Xarthedia View Post
            Possibly. I just kinda veered away from keyboard shortcuts with this type of callers after I spent some 30 minutes talking to a guy who just couldn't grasp the concept of holding down more than one key at a time.
            Ouch I know the ones
            Lady, people aren't chocolates. D'you know what they are mostly? Bastards. Bastard-coated bastards with bastard filling. Dr Cox - Scrubs

            Comment


            • #7
              My mom doesn't understand single-clicking. She double-clicks EVERYTHING. And this is a woman who spent 12 years of her professional life using a computer in an office... in an administration-type capacity.... and she was GOOD at it.

              Now that she's retired, it's like her brain just deleted all office-type knowledge... I had to explain to her that she didn't need to use the mouse to click on the buttons on the system calculator, that she could just type them in on the numberpad. She still doesn't believe me about that one....
              GK/Kara/Jester fangirl.

              Comment


              • #8
                Quoth Xarthedia View Post
                I swear, some people really shouldn't be allowed within 100 feet of a computer, let alone sign up for anything online until they've learned how to use the thing.
                People need licenses to drive cars. The same should hold true for a computer. After all, if you screw up on your PC, you run the risk of doing worse than killing yourself; you could lose your entire identity, credit history gets shot, your bank account gets drained, etc. I'm telling you, licensing computer use is the way to go.

                It wouldn't take much, just a 6 hour 1-day course for basic "U-Level" (that's User-level) and some tests to raise your license to a SysAdmin, network engineer or anything else. Programmers stay at User level for life.
                Bears are bad. If an animal is going to be mean it should look so, like sharks and alligators. - Mark Healey

                Comment


                • #9
                  Without the evil programmers, you wouldn't have all the fun stuff you got on your computer now.

                  But I'm assuming you meant those "programmers" who cause more damage because they think they're programmers. Yeah, those folks can stay at U-level.
                  I've lost my mind ages ago. If you find it, please hide it.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Quoth Kilamon View Post
                    People need licenses to drive cars. The same should hold true for a computer.
                    Couldn't agree more. And if they ever implement that, I'm getting a job at a computer store.

                    SC: "You can't refuse to sell me a computer! You have to; (say it with me now) it's the law!"

                    Me: "Actually, the law says that if you don't have a government-issued computer license, you aren't allowed to own a computer. So yes, I can refuse you, and I will. "
                    "The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein

                    Whoever said that "Nothing is impossible" never tried to slam a revolving door.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Quoth BravoOrig View Post
                      I took a call from some 85 year old lady at 3am the other night, who told me she was on one of the "Orphan Trains" as a kid. But she was doing more with her computer than most people half her age do. She would play and record music on her organ, doing lead and background, then transfer it to the computer. She was dubbing records over, etc. Young and old people can use technology, they just have to stop being stupid about it.
                      That reminds me of my neighbour. He's in his eighties and recently started with computing. I've done some basic tech support for him, though mostly when he was starting.

                      He's more than happy to ask me about things I've never dealt with. Layers and pallettes in photoshop elements - I'm no graphics guy, but he's far and away above me in that field, and he can take a mean picture. I installed Skype for him on his request, and now he chats for free to a friend of his who moved to Singapore a few years ago.

                      As with everything, you just need someone competent in the chair.

                      Rapscallion

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        I'll agree that age doesn't have to mean anything in regards to computer competence. I know I get an equal amount of confused elderly / skilled youngers and skilled elderly / confused youngsters.

                        Besides, when I need help with my own computer, I get a hold of either:

                        a) My stepfather (pushing 50)
                        b) An old neighbor (pushing 70)

                        Gray gold all the way.
                        "The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein

                        Whoever said that "Nothing is impossible" never tried to slam a revolving door.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          My grandfather is not too great with a computer but even he knows his way around a keyboard easily enough.

                          Comment

                          Working...
                          X