Helpless Desk Call

[Jay 2K Winger]

Guh.

I've mentioned once or twice that the close-support teams for the client are idiots. The close-supports are meant to handle any calls that require someone to be physically at the terminal to assist with, among other things. And they apparently hate us here at the IT service desk, because we send them... you know, actual work.

But until now I'd never gotten this kind of call.

So this guy-- whom I'll dub Helpless Support (HS) -- called me up about a ticket that had been put in for another user. The user couldn't get into a website because Active X wasn't installed or some such. This is a problem that the ITSD can't resolve. So we sent it to close-support. Which is when HS got it.

HS called us (and got me) to ask how he should proceed.

I, more or less, told him, "We don't have the tools or procedures for this kind of problem. That's why we sent it to you." (emphasis added)

He kept me on the line for a couple more minutes, trying (and failing) to get any kind of clue from me, and I kept sticking to my answer ("No idea, that's your job") in polite tones before he finally hung up.

...I want to work where these guys work. Doing as little as possible, then bitch out the tier-zero guys that make me look stupid.

[Moirae]

*slow blink* a computer tech that doesn't know how to install active x.... *slowwwwww blink* Ummm.... w.t.H?

[Jay 2K Winger]

I should point out, I could very easily install ActiveX, if I had the access to do so at my job. However, doing so on the computers at work requires admin access, and can't be done via remote assist.

Hence why it goes to close-support.

But yeah, HS was an idiot.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Another similar experience.

Some background: The system we use now has what I'll call Standard Tickets and Problem Tickets. STs are what we primarily deal with. PTs are for more serious problems that require a Tier 2 or higher support team to deal with. I'm simplifying (and obfuscating per the contract), but that's the gist of it.

So the caller was calling about an ST that had been put in for her. Problems accessing a share folder kind of deal. But it was a connection problem, as a trace failed along the route. As a result, a PT was generated from the ST for it. The PT # was even included in the ST summary line.

User needed to know what the ID#'s for the tickets were. So I provide this, and everyone's happy, right?

Eh-heh. No.

A little while later, I get pulled into a 3-way IM conversation with the caller and some luser from another Helpless Support team. Caller wanted me to relay the ID#'s to the Helpless Support Guy. So I do so.

Except he can't find the damn tickets. I have to explain that he can open either one, and toggle from ST to PT (and vice-versa) from a tab in the system.

Eventually he gets it, and they let me go.

But good god, this was just another thing on top of an already busy and stressful day I didn't need.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Another Helpless Support encounter. (Different HS again.)

The other night I took a call from a user who couldn't log in to his workstation on one of the secure networks. Pinging it timed out, and there wasn't a spare workstation on that network he could try it from. So I took down his information and send the ticket up to my supes, who sent it on to his close support.

Today I get an IM from an HSTech. Basically he wanted to know where he should send this, since they don't have admin accounts on the network in question. Which just boggles my mind.

I commiserate, and eventually HST comes up with a solution. This kind of problem is usually handled by <Support Team A>. I think to myself "great, so you know who to send it to, then."

By this point, I'm knee-deep in calls and cursing at our trouble-ticket system (which is being slow this week), when HST IMs me again, basically saying "Are you going to send it to STA or me?"

I was still busy dealing with calls for a few minutes, and when I checked the ticket again, it was still sitting in HS' queue.



The guy knew who it was supposed to go to, and he was being passive-aggressive or something.

Not wanting to screw over a customer by playing "who's the bigger asshole" with HST, I told HST I'd take care of it, sent it to STA, and promptly closed the chat window.

Ass.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Another one.

Take a call from an HS (didn't realize it at the time) because a user's MS Word wasn't launching. The error was one I remembered, because I'd taken a call for that very thing on Friday.

I relay to the HS that it requires an admin reinstall or a profile reset to resolve. He asks for me to build a ticket. He asks the user for her ID#, and I hear her say "I already have a ticket in the system, but okay--" and once I pull up her info, I recognize her name.

It's the same user whose call I took on Friday.

Rather than make a duplicate ticket, I updated her existing one, included the info from our database about what to do-- admin reinstall or profile reset-- and sent it up the pipeline.

I really want to get a job with the close support teams. I'd be the star employee within a WEEK.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Christ, this is turning into an almost daily update kind of thing.

Another call from an HS guy. The IM program that The Client uses periodically has buddy list issues. To the point that The Client's internal wiki page for the IM program has a list of trouble-shooting steps for it.

HS calls up because one of his users is having buddy list issues, and can't remember how to fix it.

I IM'd him the link to the wiki page in question.

And these people have access to sensitive data.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Daily Update - Aug. 31

Sigh.

Got an IM from an HS person about "my ticket" for a program that was requiring a serial number. I ask the HS which ticket this was and get the ticket number so I can pull it up.

Now, the problem with our Trouble Ticket System (TTS) is that it doesn't recognize some users as being valid. This is a known problem that they are working on, and for now, what we do is put all of the user's relevant identifying info at the start of the ticket's description, with a note that TTS doesn't recognize them.

HS had skipped over that part on the ticket in question. He just saw that my name was listed as the reported by/affected user and IM'd me.

I pointed out to the HS that it was for Another User, not me. HS apologized and thanked me.

Sigh.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Update - Sept. 7

Glossary:
FW = Fellow Whovian, my CW
TTS = Trouble Ticket System
ST = Standard Ticket (Tier 1)
PT = Problem Ticket (Tier 2+)

This is one from my coworker, FW.

Recent change in policy at The Client states that Hardware Team is now considered Tier 2. As such, we cannot send them STs, we can only send them PTs. PTs are created when the issue is either more complicated than can be handled from a ST or are more widespread (multiple users, etc.).

Apparently, Hardware Team threw a hissy fit that-- thanks to the new TTS we use-- they kept getting all of these standard tickets, which said to them "you're Tier 1." So the policy was changed and now they are considered Tier 2, which I don't have a problem with. Fine, we can play it that way.

Today, FW took a call from a user who was calling on behalf of their boss. They had a problem with some printer queues. Now, I don't know how they do it at other places, but The Client has two queues per printer, and those queues are out on a server somewhere.

One problem with the asset tracking system at The Client is that printers and their respective queues aren't always listed in the asset records. So we'll ask a user for a printer ID, and the user will give us the print queue. But the print queue isn't listed on the asset record, so we have to finagle more information (such as a make and model number on the printer) to narrow down which one it is from the dozens/hundreds of printers listed for a particular Client facility.

FW's caller had given her all of the information that he had available. Complicating matters was that the affected user's ID information wasn't recognized by the TTS, so FW had to list that information in the ticket's description instead of the fields usually containing the ID info. Caller had four print queues (hence, two printers) that weren't printing anything but users' cover sheets (which have the users' userID's and date/time info, but nothing else).

FW made sure to note in the description that the caller was calling on behalf of someone else, and that she had provided all of the information available to her. She sent it off to Hardware Team.

Hardware Team sent it back with a note in the worklog IN ALL CAPS, telling her to MAKE SURE TO GET THE MAKE/MODEL NUMBER, SERIAL NUMBER, AND MAKE A SEPARATE TICKET FOR ALL FOUR PRINTERS.

FW came to me to vent and WENT OFF on them, complaining about how the Hardware Team didn't read what she had put on the ticket, that she had given all of the information the caller had at his disposal.

We hate Hardware Team now.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Okay, this guy wasn't actually sucky or stupid, just uninformed, though this does nothing to change my opinion that the close support teams are staffed by some really unsuited individuals.

On systems used by The Client, there is a particular application (we'll call it NeededApp) that periodically will experience a problem. There are procedures in place here at ITSD that can resolve 99 out of 100 NeededApp problems. It involves doing a reinstall, which is actually quite fast.

Now, NeededApp is a feature in other applications, such as our mail client and MS Office. If the issue is with Office, the procedures are a little more detailed, with extra steps. I recently took the time to expand the email instructions for NeededApp problems to include these extra steps. ITSD has a database where we keep the procedures, as well as the email version, which includes a file needed to fix the NeededApp.

Anyway, Polite Helpless Support Guy calls in, has a user at a remote site having issues with NeededApp. First PHS Guy wants to know if there's any special procedure involved since remote site user is on a particular kind of network. No, there's not. So PHS Guy asks if there's anything on The Client's wiki on how to deal with this problem.

Since PHS Guy was being polite and genuinely wanted to know so he knew how to fix this himself (instead of asking it in a way that implied "can you do this for me?"), I forwarded him the email with the NeededApp instructions and the file.

There may be hope for some of them.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Annnnnd now another HS type just reinforced my initial belief that they don't have the common sense God gave a rock.

One of them called me up (me, specifically) because they had a ticket open that I'd worked on. So I ask which ticket it was, and get <Ticket B>, which I look at, and state, "I'm not seeing my name on this ticket, anywhere." So then HS says there had been an earlier ticket, <Ticket A>, which I'd reopened. I pull up Ticket A, and sure enough, I had taken a call from the user in question, whose issue hadn't been resolved. So I reopened it and sent the ticket up to my supervisors. From then on, I had no contact with it.

So, to recap, HS had Ticket B in their queue, and needed input from me regarding the issue, which was actually from Ticket A, which I only had contact with because I'd reopened it and sent it up to someone with the access to fix it. In short, I had no input whatsoever on either ticket.

I explained this to the HS, who seemed a tad flustered that I didn't have any information to give them, but it's not my problem that they don't know how to do their jobs.

Oh, wait.

Yes it is.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Update - Sept 27

Had another HS call today.

Last week, had a call from a user who couldn't get into his mail client. The specific error was one that we ITSD folks don't have the access to fix. So I sent it up to my supervisors. Who apparently routed it to the user's close support. And one of them, the latest Helpless Support Guy, calls me, because I created the ticket.

HS: (describes issue)
Note-- this is pointless, because at this point, I have the ticket open and can see that.
HS: "So, what's the next step here?"
J2K: "I'll be honest: I don't know. We don't have the access to fix this problem, that's why it was sent up the pipeline and it got sent to you."
HS: "Oh. Okay. Uh..."

The conversation went on a bit longer, but eventually HS realized that I didn't have the answers he was looking for and thanked me and hung up.

I swear to god, I could be the best close support tech ever.