More IT Support stuff + electronics stuff
1) Quite often, I'll put people on hold whilst "checking the server out". In reality, I'm just chatting to a mate or watching a youtube video that's been IM'd to me by a colleague.

2) Do not talk down to us or generally be rude - remember you're only calling us because *you* need *our* help. I have a list of wankers on my desk and if one calls me up I'll hit random characters when I'm remote controlling their PC and they're entering in their password, and laugh as they get more frustrated wondering why they can't type it right - "I'm sure that's what I set it to". Don't worry, you *are* typing it right, but because you're a cunt, I'm adding a few keystrokes in every time for good measure.

3) No, your boss is not "too busy" to call us with his problem - like us, he's fucking around all day - and no, "his computer has an error" is not an adaquate description of the problem.

4) In previous IT support jobs I've happily disabled someone's account for being rude.

5) Yes, we can read your email. And we do - especially stuff that the content filter has picked up.

6) The more you insist your call is urgent, especially if it's clearly not, the lower the priority it'll actually get assigned is.


I also worked at a major Electronics re... fuck it, it was Maplin Electronics. Here's a few joys from when I worked there.

1) We all knew the "hidden" option in the till system to show the buy price of an item - i.e. how much Maplin paid for it. £24.99 gold-plated SCART leads cost them £1.24. £15.99 gold-plated IXOS 9-pin serial cables cost 36 pence. Profit margins like this exist throughout the catalogue. Still, if you're stupid enough to pay for a gold-plated serial cable (given their max data rate) you deserve to be ripped off.

2) Official staff policy was that you only ever need one person that knows the slightest bit about electronics working in the store. I believe PC World use this recruitment strategy too. The idea they employ "technical" staff is an utter fallacy - they come from the same recruitment pool as Tesco. And since it's highly likely that Tesco pay more, Maplin probably employ Tesco's rejects.

3) My first wage in 1996 was £2.25 an hour. To stand behind a counter in a hot shop all day, serving capacitors and LEDs to utter retards.
(d371ght back again since, Thu 27 Sep 2007, 20:45, Reply)