What's the most ridiculous thing an end user has ever asked of you?

As the jr. guy in a small company I get a mixture of responsibilities that vary from staging and stigging new servers down to the most mundane of help desk responsibilities.

I thought sharing our most "d'oh!" moments from end users would lighten the mood in here amidst a sea of disheartening threads discussing a lack of job enjoyment and inability to find a new job.

Today I had a particularly good one. One of my end users brought in his laptop to be rebuilt due to a virus (has anybody had a inordinately high number of virus infections lately due to Drudge Report?). I gave him a loaner laptop in the meantime and had him login to his account before leaving site so the laptop would cache his credentials (he works offiste).

Last night he posted on my public Facebook wall asking for the password for his system(!) because he couldn't login...and he started it by saying "Hey, this is John Doe..." as if the little picture of him and the NAME weren't enough to figure out who it was.

I finally catch up wit him this morning and he said he was unable to login to his HOME wireless network because he doesn't know the password (and he thought it was his laptop password he didn't know). Needless to say, I had to inform him that unfortunately I could not help him out because I am not privy to his home wireless network password.

Come on people...I may not be a banker but I know how to use an ATM!

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Comments

pml1

This is quite possibly the most entertaining thread ever.

I have another one, but I imagine most of us have a similar example. One of my coworkers was trouble-shooting an issue with one of our end users at a remote site. At some point during their conversation, out tech asked the user is she knew how to take a "screen shot" so she could see what was happening. The user assured her that she knew how to do it and would do so immediately.

Well, she never emailed those screenshots, but when the tech went on site the next day, there were several 4X6 pictures of the users desktop there in an envelop with her name on it.

dynamik

At a client's today, one user said the batteries in her mouse were about to die. They told her to put the mouse over the icon in the system tray to see what percentage was left. She picked up the mouse and laid it flat against the screen.

irishpunk

haha This thread is awesome screams job security to me

Hyper-Me

I'm really at my wits end with people whos primary job role involves using a computer (not working ON them, but working with one) and cant use it. Cant even do basic functions.

Ive heard it said before and I agree "I don't have to be a mechanic to know how to drive my damn car"

rsutton

I had a user give me her laptop to clean as it had a serious infection, I said it wouldnt be ready until tomorrow and asked her if she needed a loaner. She said she would be OK and that she would just use her other computer. The other "computer" was her laptops docking station.

VAHokie56

Call center for a DSL provider. Call was for wifi modem that was not functioning...or so it would seem.

User-"my modem is not working'
Me-"what lights are currently lit on the device?"
User-"none...”
Me-"is the modem plugged into a working power outlet?"
User-"um no…it’s a wireless modem!"

She stated that last part like I was the one who was dumb for not knowing this fact

crrussell3

I was working as a temp/contract employee for a company, and was helping out another user support tech (who had been there 3+ years) on an issue. I quickly determined that the issue was that when the pc was imaged, all of the application install scripts didn't run for whatever reason, so certain things weren't done like it should have been.

I explained how the imaging process took place (again, to a tech who had been there for 3+ years, when I had been there for 3 months), and that everything was started with scheduled tasks at boot or login. The other tech completely understood what I was saying, so I told them to check task scheduler to see where it failed and manually continue the process by editing out the batch file.

I stood there for a few minutes waiting, and finally the tech looked up and asked "where do I find the task scheduler?"

/sigh

win2k8

This funny vid about help desk dealing with end users:

YouTube - Internet Help Desk Training Film - short Youtube version

RobertKaucher

dynamik wrote: »

At a client's today, one user said the batteries in her mouse were about to die. They told her to put the mouse over the icon in the system tray to see what percentage was left. She picked up the mouse and laid it flat against the screen.

Well, she did as she was asked... The thing displayed on the screen is called a cursor after all.

RobertKaucher

When I was fulltime Geek Squad agent, I got a call from a guy who was beyond irrate.
Client: “I just bought this computer on Saturday. I come in today to use it and it won’t turn on. I can’t believe you guys sell such pieces of cr@p that they stop working in one day.”
Me: “Was it working previously?”
Client: “Yea, my kids were playing on it last night.”
Me: “Could you check and see that it wasn’t unplugged either from the wall or from the back of the tower?”
Client: “Do you think I am tha f-ing stupid?”
Me: “No, sir. But you told me it was being used by other people than yourself. So this is the first thing we should check.”
Client: “Fine!” * slams phone down and stomps away* “Mother f’er!” *Stomping towards phone – slams phone onto base*
*Busy signal*

eMeS

RobertKaucher wrote: »

When I was fulltime Geek Squad agent, I got a call from a guy who was beyond irrate.
Client: “I just bought this computer on Saturday. I come in today to use it and it won’t turn on. I can’t believe you guys sell such pieces of cr@p that they stop working in one day.”
Me: “Was it working previously?”
Client: “Yea, my kids were playing on it last night.”
Me: “Could you check and see that it wasn’t unplugged either from the wall or from the back of the tower?”
Client: “Do you think I am tha f-ing stupid?”
Me: “No, sir. But you told me it was being used by other people than yourself. So this is the first thing we should check.”
Client: “Fine!” * slams phone down and stomps away* “Mother f’er!” *Stomping towards phone – slams phone onto base*
*Busy signal*

Come on man, I was told that my calls to the Geek Squad were private...

MS

Claymoore

At a former employer, the users were very petty and jealous of each other. It wasn't a big shop at first and we would just send our help desk guy to Comp USA and buy whatever random parts we needed. When we ran low on keyboards, he would buy 10 of whatever was cheapest and that's what we would give out. One trip resulted in keyboards with blue lights and a scroll wheel in the middle of the space bar. We had a sudden rash of broken keyboards because everyone wanted one with the pretty blue lights.

Keyboards, however, are minor compared to monitors. We bought some new PCs for an expanding business unit and purposely chose 17" CRTs instead of LCDs just to eliminate the complaints. We did not give one particular user enough credit when it came to crafting her complaints. She claimed that she was having trouble seeing and that her doctor said she was sitting too close to the monitor. The new 17" CRTs were 1.5" shallower than her current monitor. This smaller form factor would allow her to push the monitor further back, thus moving her eyes further from the screen which would help her see better.

We ignored the request, but her manager eventually caved and made us swap the monitor. To no one's suprise the shallower monitor did not help. What she really needed was new glasses, but telling her that would probably generate an HR complaint. The company ordered a large cowling with a magnifying glass that fit over her monitor so she could see the screen. I have no idea how much that magnifying attachment cost. A few months later the cowling was handed back to us because she got new glasses and no longer needed it.

brad-

dynamik wrote: »

At a client's today, one user said the batteries in her mouse were about to die. They told her to put the mouse over the icon in the system tray to see what percentage was left. She picked up the mouse and laid it flat against the screen.

jesus christ.

wd40

This happened this morning.

An outsourced AC technician came to my co-worker and Said:

The garden sprinkler is not working, can you please check

earweed

This isn'y an end user thing. I was trying to get my neighbors internet to work. All the lights were on the modem. I pinged the modem to be sure, worked. She went ahead and called the ISP and talked to them. I got on the phone and told the help desk I had pinged the modem. "what do you mean pinged the modem?" I gave up with him. To think I'd like to be able to have his job myself right now.
I accessed the sign on page for the modem to sign into the ISP, they had an automatic password fillin and I noticed it wasn't the neighbors email address. The neighbor had "Accidentally" gone to that page and the password filler had changed the info.

elphrank0

One day in class, there is a guy that is working to be an IT professional. One student was complaining bout his wireless not connecting so he tells him to unplug his wireless card and plug it back in. The student tells him its internal how can I do that. He walks over and unplugs the guys USB FLASH DRIVE! The student had files open.. Needless to say, I told him to re-think IT as a career...

Zartanasaurus

MentholMoose wrote: »

At a former employer, someone needed to fill out a form on a web page. I sent a PDF with carefully written instructions, including a screenshot of every step. Surprisingly, I received a call, "why isn't this working?!!" I got to the office and he demonstrated the problem: he was trying to fill out the screenshots of the form in the PDF!!!!! I had him scroll up to step 1, "open Internet Explorer and access http://...".

Oh lord, this reminds me.

At an old job we had a new employee in the public defender's office. They have these label printers attached to their PCs. She called me up asking why it wouldn't print. She had pulled up the help file and kept clicking the print button on one of the pictures.

Zartanasaurus

billyr wrote: »

Whilst serving in the military I had a call one day asking if we could receive a secret message via fax. I informed the originator that as the fax lines were unclassified this would not be possible.
I then explained the correct procedure, which was to double envelope the message with the inner envelope clearly marked Secret and the outer envelope with no markings except the recipients name. This should then be sent by secure courier.

Twenty minutes later the fax machine kicked into action and a sheet of paper with the outline of an envelope was delivered to my desk!

Still makes me smile..

You win.

bwcarty

knwminus wrote: »

Had someone ask how do they press the plus sign twice (referring to control+alt+delete).

Use the one above the = key and the one on the numeric keypad...duh!

Pash

Left handed screwdriver. Still havent found one.

crrussell3

Pash wrote: »

Left handed screwdriver. Still havent found one.

You and me both!

sandman748

Some of the dumbest questions I have ever been asked were when I was working tech support for Comcast and Shaw Cable.

I actually took a call from a guy calling me from one of the phones in the seats of airplanes wondering why he couldnt connect to his home network. This guy sat on hold for $$ a minute just for me to tell him the range of his home router was about 150 feet, not miles.

That and when PVR's first came out, I had a lady call in because her PVR could not fast forward live tv. I politely informed her that it was not a time machine. At least she was smart enough to realize how dumb her question was once I answered it.

Turgon

Nothing. They all need assist and look to you to provide it. I suppose we are just better informed but that's our job.

Met44

Good post Turgon. Those are words for anyone to mull on, with respect to IT support or otherwise.

mikedisd2

Turgon wrote: »

Nothing. They all need assist and look to you to provide it. I suppose we are just better informed but that's our job.

You're no fun.

mikedisd2

Pash wrote: »

Left handed screwdriver. Still havent found one.

I've got heaps of them. Know how I know they're left-handed? I'm left-handed and they work just fine.

citinerd

I am still searching for a 4/8" socket if anyone knows where I can get one. For some reason sears does not sell it........

darkerosxx

eMeS wrote: »

This didn't happen to me, but one of my customers told me that one day their help desk received a call from someone that wanted a ride home.

MS

That is gold right there. Pure money.

I'm going to call our help desk and tell them my computer at my house is broken, then ask if they can give me a ride home AND fix my computer.

darkerosxx

sandman748 wrote: »

That and when PVR's first came out, I had a lady call in because her PVR could not fast forward live tv. I politely informed her that it was not a time machine.

This thread is full of win. Made my day. Thanks for starting this, OP.

Turgon

mikedisd2 wrote: »

You're no fun.

Hey..there are some funny ones I admit, but we all do *dumb* things sometimes! Just dont do them too often!