When Do You Tell An End User They're SOL?

the_Grinch

Amen brother! I always equate it to a construction worker not learning how to use a hammer. It is the tool you use to complete your job, how do you know nothing about it?

RobertKaucher

the_Grinch wrote: »

Amen brother! I always equate it to a construction worker not learning how to use a hammer. It is the tool you use to complete your job, how do you know nothing about it?

User: "So, my boss asked me to make a report in Excel for a meeting and Excel is a computer program and you are the IT guy, soooo... when can I expect you to have my report ready?"

Me: "Well, Excel is a business tool and you are a business user. I'll help you write this report but if you need to know how to use Excel to do your job, that's between you and your boss."

I made this a little more abstract than the actual conversation, but this did actually occur at my previous job.

Ch@rl!3m0ng

it_consultant wrote: »

Like I said before, I NEVER delete or move email for users. That is a task they get to do themselves. They don't come to my office and arrange my paperwork when it gets messy.

Love to see them try and clean my desk. My Boss says I have OCD (Which i sortta do)

RobertKaucher wrote: »

User: "So, my boss asked me to make a report in Excel for a meeting and Excel is a computer program and you are the IT guy, soooo... when can I expect you to have my report ready?"

Me: "Well, Excel is a business tool and you are a business user. I'll help you write this report but if you need to know how to use Excel to do your job, that's between you and your boss."

I made this a little more abstract than the actual conversation, but this did actually occur at my previous job.

Wow glad not had this happen I would have more than likely laughed and pointed them to the door.

techdudehere

I tell them as soon as I am sure that is the case. I've found it's best to be certain and clear with any assessment. If they ask me about the status before I have reached that point, I will only tell them I am checking xyz. If one sounds uncertain, then the user will naturally question the assessment.


Specifically in the case of missing email, I would search the hard disk and relevant network shares for OST/PST files, search for other applications that might remove email such as mobile devices and sales software, check the deleted items folder, search for one of the "missing emails" using the search function to see which folder they dragged it into, try to recover deleted items, and that's about it. If it's an executive, I'd restore the mailbox.

In the case of a missing profile, I'd first confirm if the Desktop/Documents are stored locally or redirected. Does the user save things on the desktop or in a Citrix/TS session? Is the user signed in with a temporary profile? Does the user need to start a VPN session and sign back in? As someone else mentioned numerous malware infections will hide certain desktop and start menu items. Simply changing the view settings and looking at the profile will reveal that, though. The recycle bin is always worth a look.