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If it's Friday it must be time for me to file On-Call and then start drinking so you can start the last day of the week with one of our always-amusing tales of nasty jobs done at nasty times.
This week, reader "Kevin" shared a story from his time working a hell desk late shift.
With just a few minutes to go before quitting time, Kevin took a call from user complaining her computer "was stuck". Kevin couldn't remote in, so asked her to turn it off and turn it on again.
The user claimed to have done so, but also reported the machine was still stuck on the same screen.
Kevin felt the user had probably flicked the wrong switch, so asked if there was a PC-shaped box under her monitor.
"Yes, there's a grey one," was the response.
"Can you hold down the power button for about 10 seconds until all the lights go out", Kevin asked.
At which point the user asked where to find the power button
Kevin explained it would be at the front of the PC, have a power symbol and should respond to a quick prod of an index finger.
"I can't find it," said the user.
Kevin asked what lettering, if any, was on the machine, in an effort to figure out the maker and model. As luck would have it, the Compaq model on the user's desk was the same one on Kevin's. So he spent the next 15 minutes describing its case, the grey bezel on the front, and using baby steps to direct her to the power button.
To which the user said the following:
"Oh you mean the button I use to switch it off with?"
Please, share your hell desk stories. We all need a good laugh.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 19 2016, @11:12PM
That's why it's important that people do not conform to those standards. If the employers don't care much about your actual skill and instead care about appearances, the ability to exaggerate your own skills, degrees for jobs that shouldn't require them, and other shallows things, then that is toxic and must be rejected. The only way to change this is to fight against it. People who are capable should start their own businesses and use reasonable, logical standards for hiring and firing; I did.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 19 2016, @11:46PM
That's funny. All I ever see are big businesses getting bigger and small businesses failing. Small businesses that don't invest in social media reputation management just fail even faster. Seems like people prefer big and people prefer bullshit. A business that tries to fight for change will not survive without customers to pay for that change to happen, and consumer demand for small businesses is evaporating.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 19 2016, @11:58PM
True, if you can't find a niche to fill. People tend not to care about things like privacy and decentralization, so expecting everyone to use your service for those reasons is unrealistic. But even people in hiring positions in large businesses can make a difference.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 20 2016, @12:13AM
People don't get into hiring positions in large businesses if there's any hint that they might be trying to make a difference.