What scares me most

Or when they do have a network printer but choose one in a different office / branch / state / country as it said "HP" or they wanted it in color.
Or they store their extra A4 paper in the A3 trays
 
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Just like an auto mechanic wants people that know how to drive a car but doesn't want them to know how to fix a car, as a technician I like clients that know how to use their computers, but have no idea what to do when things go wrong. Without people like this, I'd be out of business inside a week. I like people that don't know crap about how their computers work but know how to use them just fine.

What I don't like is people that always have to mess with stuff for no reason. I just sold a computer to a client and he immediately installed some garbage driver update program that downloaded the wrong audio driver to his computer and made it so the sound no longer worked. Then he demanded that I fix it for free because it was "under warranty." Screw that, buddy. I fixed it remotely for $99, uninstalled the driver updating program, and told him not to mess with the computer anymore. I told him in no uncertain terms not to download ANYTHING to "tune up" or "fix" or "update" the computer. So what does he do the next day? He downloads a registry cleaner program that deleted some vital system files and now the computer won't start up anymore. Of course, he blames me for it. I take a look at it and he's got like 10 different "cleaning" programs installed. I reinstall Windows and hand it back to him, making sure to lecture him again about not downloading anything like that. Then literally the next day he reinstalls the driver updating program and it kills his sound again. Then he has the audacity to say:

"If this computer is so messed up that I can't even install a tune up program then I don't want it. Give me my money back."

GHHAHAHAHRHRHRHAHRHRHRHRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!! ANGRY TECHNICIAN IS ANGRY!!!!!!!
 
HFultzjr said:
Not half as bad as when the insist they never had a password for e-mail, or anything else. It just worked................LOL!
Click to expand...

Sadly, if they've been using an e-mail client "forever" this could be true in practice. I've seen the client get completely set up by the IT department and never having to type in a password once. Effectively, what they're saying is true.

I think that "password memory" in things like web browsers, e-mail clients, and similar have spawned a huge part of the problem with people not remembering their passwords. I wouldn't care if I had to enter my password upon first firing up an e-mail client and not again until either I exited the client or the computer was restarted, but people have been trained to "hate" having to do that.

I wish we had trained folks in using password managers from day one, but they didn't even exist during the early part of my career as "a thing that everyone had and knew about."
 
I have one client who often follows up a request with "write down and show her what you did so we'll know how next time". When your mechanic replaces the alternator on your car do you make the same request?

Arrrgghhhh
 
timeshifter said:
I have one client who often follows up a request with "write down and show her what you did so we'll know how next time". When your mechanic replaces the alternator on your car do you make the same request?

Arrrgghhhh
Click to expand...

An apples and oranges example, in many cases.

I agree that this request can be unreasonable, but it can also be perfectly reasonable. But what I generally do, if it is reasonable, is sit with the client and have them go through the steps themselves, and allowing them to pause to take the notes they need to do them again later. I do, of course, bill for that time.
 
Yeah... the alternator example isn't a clear one. You don't provide instructions for installing RAM or an SSD into a system. But you should be providing instructions to teach the user how to not blow themselves up. That training is billable time! And users love it! They don't want to be stupid... they might not be able to help it, but they usually don't want to be stupid!
 
sapphirescales said:
.
What I don't like is people that always have to mess with stuff for no reason. I just sold a computer to a client and he immediately installed some garbage driver update program that downloaded the wrong audio driver to his computer and made it so the sound no longer worked.
GHHAHAHAHRHRHRHAHRHRHRHRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!! ANGRY TECHNICIAN IS ANGRY!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

Yeap I hate when a business always has that one person that "Knows Computers". They try and fix the issue or buy hardware - then they feck it up even more. I spend a lot of time frigging around with something they purchased like some shitty AP via ebay for about $10. I say to all my business customers now, if you need hardware call me first. As it is my purpose to check compatibility & reliability of the product you are purchasing. Most are fine, though there is just one that does it all the time, can be annoying. She calls the tower a modem, I told her in conversation the tower - kept referring to it as modem..sigh:confused:o_O
 
Im sure everyone has customer like this.
We refill cartridges and on a certain range of cartridge sometimes you will need to hold down the cancel button on the printer for 5 seconds to bypass the ink empty error. We stick these instructions to the side of the printer and also verbally tell people numerous times yet they cant follow these simple instructions. We've been on the phone to them while they try it and after 2 seconds they are complaining that the printer isnt doing anything, we actually have to count to 5 with some people as it seems they are incapable of knowing what 5 seconds is.

I can't wrap my brain around how some people manage to get out of bed in the morning.

We also get the people that come to us for advice and then start arguing with us about that advice or saying that they know better.

I agree with wanting customers that know how to use a device, but not know how to fix it. Telling me your grandson who "does computers" at college will have a look because your too tight to pay me to do it will only result in your bill being higher!
It brings me such satisfaction when someone brings in a device that someone has tried to fix themselves and has screwed it up sometimes beyond repair, more so when its such a simple fix it wouldnt have taken me a minute or to if they hadnt disassembled the whole thing!
 
Screen Shot 2020-07-11 at 9.54.38 AM.png

I thought it was going to be about this. (couldn't resist given the situation the last few months)

Empty-Toilet-Paper-Roll-Generic-TP.jpg


But seriously. In many ways I'd rather have someone who thinks the monitor is the computer. Those are the types that, usually, are too terrified to do much of anything. One favorite tactic I started using several years ago. Pictures. Rather than tell them all the time to turn the computer off and on again, which they usually forget, if there's a problem I'll tell them to take a picture and email/SMS it to me. For many of them it's actually stayed and resulted in quicker solutions.

But those "I know someone"'s usually help drive value into the service I provide. I just got a new customer up in MA as a referral who'd been through that. First it was her son's friend for things. Usually no improvement. Then it was the Sheep Squad. Their latest problem was many people were receiving emails with winmail.dat instead of the sig. Which is so simple to fix, send email as HTML. She said the tech messed around for over an hour then gave up and said they'd have to nuke and pave. That would also solve the slow machine thing as well. Didn't even look at Event Viewer which might have netted them a sale plus other stuff. Tons of drive failing errors.
 
I have a client that has started to just email me screenshots of error messages. No context, no greeting or request, just a blank email with a jpg attachment. I've tried to be nice and request more detail in a pleasant response, but this is growing thin rapidly and starting to raise my blood pressure.
 
It's hard to top this one, which literally was on my voicemail yesterday, "Quick question. How do you increase the volume on your computer? If you're listening to Facebook, and it's too low."

Yes, it's from a senior citizen, but there are some basics - real basics - that I'd think that anyone would know. Since it's a repeat customer, I e-mailed the detailed response that follows.

-----------------------------
If the person who created the content on Facebook (or anywhere, really) recorded it at a low volume you may not be able to hear it easily even if the volume is full up without headphones or ear buds.

Under Windows 10, at the lower right side of your screen is the system tray:

{Image of system tray with volume icon indicated and volume slider shown after clicking on it}

It should always have the volume control, which I've highlighted with the yellow square. If you click it, the slider that you see will pop up and you can grab the vertical handle and slide it to the right to raise the computer's volume, or to the left to lower it.

In addition, virtually any media player, and I'm using YouTube as my example since I don't use Facebook, will have a volume control shown somewhere along the bottom of the player window, like this one. The same principle applies, as with the computer itself. If you click on the speaker icon it will cause the slider to show, and you can slide it to the right to raise the volume or left to lower it.

{Image of controls at the bottom of any YouTube Video}

These two things work together, so if you were to have your computer's volume set very low, or muted, it will not matter how high you set the media player volume since the computer volume is low. But if both of the sliders are at their maximum position to the right, that's the maximum volume you're going to get.

There can be one more factor if you have an external speaker set on your desktop. These tend to have a volume knob, and if that's set low it can be a problem, too. So if you have external speakers I'd adjust their volume first, the player (Facebook) volume next, and computer volume last. If it's still too low after all of these are set at maximum then you'll need a headset or earbuds.

Remember that if you max out the computer volume or your external speaker volume for some low-volume Facebook media, you can get "blasted out" by the next bit of normal-volume media or computer system sound that's produced unless you adjust things back down to where you keep them normally.
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