Web Browsing- Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows: Windows 7: Simple vs. Easy 5 January 2009A review of the upcoming (sometime) Windows 7 offers some interesting observations about the way we use computers. He discusses the difference between "simple" and "easy" technology while debunking the notion of "intuitive" programs. Regardless of what Microsoft does with its OS, this article encourages thought about the way tec […]
- Another side of President Bush 23 December 2008It's sometimes hard to cut through the clutter to see the kind of man President Bush is. Stories like this one from the Wall Street Journal are a helpful reminder that even if we may disagree with some of his decisions, attacking him as a man is uncalled for. Even though his version of "compassionate conservatism" has drawn the ire of some con […]
- Professors' Liberalism Contagious? Maybe Not - NYTimes.com 3 November 2008Do liberal faculty affect the political leanings of students? These people say no. But let's look a little deeper. One author says "it is really hard to change the mind of anyone over 15." Does this mean that the average American thinks about politics now the same way he did when he was 15? Yikes. It appears to imply that political opinions a […]
- Obama, Shaman by Michael Knox Beran, City Journal Summer 2008 3 November 2008Beran brilliant combines culture, religion, and literature into a powerful commentary on the religious aspects of Barack Obama's candidacy. The article is rich (and lengthy), but certainly worth digesting.
- Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows: Windows 7: Simple vs. Easy 5 January 2009
Sep
22
Making the Help Desk happy
Filed Under Random Thoughts
I had a funny experience today at work. I was trying to do some work in Excel but when I would copy or paste a cell, I would get an error saying “Unable to empty Clipboard” or something like that. Google revealed that others have had a similar problem, but none of the forums I read had any particularly good solutions. Everyone seemed to have different symptoms and different solutions/workarounds, but no one knew why it happened. In fact, one forum thread was open for over a year and without any solution (it was active for much of that time too).
One of the common symptoms, however, was the Remote Desktop Connection. Since my computer at work exists largely on the network, I figured that might have something to do with it. I finally emailed the Help Desk in Greensboro.
In my email, I included a verbatim description of the error message, a description of what I was trying to do when I got the error, a summary of my Google search results, and a 4-point list of the things I had tried to do (from clearing the clipboard in Excel to running the clipboard application from Start Menu > Run > clipbrd.exe).
About 30 minutes later (after I had gotten Excel to work again), I got a call from the Help Desk. This is the conversation:
“Hi, I’m from the Help Desk.”
“Hi, I’m glad to hear from you.”
“I’m having a hard time figuring out what the problem might be. Can I remote connect to your desktop?”
“Well, the problem seems to have fixed itself, so I’m not sure that would do any good.”
“Oh. Ok. Great…You know, dude, your email was awesome. Usually we get emails like ‘My Excel isn’t working.’ Yours was great.”
Moral: 90% of computer problems are between the keyboard and the chair. If you can quickly convince the Help Desk that your problem is in the 10%, and actually do about half their work for them, they’ll love you forever.
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2 Responses to “Making the Help Desk happy”
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As a former call center worker, I heartily agree. The caller who takes the time to figure out the details of his problem and to try to resolve it himself is enjoyable to help compared to the majority of the callers.
You’re fortunate that you have a help desk that was able to use the information you sent and could provide a personalized answer. Many of the ones I’ve had to deal with are required to stick to a script: they can’t say anything outside of a pre-determined range of answers, which can get maddening when trying to discuss a detailed problem.