Access Denied!

I had a dear family member call me yesterday to seek help with some computer related issues. After about an hour of trying to help walk them through getting their new router connected, I suggested they contact their ISP to see if there was something on that end causing an issue. I got a call back a bit later saying that they managed to get it worked out and that it was some confusion over which device was which and thus was a simple cabling issue.

This family member felt bad I think.. so I thought I would share what I deal with on a daily basis to put it in perspective.

There is an individual who works as a PC Tech.. who told a user who was having printing problems to "Just reboot it a few times.. sometimes printing problems can take up to 7 reboots to fix". Which for you non technical people is completely made up out of thin air. If one reboot doesn't do it.. another 6 isn't going to magically resolve it. That PC tech spent two days working on the printing issue before that facility called over here looking for further assistance. As I was headed over there for a different issue, I said I would take a look. After about 15 seconds of investigation I was able to determine the cause of the problem. The print server for that printer was unplugged. No power. But hey.. maybe another 10 or 12 reboots of the computer would have made the power cord jump back in. You never know.

Then on Wed. I had a user call me and say this.. word for word.. no joke: "I need you to change my password for me and then set it to not change ever. New passwords are just too hard for me and I lose them when I write them down." This is an adult. Who gets paid a good salary to work here. Who can't handle changing her password once every 90 days. It only has to be 6 characters and you get to pick. I'm sorry, but if you can't come up with a password that you can remember.. then obviously you need to not work in a position that involves computer network access and go back to being a greeter at Walmart.

So to my dear family member....worry not. It's still much easier to help you than a good portion of the people I have to deal with at work.

Happy Halmark-ChocolateCandyCompany-JewelryStore-FlowerShop holiday all :P May your day be full of cliche and over priced meals and gifts! Or something like that.