There’s a little fact of life which I’ve only just learned now and that is ‘users are completely clueless and pretty much beyond any hope of redemption and there’s nothing I can do about it’. I’m just learning to accept it now. It’s taken this long to learn because I’ve always had a glimmer of hope that maybe thing’s would be different down the road with constant teaching, constant hand holding, constant patience but it was all for naught.
Why? Because users absolutely refuse to follow proper processes and procedures. Procedures that have been set in place for a reason (in concrete too I might add) to assist us in timely problem resolution and to keep thing’s orderly and scheduled and also so that my boss knows I have work to do! The problem is time and time again I find people want to bypass the system. Why has the IT department become the adult baby-sitters club? Why do you want us to hold your hands while you write up an email to IT Support?
I wrote about this issue back in March of this year. Here it is for you to take a look at. In that article I argued that as a result of geographical transparency roles and responsibilities of the IT department are skewed for users in the company, especially when the main IT department is based in another country. The only initial point of contact for users are the local IT Support staff in Calgary, these happen to be my co-worker and I. Read the article, you’ll see what I mean. It’s interesting.
Consider this seemingly all too real scenario:
User interrupts Jon helping another user: “Jon follow me to my PC, I want you to fix a problem!”
Jon helping another user: “Please send it into IT Support, I’m a little busy at the moment”
User: “I did”
Jon: “No ,you didn’t”
User: “I did!!!!”
Jon without being rude: “No .. you didn’t .. you sent it to ME, not to *****IT SUPPORT****, you know you need to send things into IT Support, especially of this nature!”.
It’s got to the point where if somebody sends a request directly to me I just ignore it because otherwise when will they learn? Sure, if it’s urgent I’ll fix it when I get a chance but I’m not making it my priority if you’re not willing to follow the rules.
People have been donkey trained for years now to send their computer related issues into IT Support (which is an email address front-end that distributes requests to an organized back-end) but what I’m finding is that they refuse to use the system. They feel their issues are infinitely more superior than the people that took the time to properly send us problem requests so that a ticket can be opened up and assigned in the correct manner. I get this continuously “Jon, have you got just 2 minutes to take a look at something?”, which then turns into a 30minute find and fix situation. Meanwhile the guy that followed the rules, that sent his request in the right way, is left waiting in the wings. Sound unfair to you? It sure as hell does to me.
We’ve paid our dues and drilled this into your heads for years now but you just don’t get it! Never have I seen such blatant and outright incompetence in my entire life! Time and time again I say to myself “Okay next time will be better, I’ll tell them just this once more, they’ll understand then.” But they never do. We send out emails reminding users of the process, I tell users in person what the process is, I even have a big notice on my door with the process written in black and white….and color. Out of pure frustration what more can I do without alienating myself frome the users?! Must I be abruptly rude to them so that they’ll learn? Do I have to take a hard stance against those users unwilling to learn? At what point does a human being realize that they should maybe start following the rules? What action needs to precursor that thought pattern in them?
PS, while I was writing this blog entry, I received 3 emails and 1 phone call from people not following the rules and the guy that I told to send his request into IT Support didn’t send anything in even after he said he would…..but instead he takes the time to phone me to find out why his problem hasn’t been fixed yet. *Bangs head against wall…repeatedly!”
Filed under: Adventures @ Work | Tagged: Clueless, IT Department, IT Support, RTFM, Simpsons Reference, Unleash the Hounds
You forgot to mention that for Joe Blow in the purchasing, if he can’t issue a PO for engine grease today by 3 (with the current time of 2:55) they will lose a sale, the guy will be fired and the company will go bankrupt. We all know the truth that they should have made the order 6 weeks ago, so it would actulally be available to the shop instead of waiting until someone walked into his office asking where that grease is that he requested back in May. These are probably the same people who pay $45 for a plasic cover to try to obscure their license plate from photo radar, only to get a $200 fine for obscuring their license plate (even though every speed camera ever made can still read the plate clearly).
I have contemplated getting the tattoo “Since when does poor planning on your part constitute an emergency for me?”.
I probably see at least one request per week that involves someone simply panicking when an error pops up, so they email me, their boss, my boss, the CFO, and occasionally the pope, saying that their entire production is being held up because they can’t post. Of course, there is no mention of what database they are in, what the item/document number is, or any sign of the exact error (screen shots people, SCREEN SHOTS!!!). If I happen to be off testing a new server or on the phone debugging some godawful 3rd party, or amateur-developed software, I may not see my email for an hour or two. When their 3rd “Have you fixed it yet?” hits my email (now with Bill Gates and the surgeon general CC’d) I happen to pop back into outlook and see that they’re having an apparently undescribable problem. If they haven’t sent it also to IT Support, I can very easily lose track of said email until I’m in a more generous mood. Of course, if they had sent it in through the proper channels, someone would have probably replied, asking for a bit more information, preferably in picture form. Once they decipher how to use the Print Screen button and send it in, and the error message says something like ‘Fiscal Period Closed’ or ‘You cannot order discontinued items’, it takes a grand total of 5 seconds to reply that they should learn to read english and talk to the people who are in charge of fiscal periods or our inventory, or check that they actually should be doing what they are trying. If I got paid by the blonde moment I had to deal with, I would drive a much nicer car.
I am so stealing this quote!! – “If I got paid by the blonde moments I had to deal with, I would drive a much nicer car.”
I had a HR manager level person actually call me into her office to scream at me. Why? Because she wanted rights granted to a user and wanted it right now. RIGHT NOW. She then went on for 10 minutes yelling at me why IT makes her wait. She is far to important to wait.
I asked her what did she want (specifically) the user to access. Her response the same thing I always ask for. Which is what? I shouldn’t have to keep telling you people why can’t you remember. I don’t have the time to do your job and mine. Reality. She had no idea.
She then went on and on and on about the user form. I tried to explain to her that it is her responsibility to identify exactly what she wanted. She shrieked at me why you did it once I shouldn’t have to keep telling you. I’m going straight to the CEO.
This person has the common sense of a flea and absolutely no manners. Why is she in that position? Beats me because the answer to any question asked of her is simple….I dunno ask x or y.
The very sad part. The company enables such people and never. Never ever holds anyone accountable for their actions. What I can’t understand is how this place makes any money?
Could I go to anyone about this? Yes but what’s the use? A company with no standards and managers who say when asked. Oh that’s just her …
Change unlikely time to sharpen the resume.