*sigh* I feel used...

[greenfreak]

I'm second level support at work. I don't answer the Help Desk phone calls but when they need help and can't figure something out, the calls come to me. Along with my PC repair responsibilities and 'special projects', it keeps me busy so getting direct phone calls constantly would be bad.

I just got one from the co-worker that I went out to dinner with the week before last. While having our dinner, I actually mentioned that to her because there were a few people who got my direct line and abused it so I had to have it changed. She swore that she never does that. But here she is, calling me to ask me about an error message that she's getting on her computer.

I don't know, maybe I'm just being a little picky... But does one dinner constitue direct second level computer service whenever she wants? There are other managers I do this for but they don't abuse it and understand that I might not always be available. In those cases (or other smaller problems) they will call the Help Desk first.

Rusty thinks that since she's giving me these free magazines that this time I should just call and help her but if she starts calling more frequently, that I should mention something.

What do you think?

 

[PT]

I'm with Rusty, you've got to scratch back right now, but in the future, especially if it's something simple, refer her to the help desk. You could give her some bs about tracking and forms if that would help.

 

[HomeLAN]

Let her get one freebie. If it continues, something needs to be said.

 

[dan]

i was in that sort of situation a couple of jobs ago, i started off as Helpdesk Boy, but after a while ended up on third line support.

the people who'd been at the company for ages and knew me pretty well were all in the habit of calling me directly and asking for stuff, and to be honest it irked me somewhat. the new people called the helpdesk like nice users... but the old timers wanted straight in.

i got round it eventually by just telling everyone that they should go straight to the helpdesk and that i'd been told i wasn't allowed to talk to anyone about stuff unless it came through the helpdesk. it was a bit of a grey kinda lie, because i /could/ have talked to them if i wanted to... but explaining it as a management thing that i had no control over seemed to do the trick

 

[Squiggy]

I think you should tell her to call me....please....

 

[greenfreak]

That one phone call turned into four. She was getting a STOP error about a virus.

The sysadmin of the site started a virus scan on her computer but neglected to take it off the network or check to see that she had the most updated definitions prior to doing the scan. Hello! Use your head. Then she stopped the scan so she could send out a few emails.

She's not calling just me, she's calling me and the sysadmin. So then she has two people working on it but doesn't tell the other one.

I decided not to say anything cus I'm in a bad mood today anyway. Next time, though, !

 

[catocom]

auph,
it's almost 7:00, time to fry another harddrive.

I luv that commercial.

 

[greenfreak]

I had a bad day besides that... that just started it all off.

*just* before I leave, I decide to hit the ladies room. Mistake. I got this woman in there and as I'm walking into the stall, she says, "Oh! I'm glad I caught you, I need to ask you about a problem I'm having with my computer at home." After the day I had, I said, "Actually, I'm going to pee now." and she said, "That's ok, I'll just tell you what's happening." and I said, "I would appreciate it if I could urinate without carrying on a conversation, do you mind?" and she laughed so I said, "After I pee, I'm going home because it's 5:30. If it has to do with work, please call the Help Desk tomorrow, ok?" then I shut the door to the stall and she walked out without another word.

She had it coming, she really did. She's done this at least 4 previous times. She just got my overall angst for the day, and I got to drive home calm because I finally told her that.

 

[Squiggy]

Did it feel good to pee at least?

 

[Professur]

When I was subbing at a customers helpdesk running the second level support, they had the phones set up that my line was not accessible except by transfer from the first level helpdesk. I could call out, but only the helpdesk could call in.

Bloody great setup.

 

[greenfreak]

Sorry I didn't specifically reply to your posts yesterday guys, I was feeling very "ME" yesterday. Forgive me?

Nambit, that's a good idea and something I use sometimes but everyone knows my manager (if you can call him that) doesn't really care... When I say that to them, they usually laugh. I know they don't care about me, they only want fast support so my usual is, "I'm not always available, I could be gone for days and you would be waiting for me to call you back when you could have had the problem resolved by the Help Desk already." That used to be true because I traveled to different sites and would be out of the office but that's not happening anymore. (but they don't know that)

I am curious about 'third line support' though. The way it works here, 1st is Help Desk and they assign it to me if it's something hardware/software related and assign it to our Networking department if it has to do with any network problems. If I can't figure something out, I don't really have a third tier to go to. It gives me the incentive to get it resolved! Although there's one guy in Networking who is our guru who I go to with questions on occasion. But the buck pretty much stops with me.

What's was an example of your second tier and third tier responsibilities?

And Squiggy, yes, it definitely felt good!! I had waited too long in the first place and I wouldn't have made the 45 minute ride home without going first.

 

[greenfreak]

LOL

I got an email while I was posting my last reply from a new salesmen that I had helped out with his laptop last week. Here's what it says:

Trish:

Mark, an oil sales rep in my district, has been unable to access his email and the Energy system. He was told his passwords are not valid and therefor has been completely out of touch unless people send things to his home email address. He has been unable to get this cleared up at the Branch level for some time now.

I told him you were the Queen of IT and would be able to fix it in a heartbeat. Could you help us out?

Thank you,

Joe

PS - At least it was not a problem with my laptop this time.

PSS - I got my new battery and will return my old one, thank you!

Never fails!!

 

[dan]

the first/second/third line thing...

the first line were the ones who didn't nessasarily know much, answered phones, reset passwords, did what they could.

second was when the problem was more serious, might involve a visit to a desk or bringing the box in for something. they got most stuff fixed.

third were the guys who'd been there and done support for years... we didn't do it on a day-to-day basis, just played the "guru" role that your chap does. we were more the tech policy guys and sysadmin types... the SAS support dudes, who'd swoop into the workshop at night after everyone else had gone home and fix the shit that nobody else could work out.

i imagine the lines get blurred depending on how many staff there are and how many users. our place was fairly large, and that's just how the boundaries fell.

 

[greenfreak]

Ah, I see what you're saying. Our Help Desk gets a little bit more involved than that... there's things they can do that might resolve a call on first contact. Well, that's depending on who you get and if they feel like working that day.

 

[Professur]

1st level: Fixable by phone or remote access
2nd level: Needs on site visit.
3rd level: Give him a spare machine, this is gonna take a while.

 

[greenfreak]

*bump*

Received a message from her yesterday... "How are you?! We haven't talked in a while, call me so we can chat." (I didn't have the chance to call her yesterday)

Received a message from her today... "Hi! Hope your plants are doing well. When you have a minute, can you call me? I need to ask a favor about a memory expansion."



So, now what? Call her and tell her directly to go to her site admin? Call the admin and tell him to go see her? Just ignore her requests as punishment?

I haven't talked to her since my last post about this, that was over a month ago so it's not like our friendship is all that good at this point. I'm leaning towards treating her like a regular user from this point on, calling her and telling her that she needs to go through her site admin. What do you think?

I'm starting to remember how hard it is to be friends with people you work with.

 

[HomeLAN]

Invite her to lunch, and suggest that she take her computer problem through proper channels. Sends the message that you still want to be friends, but that you're not there to be her personal tech.

 

[Luis G]

I assume you don't like her so much to keep the "friendship", just tell her that you are very bussy doint that and you will redirect her call to the appropiate guy

 

[kuulani]

I'm starting to remember how hard it is to be friends with people you work with.

Try being related to more than half of them!! (nalani knows what I'm talking about).

 

[Luis G]

the title of this thread reminded me when you said you'd like to be abused, well, you weren't abused, just "used"