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On Tue, 02 Feb 2010 23:10:53 -0300, Nicolas Alvarez wrote:
> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> I love working at home for this reason - far fewer distractions.
>
> I don't have a job, but I can tell you that for me, "working"* from home
> doesn't mean less distractions. My mom has the radio on all day, my dad
> sometimes works from home (<5 meters away from me) and talks loudly on
> the phone.
Yeah, it's definitely not for everyone - if I had small children around
the house, it wouldn't work for me either. It does help, though, that I
have noise-canceling headphones that I can put on when things are a bit
busier than usual. Just put some tunes on and dive in. I sometimes lose
track of time, though, when I do that.
Jim
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On Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:11:32 -0800, DungBeatle wrote:
> "Jim Henderson" <nos### [at] nospam com> wrote in message
> news:4b68b0dd$1@news.povray.org...
>> On Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:36:15 -0800, DungBeatle wrote:
>>
>> > He hasn't spoken to me in over a year now.
>>
>> That must make the job - and performance reviews -
> interesting (to say
>> the least).--Jim
>
> Very, no reviews for two years now and I don't expect one this year. It
> doesn't really matter, I don't respect his opinion anyway... :)
Oh, I've had bosses like that as well, but it's always useful to at least
pretend when bonuses or pay raises are involved. :-)
Jim
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On Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:17:36 -0800, DungBeatle wrote:
> "Jim Henderson" <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote in message
> news:4b68b240$1@news.povray.org...
>> I convinced him to tell me anyways, and promised not to
> tell anyone from
>> the organization who asked how I got help. But it was one
> of the
>> stranger support conversations I've ever had.--Jim
>
> That was pretty cool of him. The last time I called my ISP for support I
> finally said that the fix for my problem will take the right person less
> than one minute to correct it, find that person. Until then, I would not
> shotgun any changes... The right guy called me back the next day, 30
> seconds... Bingo!
Yeah, another reason why I stick with my ISP; I could do faster with
cable, but the service terms for Comcast are not really to my benefit; my
ISP basically agreed that their TOS were "we lease you a pipe; what you
do with it is your business as long as it isn't illegal or disrupting
other customers".
One of the *best* companies I've ever worked with for support is
Bindview. I could pick up the phone and be talking to a breathing person
within 5 minutes. What's more, the person had deep knowledge of the
product, could understand what I wanted no matter how complex my request
was, and if s/he didn't know the answer, they'd call back within 30
minutes with an answer from the developer. Every single time, without
fail.
And if the need I had wasn't in the product, there was a better than 50%
chance that it was entered in as an enhancement request for the next
product release - which we would get at no charge, and probably would be
within the next 6 months at the most.
Pricey product, but it paid for itself in 6 months.....
Jim
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On Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:07:08 -0500, Warp wrote:
> Kevin Wampler <wam### [at] uwashingtonedu> wrote:
>> In addition, some places explicitly forbid the support people from
>> exercising much creativity in their answers, but instead force them to
>> select from a bank of pre-designed template answers. So it might even
>> be the case that the person knows what you're asking and wants to help,
>> but couldn't because they didn't have the authority to answer it
>> properly.
>
> Why would they do that? Who does it benefit? Why would a company
> actively *forbid* a tech support person from giving an answer he knows
> fits the question best and instead *force* him to give an irrelevant
> answer? What for?
Because some companies are afraid of being sued if one of these
"creative" problems causes a catastrophic failure of some sort. It's all
about liability and fear.
Jim
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On Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:33:03 -0800, Darren New wrote:
> "That has nothing to do with it if your server is down. Can *you* get to
> the server?"
>
> "No, but that might be due to any number of r easons."
>
> D'oh!
It's amazing what happens with support like this, isn't it?
Jim
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>> Sounds like you got a good deal out of it!
>
> I don't like problems like this. I much prefer easy, open
> discussion.
Well, yes, that's far better...
> I love doing my job, it's people that suck...
Heh, I'm sure a lot of people have that problem.
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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>> Actually, wait - any half-decent manager should still be able to spot
>> this one. OK, you win the point.
>
> Well, not really; the boss I had who got sacked (who I mentioned earlier
> today) was hired by the guy who hired me. Randall (not his real name -
> but I need to call the boss who was fired something) was quite the
> salesman; he could've sold snowballs to eskimos.
Most of the managers my company employs are excellent at selling
themselves. Which is just as well, because they suck at everything else!
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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On Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:33:09 +0000, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>>> Actually, wait - any half-decent manager should still be able to spot
>>> this one. OK, you win the point.
>>
>> Well, not really; the boss I had who got sacked (who I mentioned
>> earlier today) was hired by the guy who hired me. Randall (not his
>> real name - but I need to call the boss who was fired something) was
>> quite the salesman; he could've sold snowballs to eskimos.
>
> Most of the managers my company employs are excellent at selling
> themselves. Which is just as well, because they suck at everything else!
LOL, everyone's gotta have at least one thing they're good at. :-)
Jim
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>> Most of the managers my company employs are excellent at selling
>> themselves. Which is just as well, because they suck at everything else!
>
> LOL, everyone's gotta have at least one thing they're good at. :-)
So what am *I* good at?
Oh yeah: worrying. :-/
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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On Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:53:57 +0000, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> So what am *I* good at?
Lots of stuff, see all the previous threads where we've told you. :-)
> Oh yeah: worrying. :-/
Well, that's a skill, too - but one that you shouldn't focus a lot of
time on developing further. ;-)
Jim
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