TimWoolery.net Documenting the Journey and the Learning Curve

#02 – Why I Don’t Call Tech Support

There?s nothing more frustrating than a tool that doesn?t work. Especially a tool that has been advertised to save labor, improve your standard of living, teach you and entertain you. It?s not a television set, it?s not a phone, it?s all that and more, it?s the home personal computer. Millions of dollars have been spent on ads that convince you that all you need to do is buy it, bring it home and instantly, your life is better. But what?s this? Cables to connect! Software that seems complex! What does this button do?? Uh oh! I better call someone who knows what?s going on. Thus, phone support was born. It was an unheard of business before the PC and now it?s one of the biggest arms of any major computer corporation. But why aren?t the users more satisfied? Why are Dell and Compaq machines so crappy? Is the company? Or is it the user?

I've been doing desktop support in various forms for six years now. For the last year, I've been helping fellow employees in remote offices with e-mail and phone support. Out of this job has come several observations, one of them being that the average first-time PC buyer has little or no idea why he needs a computer or even how to use one. There are thousands of people employed in tech support with the impossible task of troubleshooting complex equipment using tools (the person on the other end of the line) that may work with you, or against you or try to fool you at the same time. T/S reps are expected to be technicians, psychologists and company spokespersons all at the same time. I explain it this way to my non-technical friends: imagine trying to explain to someone who has never seen an oven or a mixing bowl, how to bake an apple pie. Or try to explain to someone who has never driven a car and never popped the hood, how to change the spark plugs. It's a frustrating task, sometimes wears us down to tears. 1st-level tech support is by nature a hazardous environment and, for the caller, not necessarily the best place because any t/s rep who knows what they're talking about, knows how to fix the problem and has been in that job long enough to be effective is now so burned out they've quit and taken their experience elsewhere, leaving the new meat to man the phones. Phone support is a meat-grinder for technicians. Last week I had to explain to someone what a back-slash is. And a colon. How am I supposed to compete with that? The real answer is, I can?t. It?s like explaining colors to a blind man.

Does that mean the computer companies are not at fault? Hardly. For the purposes of discussion, let?s talk about Dell, since I do a lot of business with them. I'm not letting Dell off the hook by any means. I?ve had units fail right out of the box. 24-hour turnaround time? Don?t make me laugh. I?ve also spent hours with ?techncians? on the phone who insist I go through the diagnostic process before agreeing to send me the parts I asked for in the first place. Sometimes I have to get on the phone and bully, beg and yell until I get the parts and service reps I need. A dissatisfied customer who has purchased a Dell desktop machine may spend hours fixing small issues and dealing with unexpected problems. He could have saved himself a lot of time by getting a supervisor on the phone and laying down the law. Allowing yourself to be led around by a "technician" who may or may not have been flipping burgers last week is not the answer to your question.

As with any other complex tool (let's not kid ourselves - the computer is a tool) you must learn how to use it if you plan to use it effectively. There are some people for whom allowances can be made. I worked in the IT department of a 150 person architect firm in Redwood City. One of our worst users, most afraid of his computer, had a meeting with the building contractors. I had reason to sit in on it, usually I'm not involved except they wanted to make sure the projector worked. Long story short, I sat there for twenty minutes and watched the man do what he did best, and that changed my whole perception of IT. He doesn't work with computers well, but that's not what he does, he builds buildings and makes sure that the details get nailed down. And that, he does extremely well, and for that, he has my respect. In fact, all users of machines who use them as one-offs (people who don't use computers as a central part of their work experience) I respect because they may not know my job, but they know how to do something I don't and they deserve respect for that.

The flip side are those people who do use computers as a central part of their work. Since computers are the newest and (apparently) most important tool in the office, it's time for people to stop being afraid and start learning how to use them. If they're that essential, then it should be your responsiblity to learn, not to whine at tech support. I'm more patient with people who by definition don't use their computers as an essential tool of their business (architects, lawyers, doctors...dare I say journalists?) But since I work in a company that sells storage systems for large computer networks, it should be understood that the computer is an essential part of business and learning how to use it to do your job should be a priority. It's a necessary part of their job. That's important, so let me say it again: Learning and understanding computers is a necessary part of their job. You wouldn't hire a carpenter who couldn't use a circular saw. If I was involved in a business earning 80K and up and lack of understanding is preventing me from doing my job, it's not someone else's job to make it easier, it's my job to learn and know.

If your intention is to own, operate and use a personal computer, there are a few things you need to be prepared for. You must be prepared for some difficulty because technology is not perfect and you must forgive Dell for having a massive phone tree because no business set up to handle that many models of product has the headcount to man the phones and route the calls. Try calling Boeing, Ford or General Motors sometime. I think it was best put years ago in 1996, when AOL went down for about half the day. While the country was in uproar, a manager from a business whose name escapes me said this, "Hello gang, welcome to technology. It's not perfect, so get over it."

-Tim Woolery, 2001