So it was mentioned that I don’t do a lot of raging on here about crazy incidents with customers. I’ll give you a good one that’s been happening a lot lately:
Our university went with Windows Live Mail to outsource our student e-mail service last semester. Students were given until April 15th when the server went off-line to setup their new e-mail accounts and forward any old messages out, and notify other people of their address change.
A week or so ago, the Provost sent out an e-mail telling the students to setup their accounts or they would “be out of compliance.” This scared a lot of people into setting up their e-mail accounts. Some, however, could not follow the included directions, or could not be bothered to read them. So they’d call us. The call would go like this:
Caller: Um, hi. I need to setup my [University Student E-mail] account. It’s asking me for my current password, but I’ve never set a password!
Me: Yeah, no problem. The directions in your letter should’ve told you to use your current [Student Portal system] password as the default password.
At this point, it is important information to know that the setup screen asking you to change your password is within the Student Portal system, which they must first login to in order to see the setup screen.
Caller: Yeah, but, I don’t KNOW my [Student Portal system] password. Can you reset it?
Me: Well, I could, but can you see the setup screen?
Caller: Well, yeah, duh. It’s right in front of me asking me to change this password I don’t know.
Me: Where did you go to get into this screen?
Caller: I logged into [Student Portal system], then clicked on [University Student E-mail].
Me: And did you login using a password?
Caller: Yes – what are you getting at?
Me: If you can see the screen asking you for your current password, which is your [Student Portal system] password, then you must know your password or you wouldn’t be looking at it.
Caller: I see what you did there.
And this is just a small taste of the forehead-slapping fun that is tech support. Look forward to more of this in the future, as I have many stories to tell. I’ve even got a book that I started a while back, it’s about four chapters in currently, but I’ve neglected it for far too long. The Rage is back.