Ask HN: Dealing with people having “Computer Problem”? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Dealing with people having “Computer Problem”?

8 pointsscantis8 comments

Hi, I'm sadly somewhat responsible for IT related problems in a small part of our organization. Sometimes the staff calls me out of nowhere to solve some "Computer Problem". Everytime this happens I feel a chill in my bones and imagine serious horrors, since most of them are engineers, Linux freaks and scientists. I thought they operate beyond my abilities. So far I had, inability to change cartridge of a printer, inability to check box for duplex, montior not connected, inability to press a mouse button switching scrolling from flywheel to gear, somebody jamming USB type B into RJ 45 socket, inability to connect to NAS by forgetting use of VPN and using RDP on RDP on RDP and getting confused where the data is.

I should be thankful that I can solve these problems easily, but they don't like it. These people then try to appear smart by talking about something complex. Because I'm in problem solving mode I used to give it my 2 cents. They then quickly use sophisticated words and sometimes throw in abbreviations, which is an obvious sign somebody has no clue and wants to talk you down. When I use descriptive terms and fully speak out the abbreviations, it gets worse. They are quickly annoyed, even though I stopped what I was doing to help them. They need to appear smart, after those embarrassing moments, I get this. I stopped giving my 2 limited cents and just try to acknowledge them somehow, but it is difficult for me to sound sincere. I think it makes it worse. Should one only ask questions and try to flee the scene as fast as possible?

It is the most difficult part of the "Computer Problem" and I honestly suck at it.

I just want to be helpful. How do you manage this? What is a good strategy here?

Doing IT support in the average organization is more often than not a heavy burden on mental sanity. Your post is direct proof of it.

From your report it sounds like it's actually a side responsibility and not your main task. This is actually the first red flag: It opens you up to a lot of psychological abuse and gaslighting attempts from co-workers (as seen in your post) that will directly impact your performance on your non-support tasks.

I'll list some points that are a must in any sane IT support organization be it internal or as an external Managed Service Provider:

- You're working in a team of support people. You can discuss your current tasks with them. One of them can take over if you get sick.

- You're working with a ticketing system. No support is provided without opening a ticket. This is for documentation, time reporting, reporting abuse etc.

- You're having a boss that knows how IT support works.

If the above is not given it will take a toll on your health sooner or later.

I'm confused as to whose "inability" you are referring to. Yours or those who are coming to you with the problems.

Ok, so you quickly solved the problem. Just ask "Is there anything else I can help you with?", if there is then fix that too. Otherwise just move on.

I get the impression from your description that it is you "giving your 2 cents worth" that triggers the competitive behaviors. Would it be possible for you to just say "Glad I could help." and leave it at that? Perhaps some of the people you are helping with their problems are less competent than they claim to be and that is why they try to befuddle you by trying to appear smart.

Truly smart people don't act in a condescending manner. Only those who have something to hide put on "the act". That's my 2 cents worth :-)

Agree with this. I've been "there" many many times. My suggestion now for these cases is exactly that.

Fix the issue and do not engage with the person unless you really need to know more info on the "problem". Then just say "it's fixed: have a nice day".

Any other interactions and you will always lose. Most of these people have in their mind that you're just "the IT guy" that spends his days surfing the web/social media until they call you to fix their issues, which are "totally not something they've done and they have no idea how it happened!"

Also tempted to post so many clips from the "IT Crowd", but I'll just post this one: https://youtu.be/YDNmyyrEZho

Good luck

I enjoy how you couldn't get if I had these problems, that somehow normalizes it all. Thank you. I really try to not be condescending about it and to be a smart person. I will try the "Glad I could help".

Others made good points here too, really made me think. Thank you all.

A few observations from your initial description to maybe help you figure out how you want to handle this.

1. Most people calling the helpdesk are in a very specific state of mind: they have a problem and they want it solved. They're not curious about where the problem comes from, they don't want to know how to avoid it next time, they don't want to learn a better way to do things. They have an interrupt that prevents them from resuming the rest of their day, and they want that interrupt dealt with as quickly as possible. For people in this frame of mind, trying to be helpful usually backfires. You solved their problem, that's what they called for, they're not interested in getting educated. These people will always look for the fastest way to solve their problem and the one which requires the least amount of cognitive activity on their part. Anything that makes the conversation longer than it needs to be or requires them to engage more brain cells is a downside.

2. It seems like there's a status issue as well. You mention that these users "operate beyond [your] abilities" so maybe a bit of inferiority complex on your part? In which case explaining how you know better than them could be a way for you to even the score, so to speak. But then this triggers its own opposite reaction, "I have a PhD so of course I can figure out how computers work if I put my mind to it, stop talking down to me". To which you respond, effectively, "having a big brain and knowing how things work are 2 different things, you may be book smart but I am street smart" and it escalates.

My advice, insofar as it makes any sense, is to let go of all this social context when you're in helpdesk duty. Take the call with the objective to help a human being get on with the rest of their day with as little fuss as possible. Accept that some will be grateful and say thank you, and others will be douchebags, because that's how human beings work. Trust to karma to reward the good ones and punish the douchebags. Accept that you can't teach someone who doesn't want to learn. Don't bring your ego into it, because winning technical arguments with someone shouldn't be how you measure your self-worth.

Sounds to me like you intimidated by thier degrees and whatnot! I would say build up your confidence on your core work and focus on solving problem at hand!

A good way to do that is be open to them explaining stuff to you - they'll yap away while you halfway listen as you focus on your core task, don't try to be at thier level. Be a student.

Think of it this way a car mechanic probably knows way more, about engines for example,than a car designer.

https://youtu.be/XdHKrD93Vtg?t=78

'IT' as an abbreviation is far too generic. In a world of generalists, specialists are highly sought after and paid the most, so you may need to make a career move into something more specialized.

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