Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Afternoon Snark
There are things about technology that frustrate us all. The thing is, most people don't ever experience the most frustrating thing of all: other users' problems. As the vast majority of my job is now acting as tech support for our web site, I get to see this in all of its glory.
My personal favorite, of course, is Mr. Groundhog Day. This client calls me, reliably, every 4-5 weeks, claiming that he has never received his password. I have nearly two years of assistance tickets documenting that he has, repeatedly and consistently, received his password, logged in once or twice, and forgotten that any of it ever happened. MGD is also famous for falling asleep and snoring (loudly) at meetings.
There's also Ms. Subject Line, who only reads that part of emails. She has yet, as far as I know, to discover that the Outlook's preview pane is only that. I try to deal with her on the phone.
Today, I got an email from a new client, and while not as dramatic or annoying as MGD or MSL, it combined with my recent abandonment of the caffeine holiday to make me laugh out loud. This character is a librarian, and a fairly accomplished one at that. Yes, I too was shocked to learn that there was a pecking order among librarians. Anyways, IL sent me an email today which contained 27 words, four of which were fabulously misspelled. "bag," "tanning," "hasp," and "kilts."
I know that IL uses Outlook, and I know that Outlook has splices. Thus, IL stands for Illiterate Librarian, who demonstrates the value of a PhD.
My personal favorite, of course, is Mr. Groundhog Day. This client calls me, reliably, every 4-5 weeks, claiming that he has never received his password. I have nearly two years of assistance tickets documenting that he has, repeatedly and consistently, received his password, logged in once or twice, and forgotten that any of it ever happened. MGD is also famous for falling asleep and snoring (loudly) at meetings.
There's also Ms. Subject Line, who only reads that part of emails. She has yet, as far as I know, to discover that the Outlook's preview pane is only that. I try to deal with her on the phone.
Today, I got an email from a new client, and while not as dramatic or annoying as MGD or MSL, it combined with my recent abandonment of the caffeine holiday to make me laugh out loud. This character is a librarian, and a fairly accomplished one at that. Yes, I too was shocked to learn that there was a pecking order among librarians. Anyways, IL sent me an email today which contained 27 words, four of which were fabulously misspelled. "bag," "tanning," "hasp," and "kilts."
I know that IL uses Outlook, and I know that Outlook has splices. Thus, IL stands for Illiterate Librarian, who demonstrates the value of a PhD.
