Tech Support Employee Tells The Tale Of Miss Jones

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mattstaff
Jan 26, 2021 11:00 AM EST

We can all get so caught up in the ever consistent series of technological advancements that we forget just how much things have changed. Some folks simply don't want to adapt with the rapidly changing times. Take ol Miss Jones, for example. You've got to love the nerve on this one as well for taking that computer with her as she departed for greener pastures in early retirement land. Check out some more gold from the land of tech support with this company that insisted on a server not being fixed, and then the massive fallout that ensued. 

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  • 01
    Font - r/talesfromtechsupport u/Clickity_clickity · 4y · Now a published author... 1 The Tale of Miss Jones Long r/ALL The first time Miss Jones' system had a problem, she didn't think to call tech support. Miss Jones was a nice lady. She was sweet, armed with a pocket photo album of children and cats (which she constantly mixed up the names of) and with a cubicle so decorated as to give the impression that simply by passing by, one was suddenly suffering froma stroke taking the form of a halluc
    via u/Clickity_clickity
  • 02
    Font - The one weakness Miss Jones had was that she was, unfortunately, terribly stubborn. And so it was, the first time her system went down she didn't call us. She was in the middle of using the company's proprietary google-docs-like collaboration software when her system experienced some kind of issue and disconnected from the network. To most users this would be obvious, because the program would lock up and not allow further text added to the document. It was a simple fix of resetting somet
    via u/Clickity_clickity
  • 03
    Font - Miss Jones--who understood that computers were basically voodoo boxes powered by Jesus Christ and some kind of car battery hooked up to the Library of Congress via some kind of garden hose--assumed that when she typed on the keyboard and it didn't show up on the screen, the computer was just too slow and couldn't keep up with her. So she kept typing. "I understand, Miss Jones," I said over the phone politely after having listened to her gabble on for a few minutes about her newest grandch
    via u/Clickity_clickity
  • 04
    Font - "No, no," she replied cheerfully. "It happened this morning around nine. I thought it was just being...you know. Slow. So I didn't jump the gun and I kept typing for a bit. I'm not the kind of lady to jump the gun on these things, you know, so I waited until I was sure there was a problem before I thought to call you. Maybe you can make it...l don't know...catch up to me. It's so far behind now..." I looked at my clock. It was 4PM. She had been typing away into a nonresponsive document fo
    via u/Clickity_clickity
  • 05
    Font - I politely told Miss Jones that next time, it was perfectly okay for her to call me if it looked like the computer was going slow. And then I reset the program and set her on her way. $ The second time Miss Jones' system had a problem, she didn't think to call tech support. "Miss Jones," I said most politely, though on my end of the line I had facepalmed hard enough to bend my glasses, "I do so wish you had reached out to us on Tuesday when this happened. It's a simple fix, but that work
    via u/Clickity_clickity
  • 06
    Font - She seemed okay with this. "Well, dearie, I guess l'm just not cut out for these magic boxes, you know?" She laughed. I fixed her problem. She went about her merry way. "Miss Jones," I said pleadingly, wondering if a sacrifice to St. Isidore of Seville might be appropriate at this ungodly hour of 2am, when Miss Jones had called me up at home because after working late she realized that her system was being slow again. "I can help you, but why did you wait this long to-" "I didn't want to
    via u/Clickity_clickity
  • 07
    Font - She went silent while I worked and then, once I was finished, she spoke up again. "Maybe l'm just too old for these silly boxes." her voice was filled with such a heart-wrenchingly sweet and despondent tone that I just did not have the heart to be mad at this woman. "No," I insisted. "Let's just try to figure out a way to make this work." So the next day I coded a small monitor program and stuck it on her computer. Whenever the program disconnected, it would pop up a little box that said
    via u/Clickity_clickity
  • 08
    Font - A part of me felt a little broken at the news--not because of the hard work I put into keeping her up and running, but because despite being constantly aggravatingly naïve about computers there was something about the fact that she legitimately TRIED to make my job easier that struck me as so pure and rare. She wasn't making my job harder, per se, and the only person suffering from her lack of expediency in filing tickets was herself. So I went to her retirement party and said hello, and
    via u/Clickity_clickity
  • 09
    Font - Yes. She had taken her computer. The whole thing. and she had walked right out the door with it and no one had stopped her. So I had to go visit her at home to get it back. So I went to the address HR had on file for her, and discovered that there wasn't a building there, and hadn't been since the late 1970's. Apparently she had moved (hopefully) and never updated HR.
    via u/Clickity_clickity
  • 10
    Font - So now, somewhere out there today, there is a computer. It's probably sitting on top of a mantlepiece somewhere as a souvenir of the world we live in, how completely overrun with technology we have become to the point where those who don't adopt it are strange and outcast. And there's a lady, who is probably humming to herself and knitting, sitting nearby, living in her own old-fashioned world; she is a relic that becomes rarer and rarer in our society, and while the majority of those lik
    via u/Clickity_clickity
  • 11

    People really took a loving to this tale.

    Font - Mobiledobile • 4y Whenever the program disconnected, it would pop up a little box that said "This box stopped working by accident. Call Clickity_clickity straight away!" with a big smiley face. [...] She had taken her computer. I really really really wish your program could be triggered by something other than your company's software. The idea that she'd decide to turn the computer on one day, discover the error message you'd provided, and then like ... find your address, and send you a l
    via u/Clickity_clickity
  • 12
    Font - DangitImtired · 4y I'm surprised she didn't take her desk chair as well! I've actually seen that happen. Company I was at went through 4 rounds of layoffs before they got to me. Every time it happened, people put all their stuff on a chair and wheeled it out to their car. Then some of them put the chair in the car. And they were like Herman Miller kind of high priced chair! I wish l'd thought of it. Never knew about that until I got hit, and saw people doing that in the parking lot. Frien
    via u/Clickity_clickity
  • 13
    Font - soundstripe · 4y This reminds me of my user that almost exclusively logs in remotely (RDP). She always just waits for the problem to fix itself before calling me, wasting countless hours. Reboots her laptop. Switches to her desktop. Calls her ISP. Uses task manager to kill mstsc.exe... then finally she calls and I fix it immediately (b/c the problem is in her server session of course). Doesn't want to bother me. I'm not mean or anything. don't bite. Call your tech support, people! Vote ..
    via u/Clickity_clickity

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