The eternal hell of free tech support

[jes]

The eternal hell of free tech support

Let me describe a situation that many of the exceptional individuals who frequent this site are probably familiar with.

[teraside]

Here's my word of advice to the author and anyone living this article (based on years of experience).

Get a blacklist system for your phone, block unkown and private calls (they love switching to private to catch you when you're not expecting it).

If you have no obligation to use your personal phone for work, don't. You also have no obligation or responsibility towards anyone, no matter how hard the "problem" is. Your conscience and life is being manipulated to suit the needs of others, in laymens terms, you're a doormat.

No never works, ignore always does.

I do support for just over 100 folks daily, I don't do personal favours (don't ask me to fix your personal pc, the answer is no) and my cell phone number is mine, paid with my own hard earned cash, so I won't use it to fix their issues.

ciao

[dinkd]

this article is SO true!

for anyone that has to do tech support for family and friends.. one of the most invaluable pieces of software to use is teamviewer (www.teamviewer.com)... lets you take control of their desktop from your pc provided they have net access.... and its free for personal use lol

its saved me COUNTLESS drives across town...

[teraside]

Second point for reference:

Use the Meeting or Silent profile on your phone. If you have a family and need to know if your wife burst a tire, set up allow groups and only specify certain numbers to actually ring.

You are not dogs, so stop rolling over. An IT person is a rock star if something works. If something doesn't you are the evil spawn of all society, I'm over it.

[terencevs]

I love this, I am exactly the person described in the post!

Family always calling me for help!

[Jakes147]

+1 at home and at work, ITsupport takes too long so i'm asked first.

[ttygt]

"Hello IT, have you tried turning it off and on again........"

[DefecteD]

+1000 - i think alot of us are in the same boat!

[mister]

Fix the problem, and send a bill at weekend rates! Problem solved.

[erasma]

Love the fact you have references to God in your signature but don't want to help any of your family members out.

I wonder want Jesus would say

Here's my word of advice to the author and anyone living this article (based on years of experience).

Get a blacklist system for your phone, block unkown and private calls (they love switching to private to catch you when you're not expecting it).

If you have no obligation to use your personal phone for work, don't. You also have no obligation or responsibility towards anyone, no matter how hard the "problem" is. Your conscience and life is being manipulated to suit the needs of others, in laymens terms, you're a doormat.

No never works, ignore always does.

I do support for just over 100 folks daily, I don't do personal favours (don't ask me to fix your personal pc, the answer is no) and my cell phone number is mine, paid with my own hard earned cash, so I won't use it to fix their issues.

ciao

[homeboy]

"Hello IT, have you tried turning it off and on again........"

classic

[macboer]

I wonder if it is different with different OSes...

[Morph69]

give a man a fish & u feed him for a day, teach a man to fish & he can feed himself...
although some fishes end up eating their owners...
& some men cant even fish even after u having showed them so many times that even your neice of 5 can write an iso file after all the times youve shown your friend, but some people just arent technically minded & will still ask you to do it for them!!!

[dD3]

when they ask you for a favour.. just say..
"My price is R350 callout and R200 for every hour spent"

[Maximus]

I've been in the computer and IT industry since it became an industry in the 1980's. At some point in my life I got so sick of being the convenient IT support guy that I just became plain rude to people asking me to help them out. I make sure they know exactly how I feel about sorting out their printers and what not. Over the years I got less and less support requests, sure I have had to act like a douche-bag sometimes, but really, I have had my share of printer and PC hell and enough is enough. I'd recommend to the author that if he wishes to do lesser support, to make the people around him well aware of it.