Weeell...I suppose the Highlands are the most rugged and bits of Wales or the Peak District, but you're never that far from a pub.
@Lancie - did you get your chair back after that? @thirdwind - reminds me of the time when my husband got a call (he worked in helpdesk) where this woman said, "Your aunt just died!" And then proceeded to laugh at her own joke. My husband calmly explained to her that no, unfortunately this was the internet provider, not the radio station she wanted to broadcast her April's Fool joke on. How she got through all the robots filtering calls and still not realise she had the wrong number, I do not know. Anyway, here's a vid just for you
I’ve been a technical support representative for a few different companies over the past 6 years and as of right now I work as a tech rep for Apple. I’ve got plenty of horror stories as a tech rep, and even though I’ve been working for Apple for less than a year, I’ve already noticed that people’s disregard for their own ‘important data’ is incredible. If it’s so important, wouldn’t it behoove you to understand how to protect your digital pictures, conversations, contacts etc. Apple offers many services to back up and move the data between computers, other devices, and onto apple servers.(iCloud) Still, the amount of people who end up in tears while I’m speaking with them because they’ve lost 5 years of their children’s pictures and videos is way too common. I mean it is very regrettable, I do not want to cheapen their pain, but at the same time I don’t understand why I have to be the one who is responsible for it.(at least according to them) I do everything I can every time to try and help them recover their data, and most of the time, the services we offer are so seamless, they didn’t even know their precious data was being backed up all that time they were using their iPhone, iPod, iPad, etc. Specifically what comes to mind is this woman who called in to try and back up her data to restore her phone which was having a lot of problems, to say the least. Too make a long story short, we could not back up her pictures to either a computer or onto the internet. Her phone was on really old software that made it very, very glitchy. She hadn’t updated it because she was too scared of losing her data. Just like she was too scared to even reset her phone for the same fear. I needed to reset the settings on her phone to get the computer to recognize her phone so she could back up her pictures and videos. It was a bit of a long-shot but at this point we didn’t have much of a choice if she wanted any chance of saving her prized collection in a convenient manner. (It was either that or emailing each individual picture and video to herself.) I spent twenty-minutes on the phone trying to convince her that resetting all settings on her phone would not erase any of her data. At the point where I was beginning to convince her she started to panic. I should have realized that a panicking customer can’t follow instructions very well, no matter how clear you are. I should point out that this individual put an additional value to these pictures because she was going through a custody battle after a divorce. And these pictures were supposed to be important evidence to show the judge how much she cares for her children. So for one last chance to make her life easier I tried to walk her through resetting the settings. To convince her I even said, “If I was erasing your data so carelessly, I don’t think I’d be very good at my job. I doubt I’d even be deserving of the position in that case. Trust me here, this is one of the last things we can try to back up your data all at once.” Very clearly I said, do not pick ‘erase all content and settings’ which is right under ‘reset all settings’ then we would be okay. But alas she picked the wrong one.(what a self-defeating emotion fear is) It does ask you to verify, either way, and I said, make sure that it says, ‘reset all settings.’ I don’t know what she saw, maybe she read the words, reset, all, and settings, but not in that order and not without the addition of ‘erase’ and ‘content.’ When the phone started resetting I noticed right away that she had picked the wrong from what she described the phone to be doing. I didn’t know what to say, I pretty much had already said my job shouldn’t be mine if I erased her data and now it seemed like that is exactly what I had done. How was I going to convince her that in her confused state of panic she must have selected the wrong option? There was nothing that could be done at that point, her data was gone, and gone for good. I could only apologize and say that the ‘options she picked’ should not have erased her content. And of course I have to hear her go through the spiel of trusting techies too much. Saying she should never have called, never have listened, all while in a crying rage of depression and disgust which I was getting the brunt of. I was now to blame for her potentially losing the custody battle. For now not having those precious memories on record. For everything wrong in her life basically. She never stopped crying up until the end of a phone call that lasted almost 2 hours. and in that time the only thing I seemingly accomplished was destroying her life. Great, just great.
@Megalith, that is one hell of a story. Sorry you had to go through that. I'm also sorry for her, that she made such a mistake in her panic and confusion.
Only when you get towards the highlands of Scotland. It does have some areas full of inbreds though; the North Norfolk fens and the West Country.
Oh man, another thing (well, two actually) that people do in retail that pisses me off - where I work, our dressing rooms are ones that automatically lock when you shut them, so they can only be opened from the inside. You need a key to get in from the outside, which the fitting room attendant usually has, and they're standing directly in front of the doors for most of their shift, or at least always hovering within seeing distance of the fitting rooms so they can flit back and open doors when people ask. There are people who will go up to the doors - oftentimes bypassing the attendant, who is in a work uniform and obviously right there - and try the handle and find out it's locked. Okay, maybe a little bit of a whoopsie, but not an annoyance... until they go down the entire row of fitting room doors and keep trying the same thing. If one door isn't opening, how do you not automatically assume it's similar to nearly every other fitting room in nearly every other store and that you need to ask for a key? Either that or people will come up to the room, a bunch of clothes in their arms, stand in front of the fitting rooms... and wait. Not say a damn word, not ask for a room like the polite, active thing to do, but passively stand there and wait. Ugh.
Yeah, reminds you that not all bad customer experiences are somebodies fault. I used to work for DirecTV and man, you would be surprised by the strength of the anger and resentment people show you when they can't watch their favorite team's football game and you can't fix it until sometime next week. With over 5 million customers it was a pretty much an inevitability that--that scenario come through to your line, given enough time on the job.
Maybe I am going crazy, but in this circumstance I would (as other customers seem to) 1) assume that the first fitting room I tried is occupied so try others, then 2) assume that all the fitting rooms are occupied so wait for one to come free. I would not assume that vacant fitting rooms are locked as this is counter-intuitive. I also find it incredibly irritating when I have to ask to use fitting rooms, or have my items counted, or go through any other ritual which presupposes that I am a criminal. So I wouldn't expect to have a conversation with the changing room attendant. But like I say, maybe I am going crazy.
@Megalith - oh my word. I groaned out loud and when I read the story out to my husband, he laughed like mad at your final line of "the only thing I seemed to have accomplished was destroy her life" lol. He used to work at helpdesk, like I mentioned elsewhere on the thread, so I asked him what he would have done. He said, "I would have asked her to come in in person, because there's no way someone under that sort of stress would have been able to follow instructions." Perhaps you could do that next time? Either way, so sorry to hear your story!
I'm with Chirspsinner here. Why on earth would you have to assume the fitting rooms are locked? You only lock them when somebody's actually inside. But then again, I checked your location and it seems you're in the US - perhaps that's the norm there and indeed, if it were regular Americans doing what you described, who should obviously know what the norm is, then yes, it's irritating. But no, I've never heard of fitting rooms that automatically locked on closing. They don't exist in the UK, or the Czech Republic, or Hong Kong. And the purpose of the attendant is to show you which room is free - or in the UK, they give you a card with a number on it, indicating how many items you took in to keep track of them, basically. So waiting for an attendant before walking into a room is perfectly reasonable, actually. However, if an attendant was there, they automatically give you the numbered card anyway so you needn't wait. And if there's no attendant and clearly rooms free (indicated by the fact that the doors are opened - or I check the gap between the bottom of the door and floor for any sign of someone's legs lol), then I just walk through. Anyway, thank you for the info. If ever I shop in America, I shall know to ask the attendant for a key
Settle down kids, I got some stories. I used to work in a cafe, one situated on a train station so I have seen all manner of total assholes. The phone at the till one would drive me insane, the £20 for an item costing under a pound. The asking for a coffee and not stating if it was black, white, latte etc as if I am some sort of mind reader. The indecisive people who never know what they want, and always choose to be as such once there is a massive 15 person queue. The ones who keep adding things to their order. The ones who want to remove something from their order after you have already put it in on the till. I had a couple of horrible incidences: The first one was involving a man in a fancy suit. I had, had an insanely busy afternoon. I had barely any change. It was 10 to closing and this man comes in wanting an item that cost 59p whilst giving me a £20 note. I told him I had no change but would let him stay in the cafe whilst I locked up and got some change from the train ticket office. He went beserk, did not believe I had no change and kept trying to come behind the counter to check the till. Eventually he called me a stupid c*** and threw the packet of sweets at my face. At this point two women who had witnessed the whole thing ushered him out the shop in disgust. I locked the doors and we all waited until he was gone. He kept bashing on the windows and shouting threats the whole time for about 10 mins (funny considering he said he had to get his train in less than a minute). The second incident was involving three large men who threatened to rape me. They had been having some banter with me, had a little drink and the conversation took a super dark turn. Two of them went to the counter entrance and I slammed it shut. They laughed and said that if they wanted to, that little door would not stop them. Luckily a platform staff member came in and told them their train was there. That was pretty scary, only time I have ever really felt threatened.
Nearly every single store I've ever been to has the system of asking for a room - yes, that is indeed the norm in the US - and the doors to every fitting room are always closed. What you find "incredibly irritating" is pretty common retail policy that helps the attendants keep track of merchandise, and it takes a paltry five seconds to ask for a room, even if it ends up being a question you didn't need to ask.
Ah. In the UK they are open unless occupied and you generally just wander in. Given the US system I understand your irritation.
Lol, yeah, help desk responsibilities skyrocket depending on the context.. and you are right, Definitely. If I had realized, I would have sent her into one of our store's for assistance. A good lesson, al be it bitterly learned, but definitely good to know either way. It reminds me of when I worked for Dell support for Canada. Now Dell support is usually outsourced, but Dell has a government contract with Canada. And Canada swore they would drop Dell if they ever heard broken english over the phone when they called for support. Hooray Canada! Anyways, my co-worker received a call from a business man having some network issues on his computer. He was doing all the basic steps and it got to the point where some people go out of their way to troubleshoot the router/cable/internet box. We aren't normally supposed to do this sort of thing but sometimes we can get away with it when we think a hot-fix will work for the issue. So he told him to find the router, and they guy said, "The big box with all the blinking lights and cables?" "Yes, Go ahead and unplug the power to that box." My co-worker replied. "Then we'll wait about a minute" Not even twenty seconds pass and my co-worker is hearing people screaming over the phone, trying to figure out what just happened to the network. What he had just done was tell the businessman to switch off the whole building's network. It took half an hour to get the network running again, and in that time the business had already lost over sixty-thousand dollars. The businessman was forced to hand the phone over to his manager who asked to speak with my co-worker's supervisor while the businesses's network guy tried to get everything up an running again. I thought they would fire him for making such a mistake, but they wrote him up for reaching outside his scope of support, and the business ended up firing the man who didn't know any better than to listen to the tech. (I'm wondering where they were keeping the main router, that this guy got to it so easily.) Sometimes I wonder if the slightly above minimum wage pay is worth the pressure and risks we encounter regularly. Such mistakes would definitely happen less often if we were properly paid for our attention. Although I bet the same argument could be made for any job at the lower end of the spectrum, which is rather unfortunate. Whoops! Almost started talking about wage slavery, not the time lol. EDIT: The bolded part is a rumor we heard after the fact. Who knows if it is true or not, as I never even talked to the business directly, but business have a good understanding of how much money is lost during downtime, as it is something that happens. So I know the sixty-thousand figure to be fairly accurate, as the supervisor was told this to get him to understand the graveness of the problem we had caused.
Actually a really sad story. And I imagine not as unique as it might appear. I am constantly amazed at people who put really precious stuff onto digital media, then don't back it up. Or keep it all on a laptop, tablet or phone, then lose these devices. Just a shame. However, it's something they probably won't do again. It was just such a shame that woman lost stuff that was so precious to her because she was in an agitated state. I hope you haven't blamed yourself at all. It wasn't your fault.
I especially like the dig at the end ...at online help for people who can't get online in the first place. Yes. We've all been there, done that....
