No more hiding in the server room

"User" is a dirty word

I believe that you would all agree that to an extent (and especially when discussing with your peers) that there is a subset of those good old plain users of systems are not viewed by you in glowing terms.

There have been MANY times when a user made a great issue about a simple problem, sometimes demanding immediate assistance, you know what I mean... When you "fixed" the issue and were asked what the problem was have you ever used and kind of code word or phrase to joke about it? I would be curious to see some of yours...

My favorite was from a good friend Tim who would remark to people that the issue was caused by "a short circuit between the seat and the keyboard." Another which I am sure many of you have heard of is the I - D - ten - T error or spelled out as ID10T... seen that reported to peoples faces with blank looks back ;)

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Permalink Reply by Matt Simmons on February 28, 2009 at 12:57am

I've always heard PEBKAC as well (Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair).

Back when I was in tech support, there were all kinds of suggestions as to how to correct user stupidity.

There was the BOFH-sourced "LART" (lUser Attitude Readjustment Tool), the clue-by-four, and probably a couple others that I don't remember.

As therapeutic as some of this is, it doesn't endear IT workers to users much. The skit on Saturday Night Live "Nick Burns, your company's computer guy" is a piece of satire, but it works so well because it hit so close to reality. The idea that we're better than our users because we don't get confused when a program crashes is rubbish.

An administrator's job is to make sure that the company can use the IT resources. The person who puts the numbers into the spreadsheet that ensures we get to buy hardware isn't better than us, so why should we be better than them because we use the hardware?

Follow the golden rule. Treat your users like you want to be treated by them.

Sorry about the rant. You'd think I wrote an article on this or something...

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Permalink Reply by Haralambos Mavromatidis on March 13, 2009 at 1:35pm

No rant there - I agree... our job is to be invisible and provide the technology in such a reliable way that users take it for granted just like other things at the office. The coffee machine just works, no rebooting/patching/remediating there - we need to present the computer, software, application, device, etc. to the end user community as if it is an appliance as much as possible.

I realize that I did not clarify that I think that regardless of the supporting personnel's demeanor there are certain times that the best of us almost lose it. I personally would "clue" the person driving me to the edge in and share the appropriate acronym so that we can both get a chance to vent and get back to work - the benefit of having a good working relationship with the people you support.

If someone cannot do that then good "get it out of your system" vent/laugh may be what is a needed to provided a cathartic moment before you blind side the next poor soul calling in for help ;)