Oh, I have SO been there and done that (and had it done to me). Common scenario:
Get paged at 3 am in the US. Return call to some trader in Europe who is screaming, "My printer's not working! You people can never fix anything! Yeearrrggghhh!*"
Stumble blearily into other room. Sit down at computer. Dial in. (Yes, this was that long ago.) Log in, look at print queue. "Your printer's out of paper." Hang up. Stumble back to bed.
* Investment banking version of primal scream therapy. Do not try this at home.
I am so happy that I never had to follow that path :P I do feel with you both!
On the other hand, developing CMS-systems back in the 90s was similar:
Me: "Hello?"
Client: "I do not get any emails. And I cannot reach the website"
tap tap tap, enter
Me: "I can reach your website, it is in perfect working condition"
(I was located in France, client in Norway, server at that point in London).
Me: "Can you reach any other websites?"
Client: "What? What do you mean?"
Me: "Please type www.vg.no and hit enter"
(No, I did not smile anymore)
Client: "No, cannot reach it"
...
Me: "Why do you keep calling me with your friggin access / ISP problems???? I cannot help you. "
At this point, my partner had to tear the phone from me, and each time that particular client called, he had to answer. Why?
Client: "But you supply the Internet to us, don't you?"
What can I say...
It takes a particular breed to do customer support...
Rob, I am looking forward to read the rest of your path!
Commenting by HaloScan
