Dear Users… (A thread for Sysadmin, Technical Support, and Help Desk people) Part 10 - Page 51

JoeMorgue · 8th March 2023, 10:14 AM

In a rare case of being asked to do something challenging, rewarding, and actually part of my job we will have an employee starting in 2 months who is hearing impaired, and we've asked for a text to speech solution and a caption compatible phone.

TragicMonkey · 8th March 2023, 10:25 AM

Originally Posted by JoeMorgue

In a rare case of being asked to do something challenging, rewarding, and actually part of my job we will have an employee starting in 2 months who is hearing impaired, and we've asked for a text to speech solution and a caption compatible phone.

By contrast, I'm currently stuck on all three of my current projects due to office politics struggles between other people.

Project 1 is now a pissing match between an executive vice president of something and a chief something something. I don't know which outranks which and apparently neither do they, and they're using this project as their opportunity to fight it out to see.

Project 2 is a change to past work but if the changes occur it's seen as a criticism of the people in charge of it last time so they're fighting to prove they're right and nothing needs to be done at all. We lose money each month until the changes are made, though, so everybody else is pretty keen to make those changes.

And Project 3, my favorite, is where the ninth person to occupy a particular position in the last four years is now attempting to understand the work I supplied to his eight predecessors. Oh wait, did I say "attempting to understand"? Of course not: they want the work changed radically before they understand what it actually is and does and what they're supposed to do with it. I don't know if they realize what happened to the last eight people in their position. Hint: it had to do with them not being able to cope with the work. I expect to be introduced to the tenth one shortly.

TragicMonkey · 8th March 2023, 12:22 PM

Dear User: if you have a request, make it. Don't pussyfoot around by instant messaging me crap like "Happy Wednesday!" and trying small talk. Just ask your question so I can tell you no, and we'll get on with our lives!

JoeMorgue · 8th March 2023, 12:29 PM

Originally Posted by TragicMonkey

Dear User: if you have a request, make it. Don't pussyfoot around by instant messaging me crap like "Happy Wednesday!" and trying small talk. Just ask your question so I can tell you no, and we'll get on with our lives!

One of my biggest stressors in life is that every role I fill, every social relationship I'm in, everything thing I do is about solving problems for other people.

And that moment right there is the worst of it. That fake, phony "Have I made enough small talk to I don't feel wrong asking you for something" moments are the absolute worst. I hate those moments. The "Would just ******* hurry up and ask me what you want? You aren't my friend. You don't care about me. I know this. You know I know. I know you know I know. Why are we playing this game?"

TragicMonkey · 8th March 2023, 12:34 PM

Originally Posted by JoeMorgue

One of my biggest stressors in life is that every role I fill, every social relationship I'm in, everything thing I do is about solving problems for other people.

And that moment right there is the worst of it. That fake, phony "Have I made enough small talk to I don't feel wrong asking you for something" moments are the absolute worst. I hate those moments. The "Would just ******* hurry up and ask me what you want? You aren't my friend. You don't care about me. I know this. You know I know. I know you know I know. Why are we playing this game?"

Tut, tut! You're doing it wrong. Everything you do should be about coming up with reasons 1) why nothing can be done, 2) why nothing should be done, and 3) why if something must be done it should be done by somebody else.

catsmate · 8th March 2023, 12:45 PM

Originally Posted by TragicMonkey

By contrast, I'm currently stuck on all three of my current projects due to office politics struggles between other people.

Project 1 is now a pissing match between an executive vice president of something and a chief something something. I don't know which outranks which and apparently neither do they, and they're using this project as their opportunity to fight it out to see.

Project 2 is a change to past work but if the changes occur it's seen as a criticism of the people in charge of it last time so they're fighting to prove they're right and nothing needs to be done at all. We lose money each month until the changes are made, though, so everybody else is pretty keen to make those changes.

And Project 3, my favorite, is where the ninth person to occupy a particular position in the last four years is now attempting to understand the work I supplied to his eight predecessors. Oh wait, did I say "attempting to understand"? Of course not: they want the work changed radically before they understand what it actually is and does and what they're supposed to do with it. I don't know if they realize what happened to the last eight people in their position. Hint: it had to do with them not being able to cope with the work. I expect to be introduced to the tenth one shortly.

I wager 400 quatloos on the chief whatsit; VPs lack staying power.

alfaniner · 8th March 2023, 03:46 PM

Originally Posted by JoeMorgue

One of my biggest stressors in life is that every role I fill, every social relationship I'm in, everything thing I do is about solving problems for other people.

And that moment right there is the worst of it. That fake, phony "Have I made enough small talk to I don't feel wrong asking you for something" moments are the absolute worst. I hate those moments. The "Would just ******* hurry up and ask me what you want? You aren't my friend. You don't care about me. I know this. You know I know. I know you know I know. Why are we playing this game?"

I feel the same way about my meetup app.

arthwollipot · 8th March 2023, 04:29 PM

Remember when I talked about the migration to ServiceNow? Which we now affectionately refer to as SNOW, which I think it pretty cool. It worked out pretty well.

Another big shift is coming. Right now we rely on Cisco Finesse to distribute calls around the Service Desk. It works just fine, which of course means that it has to be changed.

I am not optimistic about our change to Genesys PureCloud. We've had other call centres on our network who use this and the reports have not been good. We're just starting our training now and I have heard some pretty bad stuff about it. In particular, it tends to encourage the "achieve KPIs at all costs" model which in my experience - in everyone's experience - decreases customer satisfaction dramatically. Worse, it appears to be embracing gamification. Gamification! Of KPIs! What?

Unless this turns out to be completely untrue, this will be an absolute disaster.

a_unique_person · 8th March 2023, 04:55 PM

Originally Posted by TragicMonkey

Dear User: if you have a request, make it. Don't pussyfoot around by instant messaging me crap like "Happy Wednesday!" and trying small talk. Just ask your question so I can tell you no, and we'll get on with our lives!

Hi, how are you tm. Having a great day? The sun's out over here.

a_unique_person · 8th March 2023, 04:56 PM

Originally Posted by arthwollipot

Remember when I talked about the migration to ServiceNow? Which we now affectionately refer to as SNOW, which I think it pretty cool. It worked out pretty well.

Another big shift is coming. Right now we rely on Cisco Finesse to distribute calls around the Service Desk. It works just fine, which of course means that it has to be changed.

I am not optimistic about our change to Genesys PureCloud. We've had other call centres on our network who use this and the reports have not been good. We're just starting our training now and I have heard some pretty bad stuff about it. In particular, it tends to encourage the "achieve KPIs at all costs" model which in my experience - in everyone's experience - decreases customer satisfaction dramatically. Worse, it appears to be embracing gamification. Gamification! Of KPIs! What?

Unless this turns out to be completely untrue, this will be an absolute disaster.

Purecloud collects all the best KPIs and generates that most damming reports.

arthwollipot · 8th March 2023, 05:58 PM

The training videos are excruciating.

There's literally a 1:15 minute video about how to change the password.

rdaneel · 8th March 2023, 06:57 PM

Originally Posted by TragicMonkey

Tut, tut! You're doing it wrong. Everything you do should be about coming up with reasons 1) why nothing can be done, 2) why nothing should be done, and 3) why if something must be done it should be done by somebody else.

This reminded me of "Yes, Minister" and the "Four Stage Strategy".

Stage 1 - Nothings going to happen.

Stage 2- Something's maybe going to happen, but we should do nothing about it.

Stage 3- Maybe we should do something about it, but there's nothing we can do.

Stage 4- Maybe we could have done something about it, but it's to late now.

arthwollipot · 8th March 2023, 06:58 PM

Well, I now know how to press the Mute button when I feel a sneeze coming on.

So that's good, I guess.

Blue Mountain · 9th March 2023, 01:16 AM

Originally Posted by arthwollipot

The training videos are excruciating.

There's literally a 1:15 minute video about how to change the password.

1m15s or 1h15m?

Wudang · 9th March 2023, 03:59 AM

Originally Posted by arthwollipot

In particular, it tends to encourage the "achieve KPIs at all costs" model which in my experience - in everyone's experience - decreases customer satisfaction dramatically. Worse, it appears to be embracing gamification. Gamification! Of KPIs! What?

Unless this turns out to be completely untrue, this will be an absolute disaster.

As I've ranted before these seem to encourage the mindset of "every thing is a separate ticket". So if I hire Jack and Jill and they need to be in groups, team1, team2, accesslist1, superuserstest etc, I need a ticket for John in team1, another for John in team2, another for Jill in team1 etc. When any decent system would allow me to raise 1 ticket that would break down into multiple tasks. I know because I used to have to support such a RYO system for bank mainframes.
So the grunts typing a command to add John to team1 shine while the highly paid team lead/manager waste their time filling in web forms.

Darat · 9th March 2023, 04:24 AM

Originally Posted by Blue Mountain

1m15s or 1h15m?

115 metres.

catsmate · 9th March 2023, 04:35 AM

Originally Posted by arthwollipot

Remember when I talked about the migration to ServiceNow? Which we now affectionately refer to as SNOW, which I think it pretty cool. It worked out pretty well.

Another big shift is coming. Right now we rely on Cisco Finesse to distribute calls around the Service Desk. It works just fine, which of course means that it has to be changed.

I am not optimistic about our change to Genesys PureCloud. We've had other call centres on our network who use this and the reports have not been good. We're just starting our training now and I have heard some pretty bad stuff about it. In particular, it tends to encourage the "achieve KPIs at all costs" model which in my experience - in everyone's experience - decreases customer satisfaction dramatically. Worse, it appears to be embracing gamification. Gamification! Of KPIs! What?

Unless this turns out to be completely untrue, this will be an absolute disaster.

Out of curiosity I asked a former colleague about it, her reply was not one to engender optimism.

Darat · 9th March 2023, 05:25 AM

Originally Posted by catsmate

Out of curiosity I asked a former colleague about it, her reply was not one to engender optimism.

Have you manged to coax her out of the cupboard yet?

TragicMonkey · 9th March 2023, 05:54 AM

Originally Posted by rdaneel

This reminded me of "Yes, Minister" and the "Four Stage Strategy".

Stage 1 - Nothings going to happen.

Stage 2- Something's maybe going to happen, but we should do nothing about it.

Stage 3- Maybe we should do something about it, but there's nothing we can do.

Stage 4- Maybe we could have done something about it, but it's to late now.

That show was packed full of practical wisdom. The world is full of maddening obfuscation, and I found I get on so much better when I embrace it.

jeremyp · 9th March 2023, 06:26 AM

Originally Posted by TragicMonkey

Shut up! ASP was awesome! I used to have a job doing nothing but ASP! Cutting edge stuff!....although that was twenty-something years ago. Ahem. Well, it's still cool. I mean, it's still recognizable as having once been cool. Shut up, I'm not old! I'm not old!!!

It wouldn't be quite so bad if it was just ASP, but it's not: it's ASP and FrontPage. Not only that, but the bits that are ASP and interacting with the database are devoid of prepared statements (which I have only just discovered are possible in ASP).

JoeMorgue · 9th March 2023, 10:42 AM

1. Your compliance officer has banned personal space heaters in the office. It's not my fault this rule is not enforced.
2. Even a small space heater is a power hog.
3. If you blow a fuse by plugging your illegal space heater in you are not going to the top of my priority list.

(We go through this every chilling morning.)

Darat · 9th March 2023, 11:02 AM

Originally Posted by jeremyp

It wouldn't be quite so bad if it was just ASP, but it's not: it's ASP and FrontPage. Not only that, but the bits that are ASP and interacting with the database are devoid of prepared statements (which I have only just discovered are possible in ASP).

Reminding me of Frontpage has just sent a shiver down my spine.

arthwollipot · 9th March 2023, 04:28 PM

Originally Posted by Wudang

As I've ranted before these seem to encourage the mindset of "every thing is a separate ticket". So if I hire Jack and Jill and they need to be in groups, team1, team2, accesslist1, superuserstest etc, I need a ticket for John in team1, another for John in team2, another for Jill in team1 etc. When any decent system would allow me to raise 1 ticket that would break down into multiple tasks. I know because I used to have to support such a RYO system for bank mainframes.
So the grunts typing a command to add John to team1 shine while the highly paid team lead/manager waste their time filling in web forms.

Incidents are individual. One issue, one incident. Service Requests can be and usually are, broken down into subtasks.

I still think that the Chronicles of George should be mandatory reading for all new Tier 1 agents. I just got this into my queue:

Quote:

Auto response for a departmental external facing outgoing

novaphile · 9th March 2023, 04:40 PM

Originally Posted by arthwollipot

Incidents are individual. One issue, one incident. Service Requests can be and usually are, broken down into subtasks.

I still think that the Chronicles of George should be mandatory reading for all new Tier 1 agents. I just got this into my queue:

Yay! More ITIL.

I'm so happy I've left this all behind!!!

TragicMonkey · 9th March 2023, 04:47 PM

Originally Posted by JoeMorgue

1. Your compliance officer has banned personal space heaters in the office. It's not my fault this rule is not enforced.
2. Even a small space heater is a power hog.
3. If you blow a fuse by plugging your illegal space heater in you are not going to the top of my priority list.

(We go through this every chilling morning.)

I'm always amazed by how ready some people are to make their workplace their very own personal home. I have encountered several...there was a lady who had so many ornaments and knickknacks it looked like a Hallmark store, there was the lady who had a TV to watch soap operas in her cubicle, there was a lady who brought in three faux-leaded-crystal table lamps to light her small cubicle, the lady who had a crock pot not for cooking but for melting wax to make candles at her desk, the lady who brought in a pretty large aquarium full of fish ("because my parrots pick them out of water at home"), the lady who stored her four best wigs on displays at her desk, and the lady who had one of those small dorm-room refrigerators delivered so she could keep her Snickers bars cool.

Norman Alexander · 9th March 2023, 05:32 PM

Originally Posted by TragicMonkey

I'm always amazed by how ready some people are to make their workplace their very own personal home. I have encountered several...there was a lady who had so many ornaments and knickknacks it looked like a Hallmark store, there was the lady who had a TV to watch soap operas in her cubicle, there was a lady who brought in three faux-leaded-crystal table lamps to light her small cubicle, the lady who had a crock pot not for cooking but for melting wax to make candles at her desk, the lady who brought in a pretty large aquarium full of fish ("because my parrots pick them out of water at home"), the lady who stored her four best wigs on displays at her desk, and the lady who had one of those small dorm-room refrigerators delivered so she could keep her Snickers bars cool.

Hopefully not all the same person?

TragicMonkey · 9th March 2023, 05:38 PM

Originally Posted by Norman Alexander

Hopefully not all the same person?

No, but the fish tank lady and the refrigerator lady were best friends and cube neighbors. I avoided that aisle as much as I could.

arthwollipot · 9th March 2023, 05:41 PM

Laziest error message ever:

Quote:

40016 | An error has occurred. Check google for error message...

The ellipsis is a nice touch.

Norman Alexander · 9th March 2023, 05:46 PM

Originally Posted by TragicMonkey

No, but the fish tank lady and the refrigerator lady were best friends and cube neighbors. I avoided that aisle as much as I could.

As long as they didn't put the Snickers in the fish tank, and the goldfish in the fridge, they sound...asymptotically approaching normal.

JoeMorgue · 9th March 2023, 06:10 PM

Fridges are super common. I've seen at least a few crock pots. One woman has a countertop ice maker.

gnome · 10th March 2023, 02:00 PM

Originally Posted by JoeMorgue

One of my biggest stressors in life is that every role I fill, every social relationship I'm in, everything thing I do is about solving problems for other people.

And that moment right there is the worst of it. That fake, phony "Have I made enough small talk to I don't feel wrong asking you for something" moments are the absolute worst. I hate those moments. The "Would just ******* hurry up and ask me what you want? You aren't my friend. You don't care about me. I know this. You know I know. I know you know I know. Why are we playing this game?"

Are the people engaging in small talk before business, by chance from the US South? I understand it's an old time cultural habit there and thus possibly not by manipulative intent.

Of course at least once my speculations have failed from being too US-Centric, so the same could be going on here.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

gnome · 10th March 2023, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Auto response for a departmental external facing outgoing

I'm gonna try to call it.

There's a department-wide email account that external clients/partners can send to, and they want to institute an auto-response to trigger when messages to that box are received.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

TragicMonkey · 10th March 2023, 04:26 PM

What is with people not understanding how time works?! This data was run in the past for what was then the future. Some of that future is now the past. Do they think time stops so their precious metrics will work out neatly on a chart?!

catsmate · 11th March 2023, 02:24 AM

Originally Posted by Darat

Have you manged to coax her out of the cupboard yet?

I cannot speak about that, but to judge by her reaction it'd be more "lock the originator of the idea in a cupboard and set the place on fire".

arthwollipot · 13th March 2023, 07:22 PM

Originally Posted by gnome

Are the people engaging in small talk before business, by chance from the US South? I understand it's an old time cultural habit there and thus possibly not by manipulative intent.

I see it all the time, in this form:

Me: Good afternoon, Service Desk, how can I help?
Them: Hi, how are you?
*pause*
Me: I'm great, how can I help?

Some day I really, really want to reply:

Me: You don't care. How can I help?

arthwollipot · 13th March 2023, 08:14 PM

I'm being made to catch up on my mandatory training. You know - fraud, privacy, that sort of thing. The things that I've already done three times but have to renew regularly.

Dr. Keith · 13th March 2023, 09:39 PM

Slightly OT/ I had a ****** sales job one summer and I lived for the people who treated me like a human. The guy who sat on his front porch and chatted with me for twenty minutes is still a hero in my life story thirty years down the road. So, I try to be as pleasant as possible with the people who have to deal with me on a daily basis. I do care how my IT folks are doing even as I am pissed that the printer isn’t working in our new office space. /OT

arthwollipot · 13th March 2023, 09:41 PM

Yes, being on the receiving end of poor treatment is a great incentive not to treat other people poorly.

Dr. Keith · 13th March 2023, 09:50 PM

Originally Posted by arthwollipot

Yes, being on the receiving end of poor treatment is a great incentive not to treat other people poorly.

My kids give me **** for my performative kindness, but I hate being the ass in someone else’s day.

arthwollipot · 13th March 2023, 09:56 PM

There's no such thing as "performative" kindness.

8th March 2023, 10:14 AM	#2001
JoeMorgue Self Employed Remittance Man Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Florida Posts: 44,144	In a rare case of being asked to do something challenging, rewarding, and actually part of my job we will have an employee starting in 2 months who is hearing impaired, and we've asked for a text to speech solution and a caption compatible phone.
	__________________ "If everyone in the room says water is wet and I say it's dry that makes me smart because at least I'm thinking for myself!" - The Proudly Wrong.

8th March 2023, 10:25 AM	#2002
TragicMonkey Poisoned Waffles Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Monkey Posts: 66,043	Originally Posted by JoeMorgue In a rare case of being asked to do something challenging, rewarding, and actually part of my job we will have an employee starting in 2 months who is hearing impaired, and we've asked for a text to speech solution and a caption compatible phone. By contrast, I'm currently stuck on all three of my current projects due to office politics struggles between other people. Project 1 is now a pissing match between an executive vice president of something and a chief something something. I don't know which outranks which and apparently neither do they, and they're using this project as their opportunity to fight it out to see. Project 2 is a change to past work but if the changes occur it's seen as a criticism of the people in charge of it last time so they're fighting to prove they're right and nothing needs to be done at all. We lose money each month until the changes are made, though, so everybody else is pretty keen to make those changes. And Project 3, my favorite, is where the ninth person to occupy a particular position in the last four years is now attempting to understand the work I supplied to his eight predecessors. Oh wait, did I say "attempting to understand"? Of course not: they want the work changed radically before they understand what it actually is and does and what they're supposed to do with it. I don't know if they realize what happened to the last eight people in their position. Hint: it had to do with them not being able to cope with the work. I expect to be introduced to the tenth one shortly.
	__________________ You added nothing to that conversation, Barbara.

8th March 2023, 12:22 PM	#2003
TragicMonkey Poisoned Waffles Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Monkey Posts: 66,043	Dear User: if you have a request, make it. Don't pussyfoot around by instant messaging me crap like "Happy Wednesday!" and trying small talk. Just ask your question so I can tell you no, and we'll get on with our lives!
	__________________ You added nothing to that conversation, Barbara.

8th March 2023, 12:29 PM	#2004
JoeMorgue Self Employed Remittance Man Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Florida Posts: 44,144	Originally Posted by TragicMonkey Dear User: if you have a request, make it. Don't pussyfoot around by instant messaging me crap like "Happy Wednesday!" and trying small talk. Just ask your question so I can tell you no, and we'll get on with our lives! One of my biggest stressors in life is that every role I fill, every social relationship I'm in, everything thing I do is about solving problems for other people. And that moment right there is the worst of it. That fake, phony "Have I made enough small talk to I don't feel wrong asking you for something" moments are the absolute worst. I hate those moments. The "Would just ******* hurry up and ask me what you want? You aren't my friend. You don't care about me. I know this. You know I know. I know you know I know. Why are we playing this game?"
	__________________ "If everyone in the room says water is wet and I say it's dry that makes me smart because at least I'm thinking for myself!" - The Proudly Wrong.

8th March 2023, 12:34 PM	#2005
TragicMonkey Poisoned Waffles Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Monkey Posts: 66,043	Originally Posted by JoeMorgue One of my biggest stressors in life is that every role I fill, every social relationship I'm in, everything thing I do is about solving problems for other people. And that moment right there is the worst of it. That fake, phony "Have I made enough small talk to I don't feel wrong asking you for something" moments are the absolute worst. I hate those moments. The "Would just ******* hurry up and ask me what you want? You aren't my friend. You don't care about me. I know this. You know I know. I know you know I know. Why are we playing this game?" Tut, tut! You're doing it wrong. Everything you do should be about coming up with reasons 1) why nothing can be done, 2) why nothing should be done, and 3) why if something must be done it should be done by somebody else.
	__________________ You added nothing to that conversation, Barbara.

8th March 2023, 12:45 PM	#2006
catsmate No longer the 1 Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 28,617	Originally Posted by TragicMonkey By contrast, I'm currently stuck on all three of my current projects due to office politics struggles between other people. Project 1 is now a pissing match between an executive vice president of something and a chief something something. I don't know which outranks which and apparently neither do they, and they're using this project as their opportunity to fight it out to see. Project 2 is a change to past work but if the changes occur it's seen as a criticism of the people in charge of it last time so they're fighting to prove they're right and nothing needs to be done at all. We lose money each month until the changes are made, though, so everybody else is pretty keen to make those changes. And Project 3, my favorite, is where the ninth person to occupy a particular position in the last four years is now attempting to understand the work I supplied to his eight predecessors. Oh wait, did I say "attempting to understand"? Of course not: they want the work changed radically before they understand what it actually is and does and what they're supposed to do with it. I don't know if they realize what happened to the last eight people in their position. Hint: it had to do with them not being able to cope with the work. I expect to be introduced to the tenth one shortly. I wager 400 quatloos on the chief whatsit; VPs lack staying power.
	__________________ As human right is always something given, it always in reality reduces to the right which men give, "concede," to each other. If the right to existence is conceded to new-born children, then they have the right; if it is not conceded to them, as was the case among the Spartans and ancient Romans, then they do not have it. For only society can give or concede it to them; they themselves cannot take it, or give it to themselves.

8th March 2023, 03:46 PM	#2007
alfaniner Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Sorth Dakonsin Posts: 27,905	Originally Posted by JoeMorgue One of my biggest stressors in life is that every role I fill, every social relationship I'm in, everything thing I do is about solving problems for other people. And that moment right there is the worst of it. That fake, phony "Have I made enough small talk to I don't feel wrong asking you for something" moments are the absolute worst. I hate those moments. The "Would just ******* hurry up and ask me what you want? You aren't my friend. You don't care about me. I know this. You know I know. I know you know I know. Why are we playing this game?" I feel the same way about my meetup app.
	__________________ Science is self-correcting. Woo is self-contradicting.

8th March 2023, 04:29 PM	#2008
arthwollipot Observer of Phenomena Pronouns: he/him Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Ngunnawal Country Posts: 82,132	Remember when I talked about the migration to ServiceNow? Which we now affectionately refer to as SNOW, which I think it pretty cool. It worked out pretty well. Another big shift is coming. Right now we rely on Cisco Finesse to distribute calls around the Service Desk. It works just fine, which of course means that it has to be changed. I am not optimistic about our change to Genesys PureCloud. We've had other call centres on our network who use this and the reports have not been good. We're just starting our training now and I have heard some pretty bad stuff about it. In particular, it tends to encourage the "achieve KPIs at all costs" model which in my experience - in everyone's experience - decreases customer satisfaction dramatically. Worse, it appears to be embracing gamification. Gamification! Of KPIs! What? Unless this turns out to be completely untrue, this will be an absolute disaster.
	__________________ Слава Україні! Героям Слава! 20220224 - 20230224

8th March 2023, 04:55 PM	#2009
a_unique_person Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Waiting for the pod bay door to open. Posts: 45,256	Originally Posted by TragicMonkey Dear User: if you have a request, make it. Don't pussyfoot around by instant messaging me crap like "Happy Wednesday!" and trying small talk. Just ask your question so I can tell you no, and we'll get on with our lives! Hi, how are you tm. Having a great day? The sun's out over here.
	__________________ *Continually pushing the boundaries of mediocrity.* Everything is possible, but not everything is probable. “Perception is real, but the truth is not.” - Imelda Marcos

8th March 2023, 04:56 PM	#2010
a_unique_person Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Waiting for the pod bay door to open. Posts: 45,256	Originally Posted by arthwollipot Remember when I talked about the migration to ServiceNow? Which we now affectionately refer to as SNOW, which I think it pretty cool. It worked out pretty well. Another big shift is coming. Right now we rely on Cisco Finesse to distribute calls around the Service Desk. It works just fine, which of course means that it has to be changed. I am not optimistic about our change to Genesys PureCloud. We've had other call centres on our network who use this and the reports have not been good. We're just starting our training now and I have heard some pretty bad stuff about it. In particular, it tends to encourage the "achieve KPIs at all costs" model which in my experience - in everyone's experience - decreases customer satisfaction dramatically. Worse, it appears to be embracing gamification. Gamification! Of KPIs! What? Unless this turns out to be completely untrue, this will be an absolute disaster. Purecloud collects all the best KPIs and generates that most damming reports.
	__________________ *Continually pushing the boundaries of mediocrity.* Everything is possible, but not everything is probable. “Perception is real, but the truth is not.” - Imelda Marcos

8th March 2023, 05:58 PM	#2011
arthwollipot Observer of Phenomena Pronouns: he/him Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Ngunnawal Country Posts: 82,132	The training videos are excruciating. There's literally a 1:15 minute video about how to change the password.
	__________________ Слава Україні! Героям Слава! 20220224 - 20230224

8th March 2023, 06:57 PM	#2012
rdaneel Illuminator Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: I'M IN THE PHONEBOOK! I'M SOMEBODY!!! Posts: 4,598	Originally Posted by TragicMonkey Tut, tut! You're doing it wrong. Everything you do should be about coming up with reasons 1) why nothing can be done, 2) why nothing should be done, and 3) why if something must be done it should be done by somebody else. This reminded me of "Yes, Minister" and the "Four Stage Strategy". Stage 1 - Nothings going to happen. Stage 2- Something's maybe going to happen, but we should do nothing about it. Stage 3- Maybe we should do something about it, but there's nothing we can do. Stage 4- Maybe we could have done something about it, but it's to late now.
	__________________ "Let me guess, my theories appall you, my heresies outrage you, I never answer letters, and you don't like my tie." - The Doctor "I heard some things I can't prove from someone I don't know, and God dammit, that's enough for me." - Penny Arcade "Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from Science!" - Agatha Heterodyne

8th March 2023, 06:58 PM	#2013
arthwollipot Observer of Phenomena Pronouns: he/him Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Ngunnawal Country Posts: 82,132	Well, I now know how to press the Mute button when I feel a sneeze coming on. So that's good, I guess.
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9th March 2023, 01:16 AM	#2014
Blue Mountain Resident Skeptical Hobbit Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Waging war on woo-woo in Winnipeg Posts: 7,339	Originally Posted by arthwollipot The training videos are excruciating. There's literally a 1:15 minute video about how to change the password. 1m15s or 1h15m?
	__________________ The social illusion reigns to-day upon all the heaped-up ruins of the past, and to it belongs the future. The masses have never thirsted after truth. They turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste, preferring to deify error, if error seduce them. Gustav Le Bon, The Crowd, 1895 (from the French)

9th March 2023, 03:59 AM	#2015
Wudang BOFH Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: People's Republic of South Yorkshire Posts: 15,453	Originally Posted by arthwollipot In particular, it tends to encourage the "achieve KPIs at all costs" model which in my experience - in everyone's experience - decreases customer satisfaction dramatically. Worse, it appears to be embracing gamification. Gamification! Of KPIs! What? Unless this turns out to be completely untrue, this will be an absolute disaster. As I've ranted before these seem to encourage the mindset of "every thing is a separate ticket". So if I hire Jack and Jill and they need to be in groups, team1, team2, accesslist1, superuserstest etc, I need a ticket for John in team1, another for John in team2, another for Jill in team1 etc. When any decent system would allow me to raise 1 ticket that would break down into multiple tasks. I know because I used to have to support such a RYO system for bank mainframes. So the grunts typing a command to add John to team1 shine while the highly paid team lead/manager waste their time filling in web forms.
	__________________ "Your deepest pools, like your deepest politicians and philosophers, often turn out more shallow than expected." Walter Scott.

9th March 2023, 04:24 AM	#2016
Darat Lackey Administrator Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: South East, UK Posts: 109,646	Originally Posted by Blue Mountain 1m15s or 1h15m? 115 metres.
	__________________ I wish I knew how to quit you

9th March 2023, 04:35 AM	#2017
catsmate No longer the 1 Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 28,617	Originally Posted by arthwollipot Remember when I talked about the migration to ServiceNow? Which we now affectionately refer to as SNOW, which I think it pretty cool. It worked out pretty well. Another big shift is coming. Right now we rely on Cisco Finesse to distribute calls around the Service Desk. It works just fine, which of course means that it has to be changed. I am not optimistic about our change to Genesys PureCloud. We've had other call centres on our network who use this and the reports have not been good. We're just starting our training now and I have heard some pretty bad stuff about it. In particular, it tends to encourage the "achieve KPIs at all costs" model which in my experience - in everyone's experience - decreases customer satisfaction dramatically. Worse, it appears to be embracing gamification. Gamification! Of KPIs! What? Unless this turns out to be completely untrue, this will be an absolute disaster. Out of curiosity I asked a former colleague about it, her reply was not one to engender optimism.
	__________________ As human right is always something given, it always in reality reduces to the right which men give, "concede," to each other. If the right to existence is conceded to new-born children, then they have the right; if it is not conceded to them, as was the case among the Spartans and ancient Romans, then they do not have it. For only society can give or concede it to them; they themselves cannot take it, or give it to themselves.

9th March 2023, 05:25 AM	#2018
Darat Lackey Administrator Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: South East, UK Posts: 109,646	Originally Posted by catsmate Out of curiosity I asked a former colleague about it, her reply was not one to engender optimism. Have you manged to coax her out of the cupboard yet?
	__________________ I wish I knew how to quit you

9th March 2023, 05:54 AM	#2019
TragicMonkey Poisoned Waffles Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Monkey Posts: 66,043	Originally Posted by rdaneel This reminded me of "Yes, Minister" and the "Four Stage Strategy". Stage 1 - Nothings going to happen. Stage 2- Something's maybe going to happen, but we should do nothing about it. Stage 3- Maybe we should do something about it, but there's nothing we can do. Stage 4- Maybe we could have done something about it, but it's to late now. That show was packed full of practical wisdom. The world is full of maddening obfuscation, and I found I get on so much better when I embrace it.
	__________________ You added nothing to that conversation, Barbara.

9th March 2023, 06:26 AM	#2020
jeremyp Master Poster Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha Posts: 2,804	Originally Posted by TragicMonkey Shut up! ASP was awesome! I used to have a job doing nothing but ASP! Cutting edge stuff!....although that was twenty-something years ago. Ahem. Well, it's still cool. I mean, it's still recognizable as having once been cool. Shut up, I'm not old! I'm not old!!! It wouldn't be quite so bad if it was just ASP, but it's not: it's ASP and FrontPage. Not only that, but the bits that are ASP and interacting with the database are devoid of prepared statements (which I have only just discovered are possible in ASP).

9th March 2023, 10:42 AM	#2021
JoeMorgue Self Employed Remittance Man Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Florida Posts: 44,144	1. Your compliance officer has banned personal space heaters in the office. It's not my fault this rule is not enforced. 2. Even a small space heater is a power hog. 3. If you blow a fuse by plugging your illegal space heater in you are not going to the top of my priority list. (We go through this every chilling morning.)
	__________________ "If everyone in the room says water is wet and I say it's dry that makes me smart because at least I'm thinking for myself!" - The Proudly Wrong.

9th March 2023, 11:02 AM	#2022
Darat Lackey Administrator Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: South East, UK Posts: 109,646	Originally Posted by jeremyp It wouldn't be quite so bad if it was just ASP, but it's not: it's ASP and FrontPage. Not only that, but the bits that are ASP and interacting with the database are devoid of prepared statements (which I have only just discovered are possible in ASP). Reminding me of Frontpage has just sent a shiver down my spine.
	__________________ I wish I knew how to quit you

9th March 2023, 04:28 PM	#2023
arthwollipot Observer of Phenomena Pronouns: he/him Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Ngunnawal Country Posts: 82,132	Originally Posted by Wudang As I've ranted before these seem to encourage the mindset of "every thing is a separate ticket". So if I hire Jack and Jill and they need to be in groups, team1, team2, accesslist1, superuserstest etc, I need a ticket for John in team1, another for John in team2, another for Jill in team1 etc. When any decent system would allow me to raise 1 ticket that would break down into multiple tasks. I know because I used to have to support such a RYO system for bank mainframes. So the grunts typing a command to add John to team1 shine while the highly paid team lead/manager waste their time filling in web forms. Incidents are individual. One issue, one incident. Service Requests can be and usually are, broken down into subtasks. I still think that the Chronicles of George should be mandatory reading for all new Tier 1 agents. I just got this into my queue: Quote: Auto response for a departmental external facing outgoing
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9th March 2023, 04:40 PM	#2024
novaphile Quester of Doglets Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Sunny South Australia Posts: 4,949	Originally Posted by arthwollipot Incidents are individual. One issue, one incident. Service Requests can be and usually are, broken down into subtasks. I still think that the Chronicles of George should be mandatory reading for all new Tier 1 agents. I just got this into my queue: Yay! More ITIL. I'm so happy I've left this all behind!!!
	__________________ We would be better, and braver, to engage in enquiry, rather than indulge in the idle fancy, that we already know -- Plato.

9th March 2023, 04:47 PM	#2025
TragicMonkey Poisoned Waffles Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Monkey Posts: 66,043	Originally Posted by JoeMorgue 1. Your compliance officer has banned personal space heaters in the office. It's not my fault this rule is not enforced. 2. Even a small space heater is a power hog. 3. If you blow a fuse by plugging your illegal space heater in you are not going to the top of my priority list. (We go through this every chilling morning.) I'm always amazed by how ready some people are to make their workplace their very own personal home. I have encountered several...there was a lady who had so many ornaments and knickknacks it looked like a Hallmark store, there was the lady who had a TV to watch soap operas in her cubicle, there was a lady who brought in three faux-leaded-crystal table lamps to light her small cubicle, the lady who had a crock pot not for cooking but for melting wax to make candles at her desk, the lady who brought in a pretty large aquarium full of fish ("because my parrots pick them out of water at home"), the lady who stored her four best wigs on displays at her desk, and the lady who had one of those small dorm-room refrigerators delivered so she could keep her Snickers bars cool.
	__________________ You added nothing to that conversation, Barbara.

9th March 2023, 05:32 PM	#2026
Norman Alexander Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: Dharug & Gundungurra Posts: 14,992	Originally Posted by TragicMonkey I'm always amazed by how ready some people are to make their workplace their very own personal home. I have encountered several...there was a lady who had so many ornaments and knickknacks it looked like a Hallmark store, there was the lady who had a TV to watch soap operas in her cubicle, there was a lady who brought in three faux-leaded-crystal table lamps to light her small cubicle, the lady who had a crock pot not for cooking but for melting wax to make candles at her desk, the lady who brought in a pretty large aquarium full of fish ("because my parrots pick them out of water at home"), the lady who stored her four best wigs on displays at her desk, and the lady who had one of those small dorm-room refrigerators delivered so she could keep her Snickers bars cool. Hopefully not all the same person?
	__________________ _{...our governments are just trying to protect us from terror. In the same way that someone banging a hornets’ nest with a stick is trying to protect us from hornets. Frankie Boyle, Guardian, July 2015}

9th March 2023, 05:38 PM	#2027
TragicMonkey Poisoned Waffles Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Monkey Posts: 66,043	Originally Posted by Norman Alexander Hopefully not all the same person? No, but the fish tank lady and the refrigerator lady were best friends and cube neighbors. I avoided that aisle as much as I could.
	__________________ You added nothing to that conversation, Barbara.

9th March 2023, 05:41 PM	#2028
arthwollipot Observer of Phenomena Pronouns: he/him Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Ngunnawal Country Posts: 82,132	Laziest error message ever: Quote: 40016 \| An error has occurred. Check google for error message... The ellipsis is a nice touch.
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9th March 2023, 05:46 PM	#2029
Norman Alexander Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: Dharug & Gundungurra Posts: 14,992	Originally Posted by TragicMonkey No, but the fish tank lady and the refrigerator lady were best friends and cube neighbors. I avoided that aisle as much as I could. As long as they didn't put the Snickers in the fish tank, and the goldfish in the fridge, they sound...asymptotically approaching normal.
	__________________ _{...our governments are just trying to protect us from terror. In the same way that someone banging a hornets’ nest with a stick is trying to protect us from hornets. Frankie Boyle, Guardian, July 2015}

9th March 2023, 06:10 PM	#2030
JoeMorgue Self Employed Remittance Man Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Florida Posts: 44,144	Fridges are super common. I've seen at least a few crock pots. One woman has a countertop ice maker.
	__________________ "If everyone in the room says water is wet and I say it's dry that makes me smart because at least I'm thinking for myself!" - The Proudly Wrong.

10th March 2023, 02:00 PM	#2031
gnome Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 13,767	Originally Posted by JoeMorgue One of my biggest stressors in life is that every role I fill, every social relationship I'm in, everything thing I do is about solving problems for other people. And that moment right there is the worst of it. That fake, phony "Have I made enough small talk to I don't feel wrong asking you for something" moments are the absolute worst. I hate those moments. The "Would just ******* hurry up and ask me what you want? You aren't my friend. You don't care about me. I know this. You know I know. I know you know I know. Why are we playing this game?" Are the people engaging in small talk before business, by chance from the US South? I understand it's an old time cultural habit there and thus possibly not by manipulative intent. Of course at least once my speculations have failed from being too US-Centric, so the same could be going on here. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
	__________________

10th March 2023, 02:13 PM	#2032
gnome Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 13,767	Quote: Auto response for a departmental external facing outgoing I'm gonna try to call it. There's a department-wide email account that external clients/partners can send to, and they want to institute an auto-response to trigger when messages to that box are received. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
	__________________

10th March 2023, 04:26 PM	#2033
TragicMonkey Poisoned Waffles Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Monkey Posts: 66,043	What is with people not understanding how time works?! This data was run in the past for what was then the future. Some of that future is now the past. Do they think time stops so their precious metrics will work out neatly on a chart?!
	__________________ You added nothing to that conversation, Barbara.

11th March 2023, 02:24 AM	#2034
catsmate No longer the 1 Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 28,617	Originally Posted by Darat Have you manged to coax her out of the cupboard yet? I cannot speak about that, but to judge by her reaction it'd be more "lock the originator of the idea in a cupboard and set the place on fire".
	__________________ As human right is always something given, it always in reality reduces to the right which men give, "concede," to each other. If the right to existence is conceded to new-born children, then they have the right; if it is not conceded to them, as was the case among the Spartans and ancient Romans, then they do not have it. For only society can give or concede it to them; they themselves cannot take it, or give it to themselves.

13th March 2023, 07:22 PM	#2035
arthwollipot Observer of Phenomena Pronouns: he/him Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Ngunnawal Country Posts: 82,132	Originally Posted by gnome Are the people engaging in small talk before business, by chance from the US South? I understand it's an old time cultural habit there and thus possibly not by manipulative intent. I see it all the time, in this form: Me: Good afternoon, Service Desk, how can I help? Them: Hi, how are you? pause Me: I'm great, how can I help? Some day I really, really want to reply: Me: You don't care. How can I help?
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