customer: "uhhh yes, i'm not a CSA, but i have a problem. when i move my mouse the monitor doesn't turn on."

me: "Sir, are you sure the monitor is turned on?"

customer: "uhhhh, ya i'm sure. hold up one second..."
(5 seconds later i hear in the background "oh, all you did was turn your monitor on?")

customer: "okay it seems to have randomly fixed itself now thanksforyourhelp" *hangs up the phone before i can say anything else*

So working the helpdesk at osan i get a call from a chief asking if we had a bigger monitor he could use until his adpe custodian came in in the morning. I told him that we did not but asked what he needed one for and he went on to explain the mechanics of how his desktop was full from everything he had been saving so he needed a bigger monitor to be able to store more information thats our leadership folks.

Throw-in some random expletives in a foreign language, and you've got yourself a normal phone call when you work in NATO.

haha, I have no experience working help desk, but since I am a CSA with a weather squadron, I have to call the help desk to open tickets on occasion. I had someone try to explain to me the difference between a proxy and a firewall when I told him we were having issues. I told him that I was a 3c0 and he set me up right away.

God...I hate being a CSA

yeah im a 3c CSA. err i was. im in transit to my new base i hated callingthe helpdesk and talking to ppl who were brand new and were tryingto tell me how everything works, even tho i have been on base for 4 years. and then i constantly got referred to as a 3A

Or its even funnier when your digital cable or internet goes down in the states and they have you go through the normal process of resetting the cable modem, router, and computer, blah blah until you tell them you actually know computers.

At barksdale a few years ago we had this guy call in from the 608 and he wanted to open a ticket and submit the 1146 (I believe thatt's the form) to have myspace unblocked. I had to put him on hold, I was laughing my a$$ off

Lol Kellz, I know you saw the tally in our office of how many people came to us with CAC issues.

"Um, I can't log in, I think something is wrong with my card!"

"Let me see it..looks fine...certificates there, lets go check it out... Put your card in and log in"

user attempts to log in

Trying not to laugh...press down num lock

"Ok, try again"

"Oh...it worked...."

We had a capt that wanted to know why he couldnt load any instant messanger on his govt laptop while he was deployed.

You didnt tell him he could the Air Force portal instant messanger? Its close to the same thing. The other person just has to set up an account.

I did. but this wasnt just any captain, it was a pilot. and he didnt want AFIM. he wanted AIM.

Back in 04 when all the hype was about that messenger service we used to mess with people and tell them, hey you wanna learn a cool trick, hit ALT+F4.

I had a 3c0 here ask me what standard we used to build cables. Ok, no big deal there...5 minutes later he comes back..."Is that left to right or right to left?"

Then there are the folks who don't like the answer an airman on the Help Desk gives them and request to speak to the NCOIC. Then suddenly the same exact answer is acceptable when the NCO gives it to them. I have no problem calling people out on that.

I hate that, I don't work help desk but we're in a lot of transition in my shop right now and the main people who deal with our customers are an A1C and SrA. Its like no one listens and then calls up our superintendent only to get the same answer or she'll put them on hold and ask us......

It's definitely bullsh*t and I have no problem pointing that out to CSA's when they ask to speak to me. I have zero problem confronting people who don't listen to my Help Desk personnel and they know they can always just hand me the phone and I'll take care of it. It's not as if it's any different in other career fields. Your SrA and SSgt's are generally the most knowledgeable because they are the ones with the most hands on. There are also plenty of A1C's out there that know what they're doing, but CSA's just don't listen sometimes and it's always the dumbest CSA's too. You know, the one's who piss and moan that their SIPR isn't working and that someone needs to come out. They swear they've checked everything. Then you go out and they never bothered to flip the TACLAN to secure.

I think it's becoming military culture to go above someones head when speaking to someone outside of your organization...

How many times have you reciecieved or sent an E-mail and it either had, or you added, a CC to a Senior NCO just so the person getting the E-mail would respond to you?

Also, dealing with service/customer type situations some people will automatically think they need to deal with the person in charge to get their anger and impatience across more clearly. How many times have you called a customer service hotline and felt the person on the other end didn't have your best interest in mind? I know I have. First thing I did was ask for a supervisor or someone in charge. I've also read countless threads on here that say the same thing. Kind of Ironic that when it happens to you personally you feel slighted. I wonder how that Hindu guy working for Sprint customer service feels everytime someone asks for his supervisor. I bet it happens a sh*t load more to him than you...

I think you just have to see it for what it is and explain it to your guys that people will automatically assume they are getting shrugged off. That way they don't come to resent their place in life.

This has happened twice ever since I got to my deployed location. Must be the frickin' water here. And we're talking a MSgt and TSgt who will CC their OIC, Senior/Superintendent, First Shirt, etc. over some dumb low priority crap like installing Java just so their troops can use AFIM. Learn to use the fackin' chain of command, dip$hits. It's like they never knew how to keep things at the lowest level before escalating the issue up the chain. Maintainers piss me off. And yea, being a CSA sucks. What next, CCing the commander and their mother just so they can get what they want when we tell them no?

+1 as usual

i work in the ESD here at Ramstein, its not bad, real easy work. its when someone calls, one of the Airman tell them something, the customer gets all pissy and starts acting like an A$$ to my Airman, they put me on the phone, and i put a stop to it right there. i have even asked why someone needed to talk to me and why my Airman's answer wasent good enough, i usually get the response "i just wanted to here it from someone who knew what was going on." man that pisses me off!

good thread by the way

I used to enjoy it when people told me they wanted to speak with the NCOIC, normaly I just handed the phone to the Airmen next to me and vice virsa whenever it arose. Same answer different mouth.

The funniest thing I ever encountered was at Ellsworth when the internet was down and the update we were telling people is that we were working on it. The wing king's exec called up every 10 minutes or so until it got to the point that the Sq CC was taking those calls and saying the same thing. The wing king ended up calling and the Sq CC gave the phone to me to explain it. I said the same thing as I told everyone else and that was the last phone call we got on the issue until I called back saying it was fixed. I love how it all works out but I would much rather be the people in the back ground fixing the problems then stuck answering the phones.

You can dog it all you want, but working in different areas and dealing with people from all walks of the AF I've came to realize that if you don't stick a foot up some peoples A$$ you won't get anything done.

I worked training for a stint, and getting people to respond to your issues is almost impossible. It got to the point that if I didn't CC the superintendant I would get nothin accomplished. Sad that it has to come to that, but people respond to that kind of treatment, I'd rather piss them off and get my work done then not piss them off and have to beg and plead to get a problem resolved.

Heh. I've had to be the a$$hole on the other end of the line many times. When you're calling on behalf of the CC who doesn't take "no" for an anwer, nor understands why it should be an answer because he wants sh*t done, then you don't take no for an answer, either. Especially when time equals money. It's not fun and I'm sorry if I hurt anybody's feelings, but it's all in a day's work.

I love the help desk guys.

You know how remedy automaticaly populates the action summary with questions for the ESD technician to ask? Alot of times, those fields are not populated. If they are, they usually look something like this.


Q: What is the Users IP address?
A: 192.168.blah.blah

Q: Is the user behind a NAT'd network?
A: No


If you are a 3c, and you don't get the joke, kill yourself.

lol when i worked in Client systems i had to deal with people like you who were like my commanders whats this done and wants it done yesterday the really funny thing about it is that there are more then one and they cant all be OMG a commander lets all bow down and praise him because he is a commander so we basically put you on hold for a while and tell you that it will get done ASAP and since you act like a dush your ticket all of a suddone goes to the bottom of the list

This is true

How long did you work in client systems kutcha wasn't it only like three days rofl