As a consultant, my primary jobs are remote support and Onsite client side support. Because of this, I deal directly with our clients a lot. Although I am fond of many of those clients, most of them still display behaviors that drive me, as a consultant, crazy. And maybe it’s the excessive rain and storms we’ve been having, but these behaviors have escalated lately. So I thought I would share some of these things with you to see whether you’ve run into them —and whether you’ve encountered other behaviors you want to share with your fellow readers.
Please understand, I do this to lay down a bit of humor so we can all commiserate, cope, and (I hope) laugh at the follies we deal with day in and day out. I do not, in any way, mean to suggest that I think people are horrible or that I don’t like to deal with them.
1: Take control of remote sessions
I do a lot of remote support with the supplier related isssues. For that support, I use either LogMeIn or Team Viewer. Inevitably, I run into clients who constantly want to “show me” what’s going on, take over the mouse to point out something different, or even use their machine for something else (like replying to an email that should be able to wait or they simply get excited to some friends popped a message online and they start to reply them just by forgetting their screens are shared). Outside of annoying any support tech, this does one thing — extends the length of time needed to do a job.
Sometimes, it seems clients/suppliers don’t realize that other clients/Suppliers are actually waiting for my help, so they think they can take up as much of my time as they want. But beyond taking up time, this type of behavior often can lead to an environment of mistrust, where techs feel the client does not trust their work. No one wants to work under these circumstances.
2: Give too much irrelevant information about an issue
What I really want to know is that you clicked on an attachment that was in an email. I don’t care to know the email was originated by your grandmother on your father’s side and the email had the most darling picture of kittens and puppies playing together in a field of daisies. I also don’t care that you were sitting at your desk, having your usual lunch of yogurt and sliced apples dipped in caramel when everything started to go down the drain. Get to the point, give me the facts, and I will do my job to the best of my ability.
3: Blame the issue on something I (or another tech) did previously
Yes, I’ve worked on PO output issue before. No, what I did last time to change the terms & condition pages that goes with the PO’s to all suppliers and that has zero effect on the fact that now you can’t get a PO print. Although they may be related, they are not directly cause and effect. Trust me on this. I’m not trying to pull a fast one on you, and I am 100 percent sure that the PO Output for communication issue is not related. But on the off chance that you simply will not believe me, I will do everything I can to show you the two are not related in any way. If you still don’t believe me, I have no other consultants who will be happy to have your work — until they’re no longer happy to have your work it’s going to be only me again and again.
4: Lie
This one should not need any explanation. But for those who have yet to experience the liar, let me set the stage. There are times when you log into a user’s machine and discover that something obviously has been done —most of the time not following the do’s and don’ts document guide lines and land in a problem— that can be done only by an end user/supplier. When an end user has made such a mistake, he or she will sometimes try to deny doing anything to cause the problem. That’s fine. But most of the consultants can see through the thinly veiled lie. We know the truth… so it’s okay to admit, rather than to bluff saying I did not do anything wrong that was mentioned in do’s and don’ts document even tough your system shows an error.
5: Take control of conversations
When I’m trying to explain an issue to an end user, it really bugs me when that user takes over the conversation, preventing me from being able to effectively communicate either the problem or the solution. Generally, these people tend to have more to say on the issue than necessary and assume what they have to add to the situation is far more important than what they have to learn. If those end users would stop and listen for once, the reoccurring issue I am trying to help them with might not reoccur. No one is ready to listen.
6: Ask the “quick question”
This one really bothers me. Without fail, a client will call me with a “quick question” that inevitably winds up being a 30-minute phone conversation. My time is valuable through the workday and those quick questions add up. Not only that, but many clients use the quick question to avoid having to pay for support on the real issue. Most often they start with the quick question to find a place where they can point their hand safely to push on their issue. They call us to get a confirmation of their blame is technically right.
7: Chat while I’m concentrating
This goes along with dominating the conversation. Many users, while in the middle of a remote session, want to chat. Sometimes that’s okay, as we are simply waiting for a download or waiting on the progress of a service or application. But when I’m elbows deep in the dirt and grit of trying to resolve a crucial issue, don’t try to chat me up about the weather, the royal wedding, or the price of gas. Please let me resolve the issue at hand (especially one that requires my concentration) and then I will happily chat about whatever (so long as I don’t have a pressing appointment after yours).
Sometimes they chat to deviate your attention not to find the issue was created due to lack of his concentration or ignorance.
8: Insist what their “cousin” or “geek friend” told them was true
I get it. Some companies enlist the help of “Cousin Joe,” or armature “geek friend” who happens to owe the secretary a favor and “knows a thing or two” about computers or the application a specific business uses. Well, “cousin” or “geek friend” didn’t do you any favors when he caused even more problems doing what he did. Not that I am going to slam your cousin and kick your geek friend. But when I say that although cousins and friends intentions were good, what he did was counterproductive to solving the issue at hand, please don’t insist that the cousin was in the right and that I am only trying to bilk you out of more money. Of course, if it ever comes to those kinds of words, you will most certainly be looking for a new support specialist.
9: Undo my work
Raise your hand if you’re guilty of undoing all that work the consultants did with the help of support techs the very second they left. I’ve seen this happen plenty of times. I’ve had clients actually confess to doing this. What those clients don’t realize is that I will more than likely have to come back and redo what I did prior to this visit (I have installed a old java version to test a special type of customization on the client PC which will be required by him and recommended by oracle to do so but the client called support guys for a different issue and on the way they found his java version to be old and would have changed it favoring the client. Then the application forms screen will not open with my clients work PC) — and I’ll also have to fix problems they caused by undoing my work. Do us both a favor and don’t undo my work. This is rarely going to be a smart choice, and the possibility that you’ll be able to resolve the issues created by your tampering are nil.
10: Lack the necessary information
Most of the time it’s like this – “I have an issue in submitting the Quotation through your company’s Oracle web portal” , just like that nothing more. You will not get any information (screen shot of the error page, what they were trying to do at the time when they got the error, how long they are facing the problem, Is this happening with only a particular document/Particular user)
When end users or suppliers call for a help, 10 percent of the time they have all of the information necessary for a successful appointment. The other 90 percent? Not much. In fact, a large portion of that 90 percent require nearly double the normal job time just for fact gathering. So… when you call, please make sure you have all the information needed to complete the appointment. Otherwise, you are wasting my time and running up your bill.
Other peeves?
Do these users sound like some of your clients? If not, you are one lucky consultant/support specialist. If these clients do sound familiar, you have my sympathy. What other user behaviors do you run into that annoy you or impede your work?
Thanks & Regards,
S.Grace Paul Regan
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