Why do non-IT people get SO SCARED?

[Fritzo]

Been in IT for 20 years. I have much worse stories. People love to get the "glorified copier -repairman" in trouble to bring them down a notch (I was called that once).

 

[blankslate]

Actually non-IT people secretly know everything IT people know and are just brilliant trolls....

no really....

Yes, I'm completely serious....

Dead Serious....

No...

I'm....

not...

Trolling....

You....


___________

 

[RelaxTheMind]

Depending on company and policy, if an IT guy is supposed to go replace a mouse and finds that the keyboard is broken or an ethernet cable is unplugged, they are only allowed to fix the mouse and not even touch anything else, even if they see it unless stated to fix or diagnose in the service ticket. In those same environments the non-IT employees arent allowed to attempt any sort of software or hardware fixes and changes even if they know what the problem is and can fix it.

ive worked with both sides of the spectrum. Fix whats on the ticket as well as being the all in one IT dept.

IMO the people that "think" they know how to fix things or attempt fixes out of frustration are the ones that break the most things.

chances are they probably did try to fix it and are pitchforking your actions to put blame on you just in case it really is found to be broken.

 

[glenn1]

Here's the thing in the workplace - "Any other duties assigned to fit the needs of the company"

I'm guessing you've worked union jobs where "separation of duties" is a thing. I see the value of separation of duties in certain instances, and I've worked union jobs where that is a thing.

On the other hand, I've also worked plenty of jobs that had a formal job description, yet also said this on the job description "ANY other duties to advance the needs of business and the company". It was made clear to people on hire that, yes, you may be getting hired as <insert job title here> but you better expect to be called on to do things outside the scope of that job title.

So, there are two ways of doing it. Sure, we could debate which way is better. There are pros and cons for each.

Here is my observation working in both types of job cultures. At companies where they had a strict separation of duties, I NEVER grew as a person or employee. Nor did anyone else. Everyone stayed in their little niche and eventually stagnated and become completely dependent on the company, because, over the years, they had developed no skills that would allow them to be competitive as an employee in the larger marketplace. Many of them hated their lives.

On the other hand, I've also worked at companies in which, if there was a problem, whether or not it was typically your direct job was IRRELEVANT. You were expected to at a minimum TRY to solve the problem. These companies expected you to be competent, to learn new things, and to break out from your comfort zone. When I worked at these companies, I grew as person in phenomenal ways. So did many of the other people I worked with. It was not uncommon for someone to jump from doing sales to doing logistics to asking to help out with marketing and later end up in the marketing department.

I'm just saying, there are way too many people out there falling into the "I'm going to bunker down in my niche and fear learning anything new. I'm also going to fear even trying because I am scared I might get blamed if anything goes wrong."

BTW... you know what I did at previous jobs when I made a mistake? "Hey boss, gotta tell you... my bad, but I messed this up trying this thing. I'll fix it though or get with Tom and we'll get it back to where it needs to be" Boss's typical response: "Oh cool. Thanks for letting me know, and good job trying to take the initiative."

FAILURE IS NOT THAT FREAKING TERRIBLE PEOPLE. And guess what? The most successful people are open to failure as long as they are making a good faith effort to TRY.

&#8220;Failure isn&#8217;t fatal, but failure to change might be&#8221; &#8211; John Wooden

&#8220;Everything you want is on the other side of fear.&#8221; - Jack Canfield

&#8220;Success is most often achieved by those who don&#8217;t know that failure is inevitable.&#8221; - Coco Chanel

&#8220;Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.&#8221; - Robert F. Kennedy

"Sometimes by losing a battle you find a new way to win the war." - Donald Trump

"I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying. " - Michael Jordan

"Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. " - Theodore Roosevelt

"Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence." - Colin Powell

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. "- Thomas Edison

"Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out. " - Benjamin Franklin

Hey OP a.k.a. Help Desk monkey, let me give you a bit of advice to help you avoid making a career limiting move. In your current role you want to be pretty much pleasant but otherwise invisible when you go about resolving issues and closing tickets for people who neither care about this shit nor want to know much more than the just above zero they already know. End Users are the same folks who still use AOL for their home ISP and just want to call the magic internal support number and have some nameless, faceless, forgettable Ooompa Loompa come out and magically fix their problem without making them feel stupid. Doing what you did and alarming the end user sheep from their calm grazing is exactly what you don't want to do. In the scenario you just described, just be glad if that supervisor doesn't email a complaint about you to the CIO about how you were "rude" and nearly broke his printer.

 

[turtile]

A huge part of the problem is lack of communication. There is always the issue of non IT end users being unable to clearly describe issues. This is common to ALL industries. The other big issue is the cult like elitism cultivated by IT departments everywhere and the almost total lack of communication and feedback from IT departments.

I see this everywhere. I don't know how these people get paid so much when they can't communicate properly. I'm not in IT but 90% of the time, I can tell when they actually mean something different. I'll have to rephrase my question 3 or 4 different times until they can get the idea. (getting closer every time).

It's nothing to do with knowledge!

 

[Red Squirrel]

There needs to be mandatory IT training for new employees. How to use the phone system, how to use the printer, load paper, clear jams, scan, fax, etc.

That, and enforcing certain rules, like "IT will not help users with basic programs or tasks - you should know how to use these already" The super idiot stuff actually wastes their time. It's like calling the maintenance/HVAC guy to keep showing you how to use the thermostat.

 

[JM Aggie08]

If you knew nothing of cars, and yours suddenly backfired, and you had no prior knowledge of what a backfire was, would you not be in the same boat as your customer in the story above?

 

[John Connor]

I'm the family "IT" guy. My uncle who is VERY computer illiterate called me and asked how to9 chat in Facebook. I said there should be an option in the IM Facebook thingy. He told me he tried Chrome. So I team viewer into his computer and Chrome isn't even installed. He just downloaded it. Perhaps he thought that was "installing." So I install Chrome and show him how to chat in Facebook. Facebook, in their infinite wisdom doesn't allow Firefox or other browsers that I know of to use chat except Chrome. In fact, there Ad management system only allows Chrome.

Yeah. I can believe the stupidity of some people in computers. It's like a completely different thing for them. I often wonder how much malware adware crap is on their computer at home.

 

[John Connor]

If you knew nothing of cars, and yours suddenly backfired, and you had no prior knowledge of what a backfire was, would you not be in the same boat as your customer in the story above?

I don't know jack shit about cars. But I am somewhat mechanically inclined and would know it could be a timing belt.

I rather build, maintain and assemble a computer or a mountain bike. Besides, cars no a days are a BITCH to work on! My dad was a mechanic so I hear about it all the time. LOL

 

[Imp]

The worst incident I ever had was with an IT person.

Told this story before, but I got my new work computer, it was a loaner (unbeknownst to me), set it up on my own in a day because I knew the drill. IT guy got pissed at me, and he gave me shit and attitude for an entire year before I transferred elsewhere. It really didn't seem like that guy knew what he was doing -- his replacement did, the difference was night and day.

 

[skimple]

Hmmm...its very possible that your acumen for working with gadgets is stronger then your acumen for working with people.

The fundamental problem here is that you failed to establish trust with the person that you were there to support. As with most tech people, you came in with the intent to fix the problem quickly and get on with your life.

However, I think you fail to realize that many (most) people are perfectly comfortable with not knowing or caring the slightest about how their gadgets work. There are different things that are important to them - such as human interactions.

I recently had to chair a meeting in which one department was very agitated that the service reps who were coming in to work on the equipment did not come in and introduce themselves, did not ask what the groups problems were, and did not stick around and tell them if something had been fixed.

Did the reps show up quickly - yes
Did the reps fix the problem promptly - yes
Was the customer satisfied - no

Only part of your job as a service tech is fixing the equipment. The other part is making the customer happy. A good service tech can deliver the message that the machine will be down 3-5 days while still making the customer feel that thy're getting the best possible service.

Diagnose the person who you'll be interacting first, and figure out what they need. Then worry about actually fixing the gadget.

 

[isekii]

Think of it this way. Because of people like her ~ you have a job.

 

[Exterous]

I've never worked in another industry so I don't know if this is common but in IT get used to people being scared or uncomfortable when their various magic boxes don't work. The reasons vary from fears of accidentally breaking something to legitimate knowledge that they are paid a lot of money to do things other than deal with finicky magic boxes.

I think its also helpful to realize that a lot of people are not interested in doing things themselves. I mean there are companies you can pay to put up Christmas lights on your house! Personally I think people's reluctance to do things on their own can be dumb in a lot of situations but you'll run into plenty of them out there and they keep other people employed.

There will also be the repetitive explanations about why they need to change their password or why raid arrays in redundant data centers with access control should be used for certain situations even though they are more expensive than the 2TB external hard drive from Best Buy

So vent and eye roll with your coworkers or here but I doubt that running into that sort of thing will change so figure out a productive way to deal with it. One thing I have found that helps a lot of constructive feedback. Once it was fixed politely offer to show them what you did, explain why is makes a noise when you pull the panel off, and show them where the jam was. Seem happy and jovial when you show them how you did it. Maybe even make up a story about how "the first time I pulled one of these panels off I thought I was going to break it but its just how they were designed"

Its been my experience that many people, myself included, need others to know when they are right. Find a constructive outlet for that. If someone says you didn't notify them of a change instead of pointing out that you did but they just deleted the email* say "It looks like the email got deleted. Is there a filter or flag we can setup that would make these more visible?" It avoids using an accusatory "you did something" and can start a dialogue on the issue. This also lets figure out that you did actually tell them but they messed up by deleting the email without reading it. People don't like it when you point out that they screwed up or were dumb but if you give them the information they can usually work that out on their own without getting defensive or combative.

*yes email is not always the best way to notify but this is an example

 

[Exterous]

Again, lack of communication on EVERYONES part is the single biggest problem.

Hey I can only put so many different colors and exclamation points in my subject line. My old way worked well but HR had a problem with me standing behind people pointing a gun at their head until they finished reading it

If they would just do their work right the first time there wouldn't be much of an issue.

Well to do things right that usually means our budget request needs to get approved as requested. Instead its usually whittled down to the point where some cobbled together contraption serves as the interface between two systems we hacked together by forcing them to operate outside of recommended specifications.

"Why did this break?!"
"Well with this budget we were only able to get down to 4 single points of failure instead of the 0 single points of failure we originally requested"

 

[Stopsignhank]

I've never worked in another industry so I don't know if this is common but in IT get used to people being scared or uncomfortable when their various magic boxes don't work. The reasons vary from fears of accidentally breaking something to legitimate knowledge that they are paid a lot of money to do things other than deal with finicky magic boxes.

I think its also helpful to realize that a lot of people are not interested in doing things themselves. I mean there are companies you can pay to put up Christmas lights on your house! Personally I think people's reluctance to do things on their own can be dumb in a lot of situations but you'll run into plenty of them out there and they keep other people employed.

There will also be the repetitive explanations about why they need to change their password or why raid arrays in redundant data centers with access control should be used for certain situations even though they are more expensive than the 2TB external hard drive from Best Buy

So vent and eye roll with your coworkers or here but I doubt that running into that sort of thing will change so figure out a productive way to deal with it. One thing I have found that helps a lot of constructive feedback. Once it was fixed politely offer to show them what you did, explain why is makes a noise when you pull the panel off, and show them where the jam was. Seem happy and jovial when you show them how you did it. Maybe even make up a story about how "the first time I pulled one of these panels off I thought I was going to break it but its just how they were designed"

Its been my experience that many people, myself included, need others to know when they are right. Find a constructive outlet for that. If someone says you didn't notify them of a change instead of pointing out that you did but they just deleted the email* say "It looks like the email got deleted. Is there a filter or flag we can setup that would make these more visible?" It avoids using an accusatory "you did something" and can start a dialogue on the issue. This also lets figure out that you did actually tell them but they messed up by deleting the email without reading it. People don't like it when you point out that they screwed up or were dumb but if you give them the information they can usually work that out on their own without getting defensive or combative.

*yes email is not always the best way to notify but this is an example

:thumbsup: This is gold right here.

 

[Kaido]

Dude, job security.

Yes, this. If people learned how easy IT was, we'd all be out of jobs I basically do 2 things:

1. Fiddle with the problem until it works

2. Google for answers & then repeat #1

It's like looking underneath your hood if you're not a car guy...it looks scary & complex and people don't want to break things due to their ignorance. If you're a car guy, it's a piece of cake because you're familiar with it. As IT people, it's easy to laugh at how scared people get of computers, but think about it from their perspective:

1. They made a significant investment into their computer. Even with as cheap as computers are getting these days, $250 for a laptop is still $250.

2. If they do mess something up, they run the risk of breaking it & voiding the warranty, which will cost them money.

3. They could easily get a virus, which could get their bank account passwords, among other things.

Imagine being dropped in a warzone with no knowledge of how to operate a gun. Obviously it's not as bad as that, but IT-related stuff costs people money, causes a lot of headaches, and has the potential to create a lot of problems if people aren't careful with it. To us in the know, it's clear & obvious, but to a lot of people, it's not. TL;DR - people get scared for legitimate reasons. Sometimes it's an overreaction, but you can royally screw things up if you're not careful. Ever have someone delete an entire shared drive because they fat-fingered it? Or infect a network with a virus because they unwittingly opened a well-crafted phishing email with a zero-day exploit attached? I could go on & on, but yeah, there are reasons why people act the way they do, and it's not because they're stupid or dumb, it's simply not their area of expertise & they don't want to goof things up.

 

[BurnItDwn]

People buy a printer, they expect it to work correctly 100% of the time, doesnt matter if they load it wrong, or if they dont maintain it at all, they expect the printer to work perfectly forever. Any time it is jammed, they think it means the printer has a bad defect and should be recalled and replaced or fixed so that it is not able to jam any more.

You see printer jams as simple fact of life, they think of it as being a defective printer.

 

[Jeff7]

It's not just IT departments - anything mechanical frightens a lot of employees, and people in general. On the other hand, it's really annoying when some of the techs are clueless. "You have too many files on your desktop. It's going to slow down your computer significantly." I probably create 25 word documents a week, and during the following week or so, I often have to retrieve one of those files on a moments notice - 10 seconds to have the file opened and sent to the printer. Once I put them in folders, they're not going to be in the same folder, requiring me to dig down through a few folders to get to them.

Ugh.
Yeah. Or lots of programs so I can access them quickly. (Or just because too much stuff is happening at once and I never close down the old windows. Two-row taskbar...)

The other thing that's helped me is Voidtools' Everything, a file indexer for your PC, and you can also have it index networked drives.

It's not the days of Windows 95 anymore. WinXP+ can handle many programs open at once, and the PCs here have 2GB RAM minimum.

Off topic, I have a sudden urge to binge watch Star Trek DS9.

Thanks OP

"'Miles, my replicator's broken!' 'Chief, can you fix the turbolift?' Chief, the phaser coils are out of alignment again.' Bloody hell."




(...something like that.)

 

[vi edit]

I'm "IT" but I've never been trained on printers. Never looked at the exploded engineering diagram of a Xerox printer or had to disassemble them. But I'm curious enough that I'll open the door on the back of a printer or pull out the toner and find a paper jam and pull it out.

Or on the fancy office sized copy machines they have pictures all over the device or even a touch screen that tells you where the paper is stuck or where to look. It's just easier to poke around for a minute or two and try and fix it myself than wait on the phone for the help desk and log a ticket and have a tech come out.

Same thing this morning at my house. My kitchen sink wasn't draining. I figured the kids dumped a pile of food down the disposal. So I flipped the switch on the wall and the thing shook the sink and made a horrible noise. I turn it off and grab a flashlight. Look down in there and see a spoon bent up. Go grab the kitchen tongs and pluck it out. Try the disposal again it works fine.

Not a plumber but just took a few seconds to look at it and unjam it. Some people are just more mechanical and curious minded than others.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Hi everyone -

I have a question, and I am honestly looking for some reasons for this.... mostly because I just am starting to find it fascinating after an incident that took place today. (and I am starting to see a pattern....)

For the last 7 months, I've been working a new job doing IT support for a chain of large corporate offices and major hospital downtown. Basically, I get trouble tickets sent to my phone, and I am the one who physically goes out and either 1. Solves the problem. or 2. Calls in reinforcements if turns out to be anything too crazy. Most of the problems I solve are mind numbingly simple, and I often wonder if people just make trouble tickets just to play mind games.

Anyway, this morning I got a routine ticket sent to my phone. Paper jam in a printer. Ok, routine, right?

I go in this 80 floor high-rise staffed with highly educated college grads working in a professional corporate environment. I go to the floor I need to go to and one of the accountants shows me to the printer. She is really upset. Tells me a story of how they can't do their job without the printer and need to print RIGHT NOW. I tell her no problem, it's just a paper jam (which they should have been able to solve themselves...) and I will take care of it.

So, I open open the back panel, which makes a "cracking" sound since it just a pull off type of panel. Her eyes suddenly go wide and she is like "What's that??? Is it broken???". Once again I assure her that it is just a paper jam and everything is fine. I start pulling out the jammed paper and she suddenly FLIPS HER SH**. She starts saying "You're breaking it! You're breaking it!". I assure her again that nothing is breaking and I need to pull the jammed paper out. Then she says "I'm getting a supervisor!" and she runs off. I am thinking to myself "ARE YOU FU**** KIDDING ME? WTF?" So, anyway, one minute later the paper jam is resolved and the printer is back in service.

Now, I know some sh** is about to go down so I have to stand there waiting for five minutes for this show to play out. She shows up with the supervisor and the supervisor seems noticeably worried. He asks me "So I guess the printer is out of commission?" and I say "Um... no... as I told her it was just a paper jam. It's back in service....". Then he says "Oh so it's not broken?" and I once again say "no... it was just a paper jam." Then he goes "ok, you didn't do anything to it that would... um, how do I say, cause anyone to ask questions about the way you fixed it right?" Then I was like "No, it's good. Have a good day" and I walked out. I stayed professional, but I was enraged at this outright display of stupidity.

This was one of the worst incidences of what I am now noticing is people getting literally SCARED/AFRAID of things they have no freaking reason to be scared/afraid about. Basically, when anything goes wrong, all these non-IT people freak out. They act like helpless children thinking the world is ending. They always assuming some MAJOR is wrong and this is a MAJOR problem requiring MAJOR skill to resolve. 99% of the time these are problems anyone who just took the slightest bit of effort to solve would be able to fix.

The problem is, they are too afraid to try. I have suggested to people before that, should they have a problem like a paper jam, they can first TRY TO SOLVE IT THEMSELVES. And, if they fail, then put in a ticket. Most of the time these suggestions are met with "No, I don't want to mess anything up/break anything". I assure them that it is unlikely they will break anything, and, even if they did, we can fix it if it comes to that. I further suggested to them that, instead of thinking they are helpless, they might actually learn a new skill by trying to solve simple problems themselves.

So, anyway, my question is - has anyone else noticed this kind of behavior from non-IT people? If so, why do people freak out and get so scared? Why do they assume they are helpless and that they are completely incapable of solving even the smallest of problems?

Also, when non-IT people get scared and basically accuse you of doing something wrong (because they are incompetent and have no idea what is going on) does it piss you off too?

Just needed to rant.

Story of my life everyday and bolded that one part for emphasis. I fucking hate those people. They always think they have to have #1 priority but don't think there are a ton of other people who came first having issues.

This is why I hate IT and want to get out.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I have learned to play into expectations.

"Yeah that computer hates you. I think I can get it to like you. "

"Yeah we better move your monitor to the other side of the desk for a better response."

"Yeah that particular printer has a computer curse, but management won't pay for a digital priest."

Sometimes they figure out you are making fun of them, sometimes you gave them the rationale they needed to cling to your solution and deal with the bumps in the road. Either way its a win for you.

 

[sdifox]

Just mutter "damn Tribbles."

 

[Jeff7]

If you knew nothing of cars, and yours suddenly backfired, and you had no prior knowledge of what a backfire was, would you not be in the same boat as your customer in the story above?

If I asked someone for input or service though, I'd trust/assume that they know what they're doing.
If it's "something that happens sometimes," well, ok.
Or if it goes for service: "Here, it's broken, you know what's wrong with it. I'll let you fix it now."
How's that go?
$50/hr basic rate.
$100/hr if you watch.
$200/hr if you help.

Depending on company and policy, if an IT guy is supposed to go replace a mouse and finds that the keyboard is broken or an ethernet cable is unplugged, they are only allowed to fix the mouse and not even touch anything else, even if they see it unless stated to fix or diagnose in the service ticket. In those same environments the non-IT employees arent allowed to attempt any sort of software or hardware fixes and changes even if they know what the problem is and can fix it.

ive worked with both sides of the spectrum. Fix whats on the ticket as well as being the all in one IT dept.

IMO the people that "think" they know how to fix things or attempt fixes out of frustration are the ones that break the most things.

chances are they probably did try to fix it and are pitchforking your actions to put blame on you just in case it really is found to be broken.

Ick. That's a very different culture from what I'm used to where I work. If you find a problem and do nothing about it and don't even say something to management so that the proper people could address it, depending on what it is, it could potentially result in mild disciplinary action.
"You swapped the mouse but left them with a broken keyboard? Why? We're not so hard-up for money that we can't afford a new $20 keyboard. Replace it. Immediately."

Some companies don't trust employee discretion though. :\

Welcome to IT. You are in a position that basically nobody notices you until something goes wrong and then you're under a spotlight from everyone in the company from the lowest data entry clerk to the CEO.

I'd recommend pulling the paper jam out in a less alarming way next time because if this printer fails again you're going to be the one they blame.

Ugh, yes.
"The computer was broken so I asked you to fix it. 4 years later it stopped working. What did you do to it?!"

Hell, even if they replace the computer, it's still going to be your fault. "It's plugged into the same outlet strip that you replaced when you were here after the previous one was destroyed by lightning. It's got to be the power strip that's the problem, right?"

So you torment a guy that clearly has some anxiety disorder just for a laugh? Nice one....I'm sure he appreciates that.

Brings to mind a nice Rick&Morty line:
"In bird culture, that is considered a dick move."

Meh. There has to be something to keep the accountants entertained so they don't hurl themselves out a window.

So hey, props to you for potentially making someone miserable for your own amusement, you wonderful gentleman you. Gotta inflate that mighty ego somehow, right?

Not sure. If they would just do their work right the first time there wouldn't be much of an issue. Imagine if each of the other infrastructure systems in the office needed a full time position to keep them up and running. If everyone knew Dave the HVAC guy on a first name basis you might think there were bigger problems.

A computer is also a machine with a billion electronic switches that can perform an immense variety of tasks.
A database system can be enormously complex. HVAC systems have some nuances that you need experience in, but they also aren't quite as versatile, and thus prone to obscure bugs, as a server running multiple applications for dozens or hundreds of connected machines.

 

[BurnItDwn]

vi_edit ... what you are talking about is "basic problem solving and trouble shooting" skills.

Lots of people don't seem to have them for some reason. They seem to completely lack the mindset and dont even know where to start or how to approach the problem.

They call a plumber before they even ask google.

 

[Brainonska511]

Honestly, I have met people that can't even change a lightbulb which makes me wonder what the hell they do at home.

Burn down the house and buy a new home when a light burns out.