[geeks] IBM rant

[Lionel Peterson]

>From: "Jonathan C. Patschke" <jp at celestrion.net>
>Date: 2006/11/30 Thu PM 06:44:30 CST
>To: The Geeks List <geeks at sunhelp.org>
>Subject: Re: [geeks] IBM rant

>On Thu, 30 Nov 2006, Sheldon T. Hall wrote:
>
>>> With patter like that, Bill, you could get a job with Dell Tech
>>> Support.
>>
>> "Hello, this is IT.  Have you tried switching it off and on again?"
>
>One of the folks[0] who worked tech support for me at $ISP answered a
>call with "SHUT UP AND REBOOT" before slamming down the phone.  It was
>simultaneously one of the funniest and horrific things I'd ever seen at
>that job.
>
>
>[0] Who tended to be -extremely- even-tempered with customers, which was
>     what made it so shocking.

I'd love to make up some business cards with my contact info on one side, and on the other a hand full of things to try before contacting me for help:

1) Is it plugged in?
2) Is it turned on?
3) Have tried power-cycling the system?
4) Did you back-up your important data/files/email?

Before you call, be prepared to answer the following questions:

a) When did it last work?
b) What has recently changed?
c) If it comes to it, can I rebuild the system from scratch?

Of course this would be for personal use, not professionsl ;^)

Lionel