On the other hand, when I call my
DSL provider to say that a
nameserver or
router is down, I want them to believe I might know what I'm talking about. When I give the
IP address of a downed piece of
network hardware and ask them to
ping it, I don't want to be asked to
reconfigure my
network settings or to
reinstall my
DSL software.
Lest you misunderstand me, it is not especially difficult for that helpdesk tech to check whether I'm right in saying that a given nameserver is down. A simple nslookup www.yahoo.com my.nameserver.here, or the Windows equivalent, will do nicely. It would take less time than to tell me to reboot and read off my network configuration.
See, fact is,
I actually do know more about computers than the tech I just called. I realize that many of the people who say this to
helpdesk technicians are
pulling it out of their asses -- which is why I don't get overly
annoyed while talking to the
technician -- but
it would be nice if you folks would
listen once in a while.