(Insert movie title here)

User needs help setting up new wireless keyboard. Sounds simple enough. I approach the user, and she tells me that she is unable to setup her new keyboard because she does not have admin rights. She then proceeds to hand me the keyboard. I flipped it over and removed the battery cap, and *gasp* there are no batteries. So, I show her there are no batteries in the keyboard. She is LOOKING at the location where the batteries go.

"Batteries?! Well, how many do I need?"

"One.... Two... Two batteries" (I really wanted to do "The Count" laugh, but I didn't want her to feel THAT stupid)

She finally returns with batteries, and I "Setup" the keyboard. By setup, I mean... put the batteries in and hit the "Sync" button. The keyboard worked without fail, nor being prompted for Administrator Rights.

"Oh... do you think the batteries are what the issue was?"

"That my bet ma'am."

Hard Drive? More like Hard Headed

On Friday (at about 3:00pm) we were informed that there were several computers that had something on them that they shouldn't, and it needed to be handled as soon as possible. So, our solution was just to go to the users desk and remove the hard drives. The task was simple enough.

"Okay ma'am, I need you to finish/save what you are doing, and power down your computer, I'm here to take your hard drive."

"Okay!" she said in an almost TOO optimistic manner. I was about to find out why.

Two minutes later.

"Okay, we're good. I have your hard drive, and with any luck you COULD have this back my Monday, but there is no gurantee."

"Alright, thanks. Can I go back to work now?"
"Do you have another hard drive?"

"No."

"Well then, seeing as I have your hard drive, no, you can not do any work."

"Oh, well can I at least turn my computer on?"

"Again... I have your hard drive, you can not do anything."

"Oh... well, can I at least get to my personal files?"

/facepalm

Master of NO Domain

"User unable to open links"

That is what my ticket informed is wrong with this "user". If only.

I go into the persons office, and find out that he is a web developer for FEMA, and he is currently working on a new site. However, he is unable to open links, but the people he sends the file to can. I begin to investigate.

Like any 'good tech', I sit down and begin clicking aimlessly to appear to look like I know what I'm doing. I click a few of the links, and everything appears to work fine.

The user comes back, and I explain to him that I am not having any problems opening links, but maybe I'm missing something. So, I repeat the steps I did, and show him that it works. He was amazed.

"How did you do that?"
"Well, I clicked on 'Preview in IE7 and then...."
"Oh... wait... preview in what now? Where is that?" He then proceeded to write down what to press, and where it was located. This button is not hard to find, it is located on the toolbar, and if you hover over it, a little popup appears that says "Preview in IE7".

I feel like if you are in charge of making a webiste for the government, you MIGHT need to know how to you know, develop websites.

Our tax dollars at work

"I need some help."
Sporting my bright yellow FEMA "IT Support Staff" windbreaker, I walk over to assist a user sitting in front of his blank monitor. I am designated as support (Here's something for the pain! That was a little Bad Company humor) for a training session going on regarding the hurricane tracking software we use.
"I do not have Hurrevac installed." Now, these are Clear Box computers. This means, there is no tower to speak of. Everything plugs into a little box, that is controlled by the a server, so for HIS computer to be the only computer without this program, seemed a little odd to me. Now, to this guys credit, he WAS searching his "C:" for the program, so for a MOMENT, I actually believed him. However, once again, my faith in users was shattered.
It took me all of 5 seconds to find the software. Anyone want to guess where it was?

Start -> All Programs.

*sigh*

We have another All-Star!
Once again, this story involves dealing with blackberry's... they are rapidly becoming the most frustrating thing to work with, however, they also supply me with material for this blog, so I can't complain TOO much. However...

I walked into the users office, whom immediately asked me "How do I activate this thing?" I told her she needed to call the number listed and supply the information that is provided on the sheet of paper. Her response: "Well, how am I suppose to call on a phone thats not activated?" ".... with your desk phone?"
"Ohhhhhh..."

Is this thing on?

Please to make sure that your monitor is turned on BEFORE you open a ticket saying that your docking station does not work.