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Rach
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 2:31 pm    Post subject: Daft Council Queries Reply with quote

I've just found a list of daft questions council workers have been asked. http://news.aol.co.uk/uk-news/councils-baffled-by-unusual-queries/article/20100819193532155326004?icid=main|uk-hp|dl1|link7|http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.co.uk%2Fuk-news%2Fcouncils-baffled-by-unusual-queries%2Farticle%2F20100819193532155326004

Do any of you have to answer really silly questions at your jobs?
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Lamiaceae
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 21, 2010 1:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The article wrote:

"The fact that councils are so often the first port of call for residents who are seeking a solution to their problems shows just how central a role councils play in the lives of their communities."


I disagree, it's the emergency services that get it

http://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/units_and_departments/communications/999_calls/

Quote:

Do any of you have to answer really silly questions at your jobs?


My very first 'proper' job was working for a small 'jack of all trades' computer set up, and I was troubleshooting some random Office 97 problem over the phone for some other business.

Fault was that they were trying to do something which hadn't been installed so I said the fix was easy, we'd just install the bit they were missing, and instructed them to put teh cd in the drive that said 'Office 97' on it.

They said they had done this, so I started talking them through adding the component they needed. When the error came up that the Office cd wasn't in the drive, I explained to them to look at the cd to check if it had been damaged or scratched which they said it hadn't. So I had them try another cd, just to check that it wasnt the CD Rom, that read fine.

Admittedly I was slightly baffled but had them try the cd in another computer which they said loaded up fine. I've no idea still to this day what made me ask this, but I asked what was written on the cd. They replied 'Windows 95'

I pointed out this was the wrong cd, and they needed the Office 97 cd. They got pretty defensive and asked me couldnt I just get what I needed off that?

So, stupid question was 'Can I use a completely different cd to the one you've asked for?'


Skip forward a few years and 1 job and I get a phone call from a sales weasel.

Before broadband was as widespread as what it was today, we had our sales reps dial directly into head office for them to pick up their emails, and one of our sales reps was having trouble doing so. After going through all the usual troubleshooting and everything coming back fine I started to scrap the barrel of what was left. I had a work colleague stand in front of the bank of modems and watch for any signs of life, while I was sat watching the RAS monitor ( tells me what each modem was doing ) and neither of us could even see him even making any form of connection, he just wasn't getting through.

Sales weasel had started to become quite irate and that I couldnt be very good at my job if I couldn't figure it out by now.

Deciding the fault was more his end than ours I asked him to put a normal phone into the line he was using and see if he could dial one of the modems, I explained he'd get what would sound like a fax line but at least i'd know the line was working and the fault would be his laptop.

He went very quiet for a bit, and suggested using another phone line to plug his laptop in. Smelling blood and after just being ranted at down teh phone I wasn't going to let him off, so I told him that the fault would still remain until it was solved and told him to hook up the normal phone like i'd asked.

He meekly told me how he had 2 phone lines in his house and that work paid the bill on his 'work' line and he had his private line. But because his daughter had been running uphuge phone bills on his work line he'd had an outgoing call block put on it.

I pointed out he couldnt be very good at basic things like 'telephones' if he couldnt figure out that call blocks do precisely what they say on the tin.

Stupid question asked - Can I use my computer on a phone line ive had blocked?

Same company a few months later. Marketing would normally have a digital camera they'd use for various product shots etc but if needed it got lent out to various other people and departments.

On this certain day, all of marketing were going to be on holiday ( marketing are normally on holiday anyway so I dont see the difference ) but one of them had left instructions on how to use the camera. I had read the instructions myself, they had done a pretty good job of it they were very straight forward and explained everything you needed to know without getting to caught up in details.

On the fateful day, I got a phone call from someone having trouble working the camera, they needed to download the pictures but couldnt. I explained that there should be some instructions nearby and to try them if they had any problems give me a a call but they shouldn't need to because they were very well written. I however, get a phone call anyway 'the camera just says waiting' they said. What do I do now? - I asked them what do the instructions tell them to do next? - they commented that there weren't anymore steps that was it.

I explained you needed to turn the sheet of paper over to read the next set of instructions.

Stupid question - Can you come over and just do it for me, i'm too incapable of reading, maybe you can wipe my arse sometime as well?

Just a stupid question - Do I need a sim card in my phone for it to work?

Phone call from boardroom mentioning that 'super hooooge very big television wasn't producing any sound could I go over and check out why'.

TV audio inputs hadn't been connected to audio out on pc. This would actually not of been bad, if the request was 'the tv isn't producing sound because it's not plugged in and we don't know where to put it'. But it wasn't, on arriving the audio jacks were plugged into the tv, which they were very quick to tell me that 'they'd already tried that' - following the cable I discovered it to be loose by one of the managers feet'.

Surely seeing some loose cables... 2+2=4... mention it on the phone... No perhaps not...



I could go on...
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