Need assistance

[Thorny]

On Thu, 26 Mar 2009 10:07:15 -0300, Derek Broughton posted:

> Thorny wrote:
> 
>> On Tue, 24 Mar 2009 22:35:12 -0300, Derek Broughton posted:
>> 
>>> Since I do some work for a University helpdesk - for a school that
>>> doesn't mandate what equipment you use - I can sometimes wish we had
>>> that policy :-)  But _I_ wouldn't want to go to such a school!
>> 
>> Oh! An IT nightmare, my condolences Derek.
>> 
>> Given that, it's not surprising that I sometimes think your comments
>> are brusque. :-)
> 
> It's completely different.

Well, I was referring to the frustration and stress caused by first-tier
support for inexperienced users. As I have mentioned previously, your
answers don't put me off, in the old days there were people who were just
plain nasty, although knowledgeable.

>I've got no time for people who come here _expecting_ anyone to give them
>solutions they can't be bothered to try to work out.  But I'll dash off a
>quick hint.  I'll go overboard for anybody who shows signs of trying to
>help themselves.

This, in my never humble opinion, is the "True Spirit". And, I hope people
reading this take note of your comment.

> otoh, for the university helpdesk, those are paying students who _do_
> have a right to expect help, and I'm being paid (very little) to do it.
> Actually it's only two hours a week, and it's not the money as much as
> the percs :-)

Ah!
 
>> It's a bit like trying to help people on a mailing list or forum or
>> newsgroup, eh? I imagine a lot of your friends think support is easy
>> for you too, so they should be able to ask anytime they want to.
> 
> Living in the middle of nowhere pretty well limits the personal requests
> :-)

Oh that it would be thus for me. I live on a small island, stuck with
dialup too. And, yet they find me and ask that I drop by sometime
(although they usually mean now) and help with a small problem they are
having, usually expect to pay about $20 for two or three hours work. :-)

OTOH, I'm retired and get to only help the people I choose to, much better
than when I had to live in a city, fly somewhere and work until the system
was back up.