listen to me

This morning a representative whose desk is across from mine had this happen to him.

Slightly geeky back story:
In order to get a client’s IP address, you have to type “ipconfig” in a DOS window.

Since this isn’t the most common thing for someone to type, we walk users step by step on opening a DOS window and typing this “ipconfig” in letter by letter. Once in awhile, someone will mishear you and type it wrong once. Usually this is corrected after one attempt.

We usually say something along the lines of: “I as in indigo, P as in Peter, C as in Cat, O as in Omega, N as in Nancy…”

OK, not the most exciting intro to a story, but if you’re still reading by this point, here’s the payoff.

When this technician was trying to get the client to type this in, the client was having a lot of problems. After many, many attempts, he was finally able to get the IP address, which allowed him to see the clients screen.

He found the word “ipconfig” misspelled over 9 times. She tried IPCOMSIJ, IPCONSIG, IPCONSIF, IPCONCNFIG, IPCONCNSIG, among others.

This isn’t that funny of a story. This is more meant for you to understand the frustration and level of some users that we work with. This mistake wasn’t made by someone who was a computer novice; it was made by someone who was refusing to listen to directions.

Draw circle. Bang head here.