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That icky feeling when a client calls with a downed server and you have no clue how to fix it (idea)
See all of That icky feeling when a client calls with a downed server and you have no clue how to fix it
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(
idea
)
by
Ground Control
Wed Jan 24 2001 at 17:27:43
Here's what to do:
DON'T PANIC
! Take a deep breath and remember that it's not
your
server that's down.
Put them
on hold
, immediately. This is important. From experience I know that it is ten times as difficult to fix a problem with a
customer
yammering in your ear. They will inevitably distract you with irrelevancies: how much
money
they are paying for your service, questions about
software
that you haven't touched for years ("So would you recommend
Windows 95
or
Windows 98
for my home machine?"), amusingly innacurate guesses as to what the problem is.
Check the obvious things first. Do not assume that the customer has, or that they did it right if they did.
Trust your
intuition
. If you get a feeling that you should check such-and-such a system, it's worth a look.
If you can't figure it out, take the client off hold and
lie
. Tell them it's a
hardware
problem and you'll need more time. Get them off the phone at all costs. Then go to
lunch
.
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