Tech Support Horror Stories Part 1: German OSX

Hey everyone! Just thought I'd share some stories of when I first started doing technical support up until now. I still have crazy customers, but there are some that just stick out in my mind. They are good experiences in dealing with complete assholes, who lack basic understanding of how the internet or hosting works.

In the end, it is ALWAYS your fault. Do the needful!

Mac Mail, I'm sure most of you are familiar with it. Did you know it sometimes breaks when new updates are rolled out to your Mac? If not, now you know! This story begins way back when I first starting doing technical support for a very large 'Walmart of Webhosting' type of company. We oftentimes did simple fixes on Wordpress sites, helped with installing SSLs, and mostly set up email for POP3 or IMAP on customers devices.

So, I used to play this game right? I would time myself and not go into 'End of Shift' status on my phone, meaning I would see if I could fix an issue before it was time to clock out. It was just for the pure reasoning of trying to test myself. I end up getting a call at 2:15 PM ( 15 minutes before I'm supposed to punch out ). It is a very angry German man. He is telling me that his Mac mail stopped working.

So the conversation ends up going something like this. "Thanks for calling support how can I help you?" MY MAC MAIL IS NOT WORKING! "Ok let's go ahead and put in the proper IMAP settings". This goes back and forth for a good 20 minutes or so, until we get the settings right, as he wasn't keen to following my directions, I had even sent to a different email address the exact steps and settings he needed.

Ok, sir do you need assistance with anything else?

Scheisse! THE ENTIRE COMPUTER IS NOW IN GERMAN! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?

"Uh we just completed setting up your Mac Mail and it should be working properly, could you please elaborate on what the situation is now?"

"Mein whole computer is now in German! You changed it from English! I want your manager NOW!"

Insert tons of German curse words being screamed very loudly into my ear

So I end up putting him on hold while I consulted the good old encyclopedia of "Someone out there has fucked this up before.com"

It's at this point I realize that he had updated the geolocation settings, therefore he was to blame, but since he was screaming shit I really didn't understand, I decided to walk him through it. In the end, it was still my fault, but the manager didn't have to get on the phone. I also ended up getting a bit of overtime as well. Always remember everyone, do the needful, it is the best way to get things done.