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UNIX Hints & Hacks |
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Chapter 9: Users |
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| 9.4.3 Let Them Get Away with Little Things | |
| 9.4.4 Make the Call to the Vendor |
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We have seen that the little things in life can leave a big impression. If we apply this basic rule of life to supporting our users, we should be able to leave a larger impression on them. There are little things that we take for granted that can impact how users treat us in the future.
You are always busy. You are an administrator. There is always something on a task list that needs to be done. Whether you run into users in the hall or they call on the phone, you are usually engulfed in something else. You must make every effort to provide users with your undivided attention. Yes, you must listen. If you listen they will see that you care enough to stop what you are doing and pay attention to their situation.
The reality of the situation, of course, is that you are probably trying to fix the problem while you are listening to them. If you are on the phone with the user, all they will hear is that you are typing on the keyboard while you are talking to them. Make sure that they understand you are looking into their situation while you are on the phone with them. Tell them the things that you are looking at and the different commands you are trying. Let them know what the results are as you go through various files on the system. They may be able to provide some feedback as to what is working and isn't when they issue various commands. By listening to them, they can help you to solve their immediate problem.
Help users with the littlest of changes when needed. Remember, a simple command for you may not be so easy for some of the users. Try not to belittle the users or talk down to them. The more you treat them as an equal, the more they will respect you in the end.
Some users are intimidated by the look, feel, and the price of their workstation. At first they treat it as a PC, but when they find out the real price, they tend to shy away from it. From time to time, talk users through various simple commands that are new to them. Help them with the simple, copy, chmod, chown, and maybe on the use of Telnet and FTP. This will help the user gain confidence. They will respect you for allowing them to learn something new without patronizing them
Occasionally, you will not know anything about an application that the user is running. The user may come to you to find out whether they are experiencing a system problem or a problem with the application. After you have determined that it is a problem with the application and it is out of your control because you don't know enough about the application to fix the problem, recommend that the user call the vendor. Users don't always want to call the vendors because they don't know information about the system, such as the serial number, hostid, system type, and software revisions and versions.
The best thing to do in this instance is to make the initial contact with the application vendor. You will probably get a dispatcher who will pass your call to an engineer. If so, you can relay the current problem, give the name of the user and phone number, and magically to the user, the vendor will call them wanting to help. Users love this. They sometimes don't figure out that it was you who opened the call with the vendor. However, if they do put two and two together, they will appreciate you for going the extra mile for them.
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UNIX Hints & Hacks |
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Chapter 9: Users |
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