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phone tech support for your parents

Controller_7Controller_7 4,052 Posts
edited January 2008 in Strut Central
Does anyone else ever get those calls from their parents asking how to do something on the computer? Usually it's my dad, but my brother decided to give his old laptop to my mom, so now both of them are calling. My parents have netflix and somehow order movies, but when I say "ok, close that window and then..." I get "what's the window?" and I have to respond with "see the x, the minus, and the square in the corner""aww yes, ok, so I click the x."my dad didn't grow up with any sort of computers, so it's totally foreign to him. This makes phone tech support very frustrating. He'll call me and say "Tommy, I was typing and everything dissapeared." I say "push the control button and then push z." I always get "where's the control button."anybody else ever go through this? I am sure tech support people get calls like this all the time. It's so unbelievably hard to describe how to do something when the other person doesn't even really know the fundamentals.

  Comments

  • edith headedith head 5,106 Posts
    yes, i get calls from my mom all the time asking me how to check her voicemail. it drives me crazy. she also gave up on trying to program numbers into her phone so now whenever i see her she gives me a list of names and numbers for me to put in and it takes forever.

  • Big_ChanBig_Chan 5,088 Posts
    Comedy. My mom and her friends call me all the time for this type of shit. They know I work at a software company so they think I can fix anything over the phone! LOL.
  • sbonesbone 144 Posts
    yeh im one of the lucky ones who dont my mum re-married an it tech guy so thankyou for not calling.. but my boss gets phone calls all the time from his parents and it drives him crazy ...
  • kennykenny 1,024 Posts

    for my parents, they bug me for palying DVDs the MOST! they always get confused with the remote controls and the buttons, and all that drama.

    also mom like to surf the net when she's home during the day so sometime she would ask about going online and how to type google search.

    one time she got this pop-up ad that freaked her out and she just left the screen on all day till i got home after work cuz she has no idea what happened and no idea what to do...

    also dad usually ask me to check his email for him and one time he saw "Paris Hilton Sex" junk mail and thought The Hilton Hotel sent him a special offer lol! i was like "Noooo dad, thats some nasty emails right thurr, don't click or mom will get mad." haha
  • Big_ChanBig_Chan 5,088 Posts

    also dad usually ask me to check his email for him and one time he saw "Paris Hilton Sex" junk mail and thought The Hilton Hotel sent him a special offer lol! i was like "Noooo dad, thats some nasty emails right thurr, don't click or mom will get mad." haha

    LOL! Paris Hilton was sending your dad a "special" offer!!!!!
  • Controller_7Controller_7 4,052 Posts
    yes, the pop ups are made for people like this. I think my dad belives all those "your computer is in danger. Click here to protect yourself from viruses" pop ups. Sometimes they make them look like windows prompts and I think he believes it.

    His computer is so slow now that when you click to open a program it will open about a minute later. I have no intenion of fixing it or getting them a new one though because it will only be destroyed the random clicking. Sometimes he'll change the appearance of a window, like minimize the address bar or move it off to the side, and I'll ask him how it happened and he'll have no idea.

    I spent 45 minutes trying to help them hook up the dvd, vcr, and dish box. It was a 5 minute job tops.

    I taped instructions on the back of the remotes so that they can check if they get stuck.

    They really sound like dummies. They're not. Just not tech savvy like our generation.
  • jaymackjaymack 5,199 Posts
    haha!
    YUP.
    on new years i had to fix a buddies fathers laptop. he's going to afghanistan in less than a month and couldnt open his classified emails in microsoft word and excel, so i d/l some "viewer" programs so he could at least access his mail.
  • DjArcadianDjArcadian 3,630 Posts
    My girlfriend isn't this bad but I tried teaching her how to make a website and it's frustrating as hell having to explain everything to her a million times. I gave up on trying to teach people how to use computers.
  • UnherdUnherd 1,880 Posts
    Voicemail from mom: Listen, you must call me back NOW. This is an emergency! (Pause for dramatic effect). Dad has LOCKED his phone! LOCKED IT. We have no idea what to do, and he is FLIPPING OUT. Call on my phone, cause GOD KNOWS whats going with his.
  • grandpa_shiggrandpa_shig 5,799 Posts
    my parents know better than to call me. im about as lost as they are when it comes to computers. except i can type, and submit pictures to webforums and stuff.

    anyways, i was wondering about those bluetooth robot ear things. i mean, besides looking super dope with one of these on the side of your head, are there any that actually work? i mean, cell phone reception is bad enough without them, and now we're [california related] pretty much forced to get one.
  • ariel_calmerariel_calmer 3,762 Posts
    Just you wait til you get married. 2xParents + wife calling.
  • edith headedith head 5,106 Posts
    Voicemail from mom: Listen, you must call me back NOW. This is an emergency! (Pause for dramatic effect). Dad has LOCKED his phone! LOCKED IT. We have no idea what to do, and he is FLIPPING OUT. Call on my phone, cause GOD KNOWS whats going with his.

    hahaha. i can totally hear a mom voice in my head when i read this.
  • sergserg 682 Posts
    my brother gets this shit all the time. I was smart enough to not answer the phone when they call me and I only talk to my parents about once a month to keep them at a distance but not freak out.
  • chungtechchungtech 290 Posts
    Does anyone else ever get those calls from their parents asking how to do something on the computer? Usually it's my dad, but my brother decided to give his old laptop to my mom, so now both of them are calling.

    My parents have netflix and somehow order movies, but when I say "ok, close that window and then..." I get "what's the window?" and I have to respond with "see the x, the minus, and the square in the corner"

    "aww yes, ok, so I click the x."

    my dad didn't grow up with any sort of computers, so it's totally foreign to him. This makes phone tech support very frustrating. He'll call me and say "Tommy, I was typing and everything dissapeared." I say "push the control button and then push z." I always get "where's the control button."

    anybody else ever go through this? I am sure tech support people get calls like this all the time. It's so unbelievably hard to describe how to do something when the other person doesn't even really know the fundamentals.

    This thread is really killing me right now, it is bringing tears to my eyes. My mom (until recently) drives me crazy with this kind of stuff, and like it's been said before, it's hard, frustrating, and patience-pushing to try to explain stuff to someone over the phone who has no idea what they're doing. Half the time my mom is right-clicking everything, not knowing there's a distinction!

    Just last week I was visiting my mom and it turns out she has a new tech person in my life: my cousin. She could not stop talking praise about him, how he is her new favorite person in her life because he is all the things I am not: patient with old people, can explain in both English and Korean, actually picks up the phone, and truly enjoys helping her out. As annoying as it is to constantly be compared to the higher achiever in your family, this is one situation where I'm not even going to try to compete- the tech job is his!!



  • dollar_bindollar_bin I heartily endorse this product and/or event 2,326 Posts
    Oh sweet Jesus this is the bane of my existence! I can usually tell when it's a tech support call because she uses her cell phone to call while the land line is tied up with some dial-up issue.

    "I'm pushing the thing with the thing and nothing's happening"

    She bought a second hand surplus computer through her church that had Windows 95 and didn't even come with a graphics card--we had to install one so she could run Outlook and a browser. Fortunately with that old thing she couldn't get into too much trouble. I gave her my old Powerbook G4 but she's not taking the transition to Mac very smoothly. All I can say is that I'm truly frightened to imagine what technologies my kids will be into to intimidate me when I'm 68.
  • Controller_7Controller_7 4,052 Posts
    can you imagine the terror something like this would bring? It kind of scares me and I know it's just a dumb pop up.









    "it's shaking a lot and saying that I won something"
  • billbradleybillbradley You want BBQ sauce? Get the fuck out of my house. 2,890 Posts
    I've worked as a Systems Administrator for 13 years and all of my family members and friends call for computer help. To make things MUCH easier I use VNC (virtual network computing) to remote control their computers. That way I don't have to explain what to do. I just take over their desktop remotely and do the work myself. That is assuming they can still get on the internet.

    http://realvnc.com/

  • marwal_bustmarwal_bust 195 Posts
    Great Post...This is the story of my life. I can't tell you how easily I have lost my patience in these scenarios...Half the time like my father isn't even accurately telling me what he is seeing on the screen...as well I can???t tell you how many EULA has started reading to me over the phone--Me: "JUST CLICK NEXT", Him: "Do you wish to accept...", Me: "NEXT, NEXT NEXXXT"

    Further, they just got DSL last week, and I can't even begin to tell you what a fiasco installing those line filters to all other lines was...

    Parents over 65 + Computer + Internet = +
  • HamHam 872 Posts
    Haha this thread is so funny! I can imagine the horror of a tech phone call from the parents. I guess i should feel lucky to have parents that worked with computers since the 80's...
  • magpaulmagpaul 1,314 Posts
    i have a hard enough time with my flatmate who's just turning 30. every step of the way is 'what now?', 'do i press this?'. i swear some people are just afraid to use their initiative.
  • SnagglepusSnagglepus 1,756 Posts
    I have a friend who's around my parents' age who throws a lot of computer questions my way. One day he told me that he broke Yahoo.

    "Uhhhhh ... I'm pretty sure you didn't break Yahoo".
  • mumbosaucemumbosauce 480 Posts
    I've worked as a Systems Administrator for 13 years and all of my family members and friends call for computer help. To make things MUCH easier I use VNC (virtual network computing) to remote control their computers. That way I don't have to explain what to do. I just take over their desktop remotely and do the work myself. That is assuming they can still get on the internet.

    http://realvnc.com/



    Yeah I have gotten all my peoples that I help into a routine where they know how load up MSN messenger and Net meeting and share their desktops with me. I used to use VNC but it became a pain in the ass to walk people through opening up and forwarding ports on their Linksys or Dlink firewalls to one of their computers.

    MSN + Net Meeting are simple enough and work just as well.
  • Garcia_VegaGarcia_Vega 2,428 Posts
    Be thankful you guys aren't doctors. I got a friend who is doing his residency now and he gets all sorts of calls at all hours "Yo man, do you know how to make a cast?" "My fingernail is turning black, I don't have health insurance can you help me out?" "How do you know if you have alcohol poisoning" "Can you write scripts yet?" And it ain't just for humans, "My mom's cat is puking all over floor what do we do?" "My python's eye is really watery, is that normal?" etc. I witnessed three phone calls like this in less than two hours!
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