Ricoh/Ikon Any other Ricoh techs feel abused?????

[Gift]

You poor bastards... Thank God I got out of the field tech game before it got so ridiculously unbearable. It's so much easier working on printers when it's all in-house. I especially prefer the whole customer experience. It's amazing how people will treat you like Danny Cooksey when they don't see you every day, but give you total respect when they actually have to work with you every day.

I don't know I work both in the field but also a lot in the shop. If I work too much time in the shop I usually wish I could work more in the field and in times where I'm on tour a lot I wish I could do more in the shop. All in all I like both - if the mixture is right.

All in all I think the business variety is killing itself - less smaller shops and a fast growing direct sales market, big companies merging. I don't expect that times needs to stand still but the "fun factor" isn't how it was years ago. On the other hand - many people with totally different jobs might probably think alike so we don't face an exclusive problem.

[glyn545]

Hi. As an ex-IKON toner monkey now toiling at the Ricoh coalface, I beg to differ - at least here in the UK. At IKON, we were able to take charge of our own work planning, had designated customers and areas, and were given what now appears immense responsibilities. But with the shift to Ricoh, it feels as if I stepped into a Tardis, with the controls set to 1994 as far as call planning is concerned. Not to mention systems so archaic that, if IKON were really in charge, it'd been junked on day 1.

I second that, much better with Ikon in this part of the U.K.