Why is it????????????

[Stirton.M]

Asking your doc about surgery is nowhere near the same as asking someone to clean glass. I am a repair technician, not a janitor at their beck and call.

You call in an appliance technician to fix your dishwasher or stove or fridge, is it their responsibility to clean said appliance? No it is not.

[jma676]

has dirty glass and cannot figure out how to use windex and a paper towel.

***Windex*** only $4.

windex.jpg

[blackcat4866]

... knowing how to use it: PRICELESS!

=^..^=

[mrwho]

I usually tell people my job is like being an undertaker: when people call me, it usually ain't good news.

[slybot]

No, not really. I'm painfully aware and completely zen with the fact that not all people would have the same level of understanding that we do. Inasmuch as I don't have a complete understanding of the law or medicine for that matter.

I don't want my doctor to roll his eyes when I ask him about surgery.

i agree, but when you get clients ring up in a panic 'cos they cant find a paper jam, when the machine tells them with words and pictures on the screen (and they work in education), and you rock up and pull out 4 pieces of totally intact A4 paper and the ask 'where did you find that'........like honestly!

[slybot]

Asking your doc about surgery is nowhere near the same as asking someone to clean glass. I am a repair technician, not a janitor at their beck and call.

You call in an appliance technician to fix your dishwasher or stove or fridge, is it their responsibility to clean said appliance? No it is not.

agreed

[blackcat4866]

Admit it. A good half of the time we are just glorified janitors.

For the billable customers that show some initiative, I usually let them know that they can save some labor time/cost if they choose to wipe down the outside, clean the glass, wipe the toner out of the front cover with a stretch&dust, etc. You know, user responsibilities.

When I spin it the right way, I usually get a positive reaction. Obviously, there will always be customers that want to do as little as possible, even down to adding toner or changing a waste bottle. Those people probably won't be receptive, but it's worth mentioning. Most people are ready to save a buck. =^..^=

[fixthecopier]

Maybe I don't have as much to as a lot of you. If I leave the shop with 5 calls, I will be looking for something to do by 1pm. Most of the time the calls I get will be within a 12 to 15 mile radius so I do not loose a lot to travel. I was back at the shop early Thursday when the front desk came back with a call. Black line when using doc feed on a Lanier ld016. Hell yes I took it. counts as a call and helps stretch the day. On base some of the Bizhubs are filthy, covered in dust based on where they are. I will gladly clean them as a work order. I have a giant can that I pump up at the shop. It will hold 100psi in a 20 gallon tank. I roll the machine out the front door, hose it off with air and wipe it down. takes a total of 15 min. The soldiers won't do it, they will let them get so dirty they stop working. I spent most of my life really working hard at jobs most people will not do. Honestly, the steel forge plant had a 50% turnover rate from people who had been there over a year, and and 75% of new hires quit within the first 2 weeks. I did 13 years and left every day looking like I was leaving the coal mines. The parts we made were 1750 degrees, so it was a little warm. If I can make a living riding around scraping white out off glass and pulling paper out of copiers, I am blessed. At the end of the year my shop looks at several different numbers when considering you for a raise. Since I started here, no one does more calls than me. Every call counts. The customers that are dependent on me will buy new equipment from me because the competition will not give out the techs cell number like I do. I want the customer to depend on me, that is how I make a living. If you get the chance, stop by a plant that makes hot steel parts, or one that makes insulation out of paper and spend the day. You will be happy to clean white out off slit glass.

[mikadonovan]

I can tell you from observation that there are some people out there that are considered very intelligent, but totally lack the ability to comprehend even a simple piece of machinery or electronics. I have a couple of friends that could slay 90% of the country in Jeopardy, but have a hard time with simple , everyday tasks. I have worked with a few techs that were like that, and they ALL share this single trait: They over-analyze EVERYTHING leaving them without any common sense.

[zed255]

I can tell you from observation that there are some people out there that are considered very intelligent, but totally lack the ability to comprehend even a simple piece of machinery or electronics. I have a couple of friends that could slay 90% of the country in Jeopardy, but have a hard time with simple , everyday tasks. I have worked with a few techs that were like that, and they ALL share this single trait: They over-analyze EVERYTHING leaving them without any common sense.

Being able to regurgitate names, dates, facts and figures really has nothing to do with intelligence other than to simply provide the appearance of intelligence. Being able to understand basic principles and apply them to new and unique situations is real intelligence. Adding intelligence to experience and you get wisdom. There's a big difference between looking smart and being smart, IMHO.

[dinkyoaf]

Being able to regurgitate names, dates, facts and figures really has nothing to do with intelligence other than to simply provide the appearance of intelligence. Being able to understand basic principles and apply them to new and unique situations is real intelligence. Adding intelligence to experience and you get wisdom. There's a big difference between looking smart and being smart, IMHO.

Oh...so like George Bush.
The guy could memorize like no other. Ask him a question he didn't memorize and forget it. Thus, Bushisms were born.

[Jimbo1]

Just as a little note here as I seem to have some who are concerned at my work ethic it really has nothing to do with that. It has more to do with marveling at people who don't seem to want to take the effort to do something simple that will save both of us time and expense. Don't care to do it. Just curious.

[dinkyoaf]

Just as a little note here as I seem to have some who are concerned at my work ethic it really has nothing to do with that. It has more to do with marveling at people who don't seem to want to take the effort to do something simple that will save both of us time and expense. Don't care to do it. Just curious.

I understand. Yesterday I had a customer to do a gradation simply because she is covered under a service contract. So she didn't have a copier for 3 days until our tech could make it out there. Sucks to be her.

[Stirton.M]

I want the customer to depend on me, that is how I make a living. If you get the chance, stop by a plant that makes hot steel parts, or one that makes insulation out of paper and spend the day. You will be happy to clean white out off slit glass.

It's not so much that keeping the machine clean is unimportant. On the contrary. It is a pet peeve of mine if my co-workers fail to clean a machine when they visit it for normal service. I make a point of looking over the machine, stretch and dust it, clean the rollers with rejuvinator, replace some that are worn and so on. I am not a hit and run tech...I'll spend time on the machine when it requires it. So I can spend up to an hour or more on a single call for jamming issues if I see evidence in the counters that there is a problem.

The real problem here however, is that for the time that is spent dealing with a customer with a very minimal problem like dirty glass, could be spent on another customer who has a bonafide problem that they are completely unable to resolve on their own. Nuisance calls take from those who really need our help.

On a similarly related issue, we are currently swamped with calls, because one tech is on holidays, another is on course, and a third has been sick with some kind of sinus infection...

I get a call, from a customer that I know for certain knows better, because they were having blurred prints. I know they knew better, because I had shown them how to resolve this via reset and stabilize. Today, they called us out for this, I thought maybe it is something more serious. Upon arrival, there was no problem with the machine...it corrected itself on its own, as it was designed to do every few hundred prints. The usual girl who deals with this was away on holidays. The other girl who was there "did not have the time because she was too busy to stop for 30 seconds, tap a few keys on the panel" to initiate the stabilize function, but she sure had the time to wait on hold to our dispatch to demand a tech get there right now because her machine was down.

Next time, that customer will be waiting. And when they bitch about how long it took for us to arrive to service their machine, the answer will be because we were dealing with the demands of customers who wanted us to open and close the main door of their copiers to clear a service code and so on. Never cry wolf. As a tech, I am not in this job to be abused.

[slybot]

It's not so much that keeping the machine clean is unimportant. On the contrary. It is a pet peeve of mine if my co-workers fail to clean a machine when they visit it for normal service. I make a point of looking over the machine, stretch and dust it, clean the rollers with rejuvinator, replace some that are worn and so on. I am not a hit and run tech...I'll spend time on the machine when it requires it. So I can spend up to an hour or more on a single call for jamming issues if I see evidence in the counters that there is a problem.

The real problem here however, is that for the time that is spent dealing with a customer with a very minimal problem like dirty glass, could be spent on another customer who has a bonafide problem that they are completely unable to resolve on their own. Nuisance calls take from those who really need our help.

On a similarly related issue, we are currently swamped with calls, because one tech is on holidays, another is on course, and a third has been sick with some kind of sinus infection...

I get a call, from a customer that I know for certain knows better, because they were having blurred prints. I know they knew better, because I had shown them how to resolve this via reset and stabilize. Today, they called us out for this, I thought maybe it is something more serious. Upon arrival, there was no problem with the machine...it corrected itself on its own, as it was designed to do every few hundred prints. The usual girl who deals with this was away on holidays. The other girl who was there "did not have the time because she was too busy to stop for 30 seconds, tap a few keys on the panel" to initiate the stabilize function, but she sure had the time to wait on hold to our dispatch to demand a tech get there right now because her machine was down.

Next time, that customer will be waiting. And when they bitch about how long it took for us to arrive to service their machine, the answer will be because we were dealing with the demands of customers who wanted us to open and close the main door of their copiers to clear a service code and so on. Never cry wolf. As a tech, I am not in this job to be abused.

amen to that