Mr. E-Manual... Do you know him?

[jmaister]

This is kinda like TheOwl's post, but regarding manual, and studying and reading of such sophistocated documento.

I'm not around the forum as frequent as before, but there seems to be a trend going on here.

If you are a tech, a half decent one(which is way better than moi), you would know the importance of having proper diagnostic tool and some sort of reference/guide to troubleshoot your machines. There are more than few posts on the forum that are repeats. Given some time, and some reading, you could resolve the trouble yourself.

Not saying asking for help is bad, but have you taken time to think/discover/explore?

Even if You have to pay for the manuals, it'd be a good idea. (unless your boss is too __________ , then that's a different story.)


Just trying to raise awareness, nothing else to it.

cheers.

J

[kingarthur]

Re: Mr. E-Manual... Do you know him?

i've raised this subject before, it seems that there are people who can't be bothered to do any research about the problem that they have, they'd rather just ask on here & let others solve the problem for them, this is the sort of person that a manual would be wasted on, cos they'd never work out how to open the front cover without asking on here first....then they'd be asking what chapter/page etc....cos it'd be too difficult for them to look in the index....

[Tricky]

Re: Mr. E-Manual... Do you know him?

There are more than few posts on the forum that are repeats. Given some time, and some reading, you could resolve the trouble yourself.

Maybe they think their question hasn't been asked before? and regarding multiple posts about the same thing and their repetitive nature, I think we are due a post about colour alignment on a Canon IRC3200 or 4080 soon.

[doug94550]

Re: Mr. E-Manual... Do you know him?

We had one tech who would call for help on the most basic of problems which could clearly be resolved in the book.
We finally figured out that if you did not give them the answer, they would go on to the next tech.
We finally figured it out and went on strike to this person with the basic reply of "No. I have never seen that problem. Good Luck."
They complained to our manager that they were getting no support from the team.
We told the manager what was happening.
It turns out that this tech never carried manuals or parts because it made their truck look "trashy".
Go figure.

[michaelc]

Re: Mr. E-Manual... Do you know him?

We all need help sometimes. I am fortunate with a good manager who used to say ' your an engineer/tech. Work it out. If your still stuck in an hour give me a call'. Never had the internet to check/ask people which would have made life easier but I would have missed out on a lot of experience being in that infamous creek without a paddle.

Worked wonders on me. I now fix kettles.

[nmfaxman]

Re: Mr. E-Manual... Do you know him?

I got tired of techs calling me all the time instead of looking it up, so I started charging a beer an answer.
By the end of the week I had a couple of sixers.

[JR2ALTA]

Re: Mr. E-Manual... Do you know him?

I think you guys are just stroking your egos, let's here some examples of these stupid questions co-workers ask you.

My boss doesn't give a crap if I solve the Da Vinci code, but only how long it took me.

I can't afford to spin my wheels on a problem, if just picking up the phone to another tech could get me the answer.

The point is to fix it right the first time, and move on.

[Lagonda]

Re: Mr. E-Manual... Do you know him?

I got tired of techs calling me all the time instead of looking it up, so I started charging a beer an answer.
By the end of the week I had a couple of sixers.

Now thats a good idea! However with some of the dumb questions I get asked by techs who can't be bothered to fire up their laptops I'll be suffering from liver damage by the end of the year.

[blackcat4866]

Re: Mr. E-Manual... Do you know him?

Now thats a good idea! However with some of the dumb questions I get asked by techs who can't be bothered to fire up their laptops I'll be suffering from liver damage by the end of the year.

I don't miss it a bit. That's when I started the database.
What is the part number for ...
How do I get into service mode on a ...
What does the database say about ...

Damn! Look it up yourself. So why is the laptop in the car, and why do I care?

Now the only person I have to support is myself. =^..^=

[Jules Winfield]

Re: Mr. E-Manual... Do you know him?

I think you guys are just stroking your egos, let's here some examples of these stupid questions co-workers ask you.

My boss doesn't give a crap if I solve the Da Vinci code, but only how long it took me.

I can't afford to spin my wheels on a problem, if just picking up the phone to another tech could get me the answer.

The point is to fix it right the first time, and move on.

He's got a point...

[jmaister]

Re: Mr. E-Manual... Do you know him?

I think you guys are just stroking your egos, let's here some examples of these stupid questions co-workers ask you.

My boss doesn't give a crap if I solve the Da Vinci code, but only how long it took me.

I can't afford to spin my wheels on a problem, if just picking up the phone to another tech could get me the answer.

The point is to fix it right the first time, and move on.

if you had invested time on a problem no matter how long it took, it will be fixed right the next occurence without guesstimating nor phone calls.

If the colleague on the other end has your philosophy, what then? If a shop is run by a philosophy like that, how would it even run.
So you rely on others to resolve issues for you? You cant afford to spin your wheels?

sorry bud, if that's not ego I dont know what is.

on the other hand.. your boss is an aasshole, forcing his guys to do fast work, which is never quality work.

[vigour]

Re: Mr. E-Manual... Do you know him?

I think you guys are just stroking your egos, let's here some examples of these stupid questions co-workers ask you.

My boss doesn't give a crap if I solve the Da Vinci code, but only how long it took me.

I can't afford to spin my wheels on a problem, if just picking up the phone to another tech could get me the answer.

The point is to fix it right the first time, and move on.

So you get the praise for your numbers, and the raise
And the guy who spent time finding the fix first, gets chewed out.

[michaelc]

Re: Mr. E-Manual... Do you know him?

Just to add to this again. I feel better after fixing the fault myself. I find it improves my ability/skill in the long run. I am fortunate as my manager allows me the time to do this and does not throw targets at me. I do call other techs when I am genuinely puzzled by a fault but as I try everything I think of before calling sometimes they do not have an answer.

I think the original post referred to people just being lazy and not spending a few minutes to check manuals, previous posts (on here) or even attempting to fix the fault before calling another tech or posting here.

[blaze2000]

Re: Mr. E-Manual... Do you know him?

Isn't he that little kid on the early eightys shows that said "watchu talkin bout willis?"

[fixthecopier]

Re: Mr. E-Manual... Do you know him?

I will play devils advocate on this one. In my case, I am not allowed to carry my laptop into any of my customers, for security reasons. No phones either. I just picked up a customer this week that will not allow a laptop to be in my truck, in the parking lot. So , I do not carry one. I am always the exception to the rule.

As far as asking as opposed to looking it up, when I started in this business I had a Minolta Di 520 that coded for the atdc sensor. I called tech support. The guy at tech support was reading from the field service manual, that I was holding a paper copy of. He pretty much ran me through the "by the book" procedure and had me change developer and do all kinds of other things. Nothing fixed it. Then my service manager found a sheet of paper stuck in the cleaning section. For the next 6 years whenever I would have a cof24 code, it would always be a piece of paper in the cleaning section, and never anything else. That was never covered in the manual.

If you own a Bizhub 250/350, and have false jams from tray 1, I can tell you all the things it could be, and then I could tell you the thing that fixes it 99 per cent of the time. The manual does not mention the fix that works most of the time.

I do have an advantage in that my shop is usually no more than 15 or 20 minutes away. Since I sometimes get to work on stuff I have never seen before, asking a quick "have you seen this before?" can save a lot of unnecessary wasted time. Most of the time when I ask, including here, I get no answers, and have to do it myself anyway.


Now don't get me wrong. I have had the techs who are lazy and want you to tell them everything, as long as it is easy. If your answer sounds too hard, they will ask others looking for an easy fix. I quit talking to them. Usually I reserve my questions for 1 other senior tech, and she will call and ask me some things.

Remember, there are no stupid questions, just stupid people.