AppSupport Nonsense

Close all browser sessions

appsupport — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:40:39 +0000

A quick exchange I had with a user over the phone:

User: “I’m resetting my password, but it is still not letting me in.”
Me: “This has been happening to a few other users. Clear your browser’s cache, close all browser session, then start a new one. That should do the trick.”
User: “Ok, I’ll try it and let you know.”

User: “Hi – it did not work.”
Me: “Did you close all browser sessions?”
User: “Oh, I had to close them all? Let me try…”

User: “Ok, that did it. Thanks.”

Forwards…

appsupport — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:48:05 +0000

When I started working at the company, I came in through an internship program straight from college. After graduation, those selected would join an analyst program. Anyway, everyone who was in the program was put into an e-mail alias (so program management can send out mass emails regarding events and such). Each year, a new alias was created.

Every once in a while…a guy from the analyst class of 2006 (that’s the graduating year) would send out mass emails…to at least 200 people – all the graduating classes from 2006-2009…and some dopes would always reply to all. Here are the ones that filled my inbox today.

Subject: Brain Teaser

Body: How many mobile phones will be sold in the year 2020.

Responses so far (replied to ALL):

“None…only smart phones.”

“23,278,567″

“23,278,568 I think you have a rounding error somewhere..!”

“Aren’t smart phones an advanced type of mobile phones? I say around the world…between 2 and 3 billion”

“Allegedly there are 4 million users right now – http://www.mocom2020.com/2009/03/41-billion-mobile-phone-subscribers-worldwide/

In other news… – http://www.infowars.com/2-billion-may-suffer-from-cell-phone-cancer-by-2020/“

After these reponses…the original sender decided to send out a new “brain teaser”:

Subject: Brain Teaser

Body: “How do you know if anything your brain is comprehending is real – could it all just be in your brain?”

So glad no one [else] is working too hard…and there is just no saying how many responses I’ll receive today.

[update: more responses]

“Around the same number of mobile phones that will be sold in 2019″

Login Issues

appsupport — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:13:06 +0000

I got an email this morning from my manager. A user is not able to log in. He got an email with the following subject line:

“dareweb wont’ let me login”

Now, dareweb is the front end for my application, and I am the sole developer for the UI (User Interface for the less tech-y). It’s a website. It uses a corporate password tool to log you in (single sign on…SSO for short). You have the same password to log into almost every web application used by my users, and throughout the company.

This user cannot log into other web applications either. Yet he comes to us with this issue. *sigh*

My manager’s response:

“You may have locked yourself out of single sign on. Can you log into any sso app? Resetting you password may be the solution.”

My manager is a genius. Sometimes, I wonder how our users stay employed. I have not received a response back from the user yet. And I’m not sure I will.

Update: User did reply. Complained that the corporate app was poorly design. Not. my. problem.

AppSupport Orientation

appsupport — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:37:45 +0000

As an application developer for a small application in a large firm, I am also responsible for providing application support to users. All my users are technical users – they work in technology, and are familiar with how computers work. Well…at least, they should be.

Additionally, any problem anyone has with any application for some reason gets pushed back to me. My application is called DARE. Here I will post my stories of woe in the workplace.