It Was Just One Of Those Days

Today was the type of day that makes me question whether technical support is a viable task – and more specifically whether it is something that I can do and remain sane. I can tell that today was stressful because my entire head aches – especially me teeth and jaw. My entire body is tense – and I need some serious down time. Fortunately, I have finished the assignment that I have due today – otherwise, I would be in serious trouble.

Sometimes it seems like trying to offer decent technical support is like trying to nail jello to a wall. Today, I had to tell someone that due to a virus, spyware and human error, they had lost all of their email. I also had another situation where someone’s email seems to be just disappearing from the inbox. Realistically, it must be downloading to a POP3 client somewhere – somewhere that I don’t have control over – somewhere that I can’t pinpoint. Adding to the problem is confusion over where and how email is stored – on a local computer or on the server. This is not an easy concept for many to grasp (probably because it isn’t explained well enough). Technically, the email probably isn’t lost – but it isn’t anywhere that the user can find it either. The worst part is that with better planning, better training and more information, both of these situations could probably have been prevented. A great deal of the blame rests with me. I’m the one that failed to make sure that either person had a good knowledge base about best practices for email and/or backup procedures. So often, it is easy to let information sharing go – there is just so much else to do. And, let’s face it, catastrophic failure isn’t that frequent.

Today was a painful one – and not just for me. Sadly, these types of things are part of the job. There probably is no fullproof way to prevent catastrophic failures. Sometimes, nature combines all of its forces to allow a series of events to take place that wreak havoc for some. Meanwhile, I will continue to persevere – try to minimize the chances of these types of events taking place – and try to be there to help. Now, I need to go take a bath!