A Certain Degree Of Denial

I’m training at a tech support call center. I’m talking to a caller while my trainer sits with me and listens in. I can’t even remember what the technical issue was, but I remembered it simply required the caller to allow the computer to restart and install an update.

Caller: “I do not want my computer to restart! I have things set up the way I like them, and I don’t want to have to do that all over again!”

Me: “Sir, you won’t need to. The computer will remember your setup, you just need to—”

Caller: “—I have a degree! I did computers at school!”

My trainer gives me the signal to transfer the call to him. I tell the caller I will be passing him on to a manager, and the trainer handles the call and gets a technician to come out to him and fix the issue on-site.

After the call, the trainer explains to me why he did that.

Trainer: “As soon as they mention a degree or a PhD, transfer them to a manager. Having a certificate that proves they went to college gives them a level of arrogance you just can’t penetrate at your level. They absolutely can’t ever be wrong about anything because “I have a degree in whatever”.”

Me: “And the manager can tell them otherwise?”

Trainer: “H*** no, but the manager will send a technician over to their house, who will then apply the simple fix, in this case simply turning it off and on again, and prove them wrong with actions, not words… oh, and a very nice call-out fee.”

Me: “Haha, okay. I’ll remember that.”

Trainer: “I was that guy who got sent out to these idiots’ houses once.”

Me: “Oh, so that’s how you know.”

Trainer: “I remember seeing this guy’s computer in his office. The wall is full of his framed diplomas, because they always are, and all I had to do to fix his issue was allow the d*** computer to finish a software update that the guy had been ignoring all week. The look on his face when I said his diploma wall was cute, and then walked out of there inside of ten minutes was one of the highlights of my career…”