Here At The IT Service Desk, We Deal With Mean Machines  

(I work at the IT service desk for a large retail company. Our salespeople have a password that allows them to track their commission, etc. Recently there was a change made to the system itself and, unfortunately, they are unable to reset the password when they get the notice that it’s expired. If they try to follow the steps — old, new, confirm — they get a server error. There’s a couple of workarounds, and we can walk them through them over the phone. The one thing we can’t do is provide a temp for this password. This is one of the only systems where we can’t.)

Me: “Service Desk, this is [My Name].”

Caller: “I can’t reset my password; I need a new one.”

Me: “Which password? Are you receiving an error of any kind?”

Caller: “I just need to reset my password for the register.”

Me: “Okay. We don’t have the ability to give you a temporary for that password. But are you near a register?”

Caller: “I just need to reset my password! I can’t do my job without it!”

Me: “I understand that; however, I’m unable to give you a temporary one. I can walk you through resetting from the register, though.”

Caller: “I already tried that. It didn’t work. I can’t do my job without this password! You need to help me!”

Me: “I understand that you’ve had trouble with resetting, but are you in front of the register?”

Caller: “You need to stop being mean and help me! I can’t do my job!”

(I am slightly taken aback, as I don’t think I’ve been mean so far; I’m just trying to figure out where her trouble is.)

Me: “I understand that you need the password. Are you in front of a register currently or a desktop?”

Caller: “You need to stop being mean and help me! If you want to continue working here, you need to help me!”

Me: “I’m sorry that you’re frustrated. Are you currently in front of a register or a PC? I can walk you through resetting this password.”

Caller: “You know what? I can’t deal with you being mean. I can’t do my job without this password, but I can’t deal with you right now. If you want to continue working here, you really need to change your attitude!” *click*