Pac-man Tech Support – Jeff Paul!?

People are not necessarily as computer-savvy as you or I. Before taking my present position, I spent about four years of my life doing over-the-phone tech support for various computer products, and it grinds at your soul after a while. This is a call from Google’s tech support over… believe it or not… the Google Pac-man logo.

I feel so bad for this guy. He’s obviously from pretty high up on the Google technology chain as it was a scheduled call-back (See below update!), so he must have been absolutely stumped by the description of the problem in the original call-back request. To have to deal with an end-user who didn’t understand her browser enough to know she could close the Google tab after she was done searching for something… well, that’s a level of understanding that puts computers on par with “magic box that words come out of”. She uses her computer as an appliance, for studying, not for the kind of usage scenarios you or I might expect.

Four years of my life spent doing pretty much exactly this type of call… I probably would have handled the call flow a bit differently after that amount of experience. This poor man obviously is not used to the level of computer savvy the “average user” actually has. Sometimes it’s hard to step back from the level of knowledge you have on a topic, and recognize that others don’t have that level of experience themselves.

Update:
Okay, so. I didn’t clue in to the name she threw out there that she was studying, but on showing a colleague at work this video, his first question was: a) where did it come from? and b) is it viral? I decided to Google the name “Jeff Paul” and was amused to discover he’s one of those internet scam artists, those ones that claim you can become a millionaire from your own home and give you an almost-sorta-kinda-foolproof way of doing it. There’s a tech support line in Utah set up to help people that have paid for a Jeff Paul course, as Cnet discussed. The guy I originally felt bad for, doesn’t work for Google as I alluded to above. That was second-hand information, from the person that showed me the video originally, and I should have done my research before I threw it up on the blog. My apologies.

Someone in the Jeff Paul team must have seen this call and recognized the viral value of putting it up on the net, marking it as a “Pac-man call”, hoping that some people might notice the Jeff Paul mention (several times!), Googling his name, and discovering a secret path to riches. For my part in directing people to this scam artist, my apologies.

Word to the wise. Anyone telling you the secrets of how to get rich quick, is actually getting rich quick themselves on your back.

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Pac-man Tech Support – Jeff Paul!?
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9 thoughts on “Pac-man Tech Support – Jeff Paul!?

  1. 1

    Exactly one of the reasons why I enjoy doing the actual work, but loathe dealing with the business/public end of things.

    I cannot seem to bear long periods of attempting to educate people who don’t listen, who don’t care, and who won’t remember anyway because this “computer thingy” or “internet thingy” is just the latest in the many things they refuse to or are unable to understand.

    There, that feels better. *grin*

  2. 3

    That’s too funny! I had a teacher last year ask me if she had to plug her USB thingy in the front of the computer, I told her yes, and then she asked if she had to take the cap off her USB…yes, she teaches children!

  3. 4

    That’s a new development. I’m thinking the person that published the video set it as private after they realized it was going viral. I don’t think there’s anything sinister about it, but it’s a shame the video got put behind a wall. I’m thinking of reuploading it, as I pulled a copy, but I’d rather just change what URL I’m embedding if I can find another on Youtube.

  4. 5

    So when I first tried to play the YouTube video it says something like: this is a private video, confirm friend request before watching it. Then I just clicked one of the other versions of the call from the choices at the bottom of the screen. Is this because they are soliciting for information to see the “viral video”?

    The premise seems just too convenient. Not many browsers open new sites in a separate window unless the user opens a new tab or window. Although i guess I do “double click” my firefox icon occasionally.

  5. 8

    I feel your pain, Jason. I did telephone tech support for HP/Compaq, Microsoft, and Comcast through a 3rd-party call center company for three years. I truly do have a handful of “those” kind of technical support calls, from the Texan who shot his Compaq computer, to a paranoid weirdo who wrapped his computer in tinfoil, to overhearing a transsexual coworker trying to speak to a southern American redneck.

    Dealing with the general public is not for the faint of heart. The only job that I can imagine must turn you cynical faster than tech support is political reporter. Or maybe comedian.

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