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Martian · 09-26-2005, 11:53 PM

texxasco, that's the same job my uncle does. He loves being out of the pods, says it's so much more relaxing.

Me, I do tech support for a major Canadian ISP. I work evenings, so what most people do after work I do beforehand. This includes any errands or chores that need to get done, work for my independent business or whatever else.

My shift starts at 2:30. Typical day goes like this :

1:30 - Shower, shave and get ready for work. If it's nice I'll walk to work, when it's cold or raining I drive over.
2:10 - I arrive at the office. Greet the security guard, swipe myself in and get my station set up. This includes plugging in my headset and logging into my terminal, getting all of my tools ready
2:15 - I go out for a quick smoke break before starting.
2:20 - Read internal emails to find out about latest issues, check the servers for any outages.
2:30 - I clock in and go green, which means I'm ready to take a call. First call may come immediately, or I could be waiting 5-10 minutes.

A typical call.. well, there is no typical call. I'm a 1st tier support agent, so I deal with most of the issues. It can be as simple as a password reset or troubleshooting connection issues. I'm also generally dealing with people who aren't very technically apt, so I need to make sure I put things in simple terms. I use my tools available to me, which tell me things like when the line card went in, what the signal strength is, what type of connection it is, whether the account's suspended and other useful information to determine whether the problem is on our end or theirs. For farend issues (aka CPE or Customer Premises Equipment issues) I use error messages and what the DSL modem is doing to figure out exactly where the issue is and get the customer back up and running. If it's a nearend issue I do basic CPE troubleshooting on the physical setup in order to make sure there's nothing causing intereference and then forward the ticket and customer to the 2nd tier support, who will send it on up to test centre for a technician dispatch. The technician will go out to the central office and move from there down the line looking for trouble.

The calls range from password resets to browsing issues (slow speeds or pages not loading) to occasionally customers just wanting to talk to someone. For every call I log everything that's done by myself and the customer to resolve the issue along with any other pertinent information, like operating system, modem and connection type and synch rate (which is the signal strength, more or less) in a central database on what's known as a ticket so that anyone who deals with that customer in the future can retrieve the ticket and see what's already been done. Target times for calls is under 800 seconds, but a given call can be anywhere from 2 minutes to an hour and a half. Some of our less skilled agents can be on the phone for two hours or more and not resolve the issue, although much more than that and a higher ranked agent will usually take over.

4:15 - I usually take a fifteen minute smoke break around here.
4:30 - Back at it! I keep a book around for when it's slow and also usually have a stress ball. Those things work.
5:00 - In around here I'll usually go yellow, which tells the routing server not to send any calls my way so I can get up and get a drink. All that talking on the phone dries out my throat.
6:30 - This is approximately when my lunch break is. Breaks can vary about half an hour in either direction, because we need to keep enough agents on the phones at all times to field incoming calls. If I packed anything I'll go to the employee lounge and eat while watching tv, if not I'll grab a sandwich out of the vending machines. Last ten minutes of the break I'll go out for another cigarette.
8:30 - Again give or take. My last smoke break of the day.
10:30 - Quittin time! I finish the call I'm on, which may mean staying late. I've gotten pretty good at timing things so that my last call finishes within about 3 minutes of the 10:30 mark and there's not enough incoming calls at this point for me to have to field another most nights. If there's a major outage and things are hectic I may stay overtime. One night our entire system in Ontario went down. Thousands of customers lost service and I don't think anyone left before midnight.

When I'm done I log off and pack up my stuff, then I'll let myself out. We have passcards, which means that no unauthorized persons can get in and out of the building and there's usually one or two people who forget their swipes. So if there's anyone waiting to be let out I'll do that on my way. I say goodnight to the security guard (a different guy then the one who's in when I start) grab one more smoke with whoever's out front and then head home.

09-26-2005, 11:53 PM	#47 (permalink)
Martian Young Crumudgeon Location: Canada	texxasco, that's the same job my uncle does. He loves being out of the pods, says it's so much more relaxing. Me, I do tech support for a major Canadian ISP. I work evenings, so what most people do after work I do beforehand. This includes any errands or chores that need to get done, work for my independent business or whatever else. My shift starts at 2:30. Typical day goes like this : 1:30 - Shower, shave and get ready for work. If it's nice I'll walk to work, when it's cold or raining I drive over. 2:10 - I arrive at the office. Greet the security guard, swipe myself in and get my station set up. This includes plugging in my headset and logging into my terminal, getting all of my tools ready 2:15 - I go out for a quick smoke break before starting. 2:20 - Read internal emails to find out about latest issues, check the servers for any outages. 2:30 - I clock in and go green, which means I'm ready to take a call. First call may come immediately, or I could be waiting 5-10 minutes. A typical call.. well, there is no typical call. I'm a 1st tier support agent, so I deal with most of the issues. It can be as simple as a password reset or troubleshooting connection issues. I'm also generally dealing with people who aren't very technically apt, so I need to make sure I put things in simple terms. I use my tools available to me, which tell me things like when the line card went in, what the signal strength is, what type of connection it is, whether the account's suspended and other useful information to determine whether the problem is on our end or theirs. For farend issues (aka CPE or Customer Premises Equipment issues) I use error messages and what the DSL modem is doing to figure out exactly where the issue is and get the customer back up and running. If it's a nearend issue I do basic CPE troubleshooting on the physical setup in order to make sure there's nothing causing intereference and then forward the ticket and customer to the 2nd tier support, who will send it on up to test centre for a technician dispatch. The technician will go out to the central office and move from there down the line looking for trouble. The calls range from password resets to browsing issues (slow speeds or pages not loading) to occasionally customers just wanting to talk to someone. For every call I log everything that's done by myself and the customer to resolve the issue along with any other pertinent information, like operating system, modem and connection type and synch rate (which is the signal strength, more or less) in a central database on what's known as a ticket so that anyone who deals with that customer in the future can retrieve the ticket and see what's already been done. Target times for calls is under 800 seconds, but a given call can be anywhere from 2 minutes to an hour and a half. Some of our less skilled agents can be on the phone for two hours or more and not resolve the issue, although much more than that and a higher ranked agent will usually take over. 4:15 - I usually take a fifteen minute smoke break around here. 4:30 - Back at it! I keep a book around for when it's slow and also usually have a stress ball. Those things work. 5:00 - In around here I'll usually go yellow, which tells the routing server not to send any calls my way so I can get up and get a drink. All that talking on the phone dries out my throat. 6:30 - This is approximately when my lunch break is. Breaks can vary about half an hour in either direction, because we need to keep enough agents on the phones at all times to field incoming calls. If I packed anything I'll go to the employee lounge and eat while watching tv, if not I'll grab a sandwich out of the vending machines. Last ten minutes of the break I'll go out for another cigarette. 8:30 - Again give or take. My last smoke break of the day. 10:30 - Quittin time! I finish the call I'm on, which may mean staying late. I've gotten pretty good at timing things so that my last call finishes within about 3 minutes of the 10:30 mark and there's not enough incoming calls at this point for me to have to field another most nights. If there's a major outage and things are hectic I may stay overtime. One night our entire system in Ontario went down. Thousands of customers lost service and I don't think anyone left before midnight. When I'm done I log off and pack up my stuff, then I'll let myself out. We have passcards, which means that no unauthorized persons can get in and out of the building and there's usually one or two people who forget their swipes. So if there's anyone waiting to be let out I'll do that on my way. I say goodnight to the security guard (a different guy then the one who's in when I start) grab one more smoke with whoever's out front and then head home. __________________ I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said - Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame