I've had quite confusing and/or funny talks and e-mails flying back and forth with people, and I want to print some thoughts on that.

I recently received a confusing voice-mail, which really isn't much to talk about as I think I know what the problem was - getting hold of said user, though, proved impossible despite some detective-work. Leaving a weird message is one thing, but not leaving your name or phone-number is bad planning.

On the flip-side, we've got really bad communication, as proven here. That person obviously wants something from me, expects me to have f-ed up when, in fact, the fault was on the user's side. Simply put: baaad. But then again, we all make mistakes.

Then we have the user who's funny. I tried to get that person to become my contact for the institution where she works; when exchanging niceties in the beginning of the conversation she told me all was well except for her bicycle that was recently stolen. She's now one of my contacts.

Is all pain, then? Hell no! I often point out that most of the people I talk with are really nice, and the majority of those even carry a sense of humor that's akin to mine. I work as Network Administrator - which in my case is a fuzzy title as I do everything from creating computer images to holding classes in MS Excel - and people call me for tech-support. In most of those cases people call because they're at their wit's end; I think a lot of users believe they - for some twisted reason - should be able to solve a computer-related issue themselves and are hence ashamed ((Which no-one calling for tech-support should ever be; trust me, us geeks need support, too!)) and frustrated when calling. Drop that! I don't know "everything" about IT. Nobody does, so go ahead and call tech-support when you feel like it, and do it early, for the longer you carry a problem, the more time ((Obviously, duh.)) and money is wasted.

When the frustrated users who have a sense of humor call me, they often spew forth bitter, witty comments about the systems that ail them:

The angry

So, does Microsoft provide any kind of way for me to purchase a sniper-rifle through them? I mean, they've ruined my life by forcing Windows on us all, so where's the chance for me to pay back some?

Is there any way I can unleash my anger at my computer in any other way than killing those around me, as near and dear to me as they may be?

The sad

I think gulping Prozac must be more common than gulping Jolt Cola at your department. I couldn't ever imagine working as IT-support, ever!

The ironic

Oh, if I could only live in a world that [name of the supplier of the application that caused the user much woe] had created: there would be no hunger, no wars, no pain. Only death.

There are, of course, other kinds of calls, which aren't as fun. Let's see what I can dig up right now:

• the utterly confused user
• the user who (hopefully) has just had too much coffee
• the user who doesn't listen/think because he/she is angry
• the frustrated-cum-trying-to-be-funny one

I've got more if you want 'em.