Lots of people aren’t tech savvy, especially seniors. So I.T. workers tend to get a lot of boring and frustrating calls.

Sometimes it’s incredibly simple. So simple it goes over your head. See why this call took a worker by surprise.

Turns out the TV Has to be ON to change Settings

This isn’t a recent scenario, but it taught me a valuable lesson about just how clueless people can be sometimes and how we sometimes have to adapt to accommodate them.

I work in tech support for an ISP and handle cable TV issues. We often get calls about accessibility features being turned on by accident.

This case was fairly different.

This particular customer had turned on closed captions and wanted to disable them. Simple enough.

“Please press the Menu button on your remote,” I tell her. “Then go to Settings.”

She says, “I’m pressing that, but nothing happens.”

Me: Do you mean the menu isn’t showing up on the screen?

Customer: Yes.

Me: (Thinking the batteries in the remote might be dead) When you press that button, do you see a red light on the top of the remote?

Now they’re finally getting somewhere.

Customer: Yes, that works.

Me: Is your TV on?

Customer: No. Do I need to turn it on?

This didn’t just happen with one customer. So many people were oblivious to the fact that if you want to change a setting on a device, the device actually has to be turned on first. After that, I adapted my instructions to include turning the TV on as the very first step.

What changes have you made in your job to adapt to customers that weren’t originally part of the process?

Here is what folks are saying.

Wow. That’s inconsiderate.

Very true. Be kind!

I can only imagine how many people call without having done this.

Don’t be sorry!

This is a good wakeup call.

I.T. companies should hand out checklists when doing these calls.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.