schools

Mind reader

Posted on by backuphill

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I provide customer support to school district for their SIS. I have clients all the time that apparently think we are mind readers because they give us no details in order to investigate an issue.

Today’s email:

Hello, one of my teachers has posted his grades but some still show as not posted. Can you tell me why this is so so I can pass it along?

What am I supposed to do with this? There is nothing in this email that gives me any clue what to investigate other than it is a teacher and has something to do with his gradebook.

This should be proof about customer service people and why they are already irritated before you even start talking to them. If you are going to be a smart customer/client, you have to provide the people that help you with detailed information not just “it’s broke and I don’t know what to do.”

Now, I have to call this client and ask questions before I can even begin to investigate the issue. This is a waste of my time and a waste of theirs as well. It could be easily fixed, but I won’t know this on the initial call because I will have to get more info first.

*shakes head in disgust*

Come on people, work with us here. We aren’t mind readers.

Communication

Posted on by backuphill

marketing office working business

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As a former teacher, and someone who still works in education, let me say this plainly to all the parents out there of school aged children:

IF YOUR CHILD’S (CHILDREN’S) DISTRICT, SCHOOL, OR TEACHER IS TRYING TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOU, STOP TREATING IT LIKE IT IS SPAM OR A NUISANCE.

Listen, they are doing the best they can in the worst of circumstances. They don’t wanna be doing school this way. No one does. So, stop complaining and get on board!

Also, any time someone from the district or school is trying to communicate with you about your student(s), pay attention! They aren’t out there to waste your time”just because.” They are trying to make sure the most important person(s) in your life gets the best education possible.

Pay attention.

Engage.

Participate.

Take responsibility for what you can do on your end.

Hold your student accountable – for everything! That means grades, participation, attendance, homework, communication, learning, exploring, etc.

Most of all, hold yourself accountable too! When you participate in your student’s education, your students will be better off in the long run.

Want your student, your child, to have a better life than you had?

Stop making excuses for everything and make sure they get an education.

Hellofaday

Posted on by backuphill

exercise

Yesterday. Yesterday was a hellofaday.

Remember that morning minute I talked about yesterday? Yeah, that one minute was all I got of quiet and calm.

Work was a…b….bear…yeah, that’s it… It was busy as hell and I got absolutely NOTHING I planned to get done, done. Everyone, it seems, needed help for with or for something. The phones were off the hook and meetings popped up outta nowhere.

A co-worker sent me the graphic above. That about sums up my energy at the end of the day.

The busy season has begun.

Do your job

Posted on by backuphill

man sitting on black leather padded chair

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The job I have is to help people with the software they use every day. I help them extract data from the software and help then fix issues when it doesn’t work correctly.

What I don’t like doing is their jobs for them.

We often get requests that are a are a regular function of their job, something they should know how to do after years of working at the job. Yes, there are those who are new to the position so I can understand asking for help at that point.

However, there are lots of people who call us on a regular basis to help them get data from the system they should have learned how to do by now. They just refuse to figure it out.

“Oh, it’s just easier if you do it.” 

“I know it is accurate when you do it.” Um, no, not necessarily. It’s your data. We don’t know if it is accurate. We just tell you what we see.

“It takes too much time to learn this stuff.”

Good grief…just freaking do your job.

Anyone else out there tired of doing someone else’s job? What is it and why do you do it?