Two Questions Customer Service Reps Should Ask

 The other day I tried to open a .zip file someone had  sent me.

It wouldn't open.

I went into Windows/Explore and tried to open it there.

Forgetting that the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over and expecting different results, I kept trying. Same results.

Then I called my organization's help desk and explained the problem.

He couldn't figure it out either, so he escalated it to someone who actually officed in my building.

She contacted me and we tried the same thing with no results. I said," I click on the icon on the task bar and it quickly zooms off to the side.

The epiphany hit us both at the same time.

You see, she had come up several days earlier and had helped me rig my laptop so that I could have different apps open on my laptop and my office monitor. She had warned me that, if I didn't drag the app back to my laptop (considered the "mother" monitor, I wouldn't be able to open the app when I was working on the laptop by itself.

Bingo.

Once I hooked up my laptop to another monitor at home and dragged the errant file back to the laptop screen, I was able to open it.

It ocurred to me that someone manning a help desk dealing with technology ought to ask two clarifying questions:

1. Did you notice anything out of the ordinary when you attempted to perform this function (opening the .zip file)? In fact, I had noticed the icon "flying" off to the side, but it hadn't registered.
2. Have you changed any settings on your device recently?

Asking either of these two questions would most likely have triggered a response of "Well, I just recently reconfigured my laptop to use dual monitors." Then, I would have remembered my IT person's warning about moving the files back before closing.

Does your help desk ask these questions?