Rude employees

[benplace]

If there are any other IT manager/Directors/Systems Admins out there, I am looking for some advice on how to change the attitude of my employees towards IT.

If there is a computer problem they act like we are causing the problem, instead of being a part of a team and realizing we are here to help.

I work in health care and some of the nurses/physicians/administrative people are just rude. Has anyone else faced this challenge and overcame it? IF so what did you do?

It has gotten so bad that I had my systems administrator recently quit on me, and now I have to replace that person and start training again.

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated.

[Glowstick]

Punch 'em in the face.

[t_r_nelson]

Your IT workers need to be VERY patient and take time to try and explain, in layman's terms, what exactly happened. A lot of users don't understand computers very well and they get frustrated by things not working. If your IT people swoop in, fix it and then leave, the user doesn't understand what went wrong and what they could be doing to cause the issue.

Make sure they don't talk down to the users or use too much tech-speak. That'll confuse them more and they will either feel stupid, belittled, or more frustrated.

Any show some empathy. Try to make them feel that your IT workers truly share in their frustrations.

It will take time to correct the view of IT. Given the right people with the right attitude, IT will change people's opinion by the good job they do.

If all else fails, punch 'em in the face. Right Tom? ;)

[zivan56]

If they are rude, don't help them. Tell them they need to calm down and you will be back in a couple of hours when they settle down. Basically, treat them like children if they are acting like it.

Also, inform upper management that this is causing high turnover, and that attitudes need to change.

If nobody listens, provide a minimum level of service and repeat above as the source of the slow support.

[Lechio]

It's all in the attitude of the person and how well he can deal with rudeness.

Maybe you could give some guidelines on how to act, make him go to some "workshop" about work relations and such matters.

Or at least read this... :)

EDIT:

This site is gold lol...

How to Avoid a Confrontation

1. Determine the cause of the problem. Perhaps you said something inappropriate or offensive. If so, a simple apology might ward off a possible confrontation.

2. Evaluate the situation. If you sense that an apology might not be accepted, take a look at the other person's size, and see how you measure up in case a confrontation might occur.

3. Restrain yourself. Even if you feel confident that you would come out on the winning end of an altercation, there is no reason to get into a fight.

4. Try to assume control. If the other person is intoxicated, attempt to calm him down. Tell him you don't want to fight, and pick up your cell phone as if to show him you will call your local emergency number. (See Tip below.)

5. Protect yourself. If all else fails, just get away from there as soon possible. Run until you are in a well-populated area and then call your local emergency number.

Edited December 2, 2008 by Lechio

[FiB3R]

I need a job :whistle:

[benplace]

I need a job :whistle:

I was waiting for that. lol Sorry I am in the States.

I appreciate all the advice, but I really dont think it is coming from our IT people, they do try to explain things to them in laymens terms.

An example: A nurse called me and said "I am trying to type my username in and I am getting numbers instead of letters, I have 3 patients waiting and a busy day and I don't have time for this. I told her to hold down the num Fn key on her laptop and hit num lock. She does and says, that fixed it. 15 minutes later my boss calls and said she called him complaining about computer problems."

Thats just one example. We try to help and we get blamed for the problem. This is what I want to put a stop to. We are here to help.

[BGM]

If they are rude, don't help them. Tell them they need to calm down and you will be back in a couple of hours when they settle down. Basically, treat them like children if they are acting like it.

Also, inform upper management that this is causing high turnover, and that attitudes need to change.

If nobody listens, provide a minimum level of service and repeat above as the source of the slow support.

this is probably not a good approach, it's akin to just slamming the door as a child and sulking...

you need to do a few things (in no particular order)

1. Perhaps most importantly do not belittle your users, no matter dumn as **** they are. You need them and they need you.

2. If there is an issue, missing data, system down etc call the user that logged the issue (don't email) tell them you are on it, follow up with the email.. this is far more personal and you will build relationships with some who will spread good word for you

3. Try not to break anything when it can be avoided. Need to patch something? come in a bit late and go home an hour late... do it in THEIR downtime, not just when it's convenient for you and tell them far in advance. This used to cause me no end of issues when i was inexperienced, "oh ill just restart the webserver real quick". No. Don't. Ever. :)

4. Try to be proactive, go around perhaps once a week and ask if things are wrong.. the number of people that don't log bugs is insane!!!! just go and ask, you will become mr popular

5. Don't employ douche bags. I'm not saying your sys admin was, but if the IT staff cannot converse correctly with the users, diffuse issues, and understand the business they support there is absolutely no hope in hell they will be able to adequately interact with the users to support them well

Hope that helps.... :D

Edited December 2, 2008 by BGM

[brilliant naoki]

The thing with working in IT is you're always working with people whenever they have problems, so, by the job's nature, you're almost always dealing with people when they're at their worst; it's kind of like working in retail, but always with angry customers. I think it's something you have to deal with as part of the job, as you might expect retail employees to have to deal with irate customers. It's not really a pleasant job.

[zivan56]

this is probably not a good approach, it's akin to just slamming the door as a child and sulking...

...

While the idea's you present may be good in theory, you will find that if you follow them, people will become even more abusive towards you. This is because they now know that they can treat you any way they want without consequences. I see you are in the UK, so things differ significantly in terms of culture here and abroad.

You need to establish your power bases over the people you support (basic OB 101)

You basically have information power over them, and they are trying to get coercive power over you. If you let them, they will erode your power base, making them have control over you. However, if you do ignore the ********, they will have to come back to you anyways (they depend on your knowledge). For the people acting nice towards your employee, you provide them with reward power (being nice to them and fixing their problems first).

When they call your boss, they are trying to gain legitimate power indirectly. So your boss will needs to tell them to not phone him/her unless there is a major issue...

So you basically need to establish your dominance in the field of office politics.

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

put them in their place by showing them that it's probably their fault. most of my coworkers come to me w/ computer problems and it turns out that they just dont know what theyre doing or THINK they do, but really dont. when it breaks, it's my fault. i casually walk over, fix it and explain to them what they did wrong.

[BGM]

While the idea's you present may be good in theory, you will find that if you follow them, people will become even more abusive towards you. This is because they now know that they can treat you any way they want without consequences. I see you are in the UK, so things differ significantly in terms of culture here and abroad.

You need to establish your power bases over the people you support (basic OB 101)

You basically have information power over them, and they are trying to get coercive power over you. If you let them, they will erode your power base, making them have control over you. However, if you do ignore the ********, they will have to come back to you anyways (they depend on your knowledge). For the people acting nice towards your employee, you provide them with reward power (being nice to them and fixing their problems first).

When they call your boss, they are trying to gain legitimate power indirectly. So your boss will needs to tell them to not phone him/her unless there is a major issue...

So you basically need to establish your dominance in the field of office politics.

you scare me, i hope to never work somewhere where a dept 'dominates' another dept because they have power of information, what kind of bull**** is that!

work together to achieve a common goal.. cultural difference does not even come into it, i guess the only fundamental difference with the way i work and what is being described here is that I am a consultant and it is my job to interact with people and empathise with them to provide solutions to what they are having issues with.

The impression I get from you is that, you are one of these tech workers that users actaully don't want to go to for help.. this seems to me to only lead one way, downward in a spiral.

Don't go out of your way to be all nicey nicey, but just stop, explain whats going on.. how this affects them why such a such has to be done this way etc etc. Above all, stand up for yourself... just because your show empathy does not mean you get walked over

with regards to the power of information over you.. surely the ultimate goal of any IT dept is to provide people with means to gain their own information and support those systems, whether this be in the form of accessing/creating their own reports or looking up some sort of dashboard of scheduled downtime etc..

whether this goal can ever be truly met is a completely different story...

Edited December 2, 2008 by BGM

[BGM]

put them in their place by showing them that it's probably their fault. most of my coworkers come to me w/ computer problems and it turns out that they just dont know what theyre doing or THINK they do, but really dont. when it breaks, it's my fault. i casually walk over, fix it and explain to them what they did wrong.

im starting to see a trend... "put them in their place" .... im going to hope you just worded that poorly..

don't belittle your users

[shockz]

Wow.. some of these posts. *facepalm*

Thats a great idea... lets **** them off even more by cutting their support/ignoring them. Then management is going to ask why they are getting ****ed... and tell them... oh well they are mean... i don't want to help them... probably wouldn't cut it.

Perhaps have a metting or send a global e-mail stating attitude needs to improve and explain to them that you are there to help... not cause the problem.

Get HR/Upper Management involved.

[zivan56]

you scare me, i hope to never work somewhere where a dept 'dominates' another dept because they have power of information, what kind of bull**** is that!

work together to achieve a common goal.. cultural difference does not even come into it, i guess the only fundamental difference with the way i work and what is being described here is that I am a consultant and it is my job to interact with people and empathise with them to provide solutions to what they are having issues with.

The impression I get from you is that, you are one of these tech workers that users actaully don't want to go to for help.. this seems to me to only lead one way, downward in a spiral.

Umm, welcome to real life? It's called Organizational Behaviour...and it's basic training if you ever want to become a manager. I suggest reading up on it.

There is nothing wrong with the ######-for-tat approach, as it actually works. You will find that people who were acting like idiots towards you will act nice and be nice once they see they have a dependancy towards you (just like you do for other people in your department, boss, etc).

According to you, you should just accept their behaviour and pretend like nothing happened? I guess if you don't mind having a mental breakdown in a couple of years, then you could do that.

Power is a huge issue in the corporate world, and if you don't play the game correctly, you will be out of there in a flash.

[_bobcat_ Veteran]

I think people are rude because a) they are rude or b) they don't understand what's going on, they don't like being forced to use something they don't understand and you are responsible for that thing they don't like and don't understand. Think about it, a lot of these people did not sign up to a job to use computers. A lot of them have been forced to use computers with little to no training. They are resentful toward IT and the people behind it (you).

I think as an IT professional you have a duty to slowly but surely keep plugging away at trying to teach people about things, in ways they can understand. The problem with far too many IT people is the kind of childish arrogance displayed in this thread. No wonder you get treated badly if you patronise people. You wouldn't like it if your doctor was on some "information power trip" over you.

When your boss comes to you with complaints, tell him to get his staff trained.

No one would expect someone to drive or operate some huge machine without training, and yet we expect people to be able to use computers without it.

Obviously if someone is really, badly rude, then they shouldn't be allowed to get away with it. Make complaints about that. If someone is just frustrated, try to understand why and don't take it personally.

[BGM]

@Persephone: I'm glad im not the only one thinking zivan56's approach is wrong... thought I was going mad for a bit there :)

According to you, you should just accept their behaviour and pretend like nothing happened? I guess if you don't mind having a mental breakdown in a couple of years, then you could do that.

Power is a huge issue in the corporate world, and if you don't play the game correctly, you will be out of there in a flash.

Well, this is getting a bit personal now. But in my current position, I have all the power I need, I would quite happily tell my boss to go **** himself if I thought he was taking the **** and he knows that, so we have a mutual respect.

As for users, ok so you can't tell them to **** off... but a few stern words to tell them to calm down aren't going to go amiss. I would NEVER just accept the poor/rude/abusive behaviour of someone in any scenario.. it's easy. Calm.Explain.Plan.Do. and keep them informed along the way... if a fix is going to take a week, tell them and explain why in simple terms. They will understand, and thank you for keeping them informed!

Power is not a concern, I have been promoted through hard work, keeping clients happy and securing new projects.. not through ######-for-tat powerplay, and I can say one thing for certain if you worked for me and you displayed that attitude you would see your ass fired very very quickly.

Edited December 2, 2008 by BGM

[+orgitnized Subscriber¹]

Plenty different here in the states. Ignoring people because they are being rude will easily get you fired in most companies that I know of.

Even if people are rude, it's your job to take notes and examples of what was taking place, not to ignore them. Ignoring them simply isn't the answer.

Yeah, try to get upper management involved and see where it leads you. A nurse can still go over your head to another boss and get you canned. 15 minutes later they forget about it anyways. They just want to sit down and have things work. Try to find a way that you can convey that message to them.

I know people in the HC industry (and I used to be) working in IT and yeah, they deal with people that are not too bright (with computers) and are quick to get angry or frustrated. They (IT) make sure everything is documented completely because it holds up much better than someone who is simply venting, while you took the notes to illustrate how things really went down.

The management teams have to get together to see how to best deliver the message of making sure people can get help without getting as frustrated.

Being calm on the phone and reassuring is actually what works best for me. Knowing they can talk with someone who can assist them quickly and who values their time is what they are sometimes looking for. If there's still a complaint, have a manager follow-up with them on a particular incident. Sometimes they just need a little face time with someone who can act as a buffer and realize their frustration matters to the people who have to support the technology. Who knows - maybe they'll have something to offer so that next time they aren't so upset when they call you. With the right plan in place, they might actually enjoy calling you, knowing you're improving your practices to ease their ignorance with technology.

I've met, worked with and witnessed the individuals who think they are so great that they can act or say whatever they want to. I've also seen them get escorted to the doors and throw out on their asses. I have yet to meet the person who can't be replaced - and most times, they're replaced by someone willing to do a better job for less money with less ignorance.

[zivan56]

Well, this is getting a bit personal now. But in my current position, I have all the power I need, I would quite happily tell my boss to go **** himself if I thought he was taking the **** and he knows that, so we have a mutual respect.

As for users, ok so you can't tell them to **** off... but a few stern words to tell them to calm down aren't going to go amiss. I would NEVER just accept the poor/rude/abusive behaviour of someone in any scenario.. it's easy. Calm.Explain.Plan.Do. and keep them informed along the way... if a fix is going to take a week, tell them and explain why in simple terms. They will understand, and thank you for keeping them informed!

Where did I say to go tell people to f-off? I am not saying do these things openly, just make a mental note of it. Obviously telling someone such things as "shut up it's your fault! I'm not helping you anymore!" is going to get you fired. That's why one needs to say things like "I see you are a bit agitated right now, perhaps I better come back at a more convenient time." If they persist, you need to correct their behaviour using the methods I stated above (and not in an explicit, belligerent manner).

If they are acting normally towards you, on the other hand, you reward them with being nice and giving them priority when possible.

Power is not a concern, I have been promoted through hard work, keeping clients happy and securing new projects.. not through ######-for-tat powerplay, and I can say one thing for certain if you worked for me and you displayed that attitude you would see your ass fired very very quickly.

Where did I say it doesn't involve hard work and keeping people happy? I guess you aren't in management, so you don't see the big picture: keeping your employees happy is your main priority. I don't know where you work, but making your employees suffer as a result of personal goals (i.e. promotions, your personal image in the eyes of other departments) is going to get you an astronomical turnover rate and a nice pink slip on payday (and your own personal security escort out of the building).

[BGM]

Where did I say to go tell people to f-off? I am not saying do these things openly, just make a mental note of it. Obviously telling someone such things as "shut up it's your fault! I'm not helping you anymore!" is going to get you fired. That's why one needs to say things like "I see you are a bit agitated right now, perhaps I better come back at a more convenient time." If they persist, you need to correct their behaviour using the methods I stated above (and not in an explicit, belligerent manner).

If they are acting normally towards you, on the other hand, you reward them with being nice and giving them priority when possible.

Where did I say it doesn't involve hard work and keeping people happy? I guess you aren't in management, so you don't see the big picture: keeping your employees happy is your main priority. I don't know where you work, but making your employees suffer as a result of personal goals (i.e. promotions, your personal image in the eyes of other departments) is going to get you an astronomical turnover rate and a nice pink slip on payday (and your own personal security escort out of the building).

One word. Exactly.

I think there was some major misunderstanding there, and no I didn't see you type anywhere that you told people to f-off, you assumed that. As it was not in quotations, it quite simply was not a quote.

Seriously though, I think we are both on the same page here, sort of. You're right, actively slating people will get you the sack. But in my book, so will a ######-for-tat attitude with regards to inter departmental relations.

I don't quite understand the last portion of your post... could you perhaps rephrase it and I'll respond accordingly? I'll have a stab anyway, taking the "ignore" approach will not keep people happy... so perhaps you should take some of your own advise mr. i guess your not in management and make your users happy by explaining to them why things arent working/calming them down etc...

starting to sound like a bit of a broken record here...

With regards to where I work. I do not work in IT support (here's a surprise), I am a Business Intelligence consultant / contractor and my entire job revolves around giving the client solutions for the lack of information they generally have to their job. To put it bluntly if i took your approach to dealing with clients, I wouldn't have any clients left.

Edited December 2, 2008 by BGM

[Barney T. Administrators]

Well, I really do not know what to say. I am a nurse also (for the last 15 years now) and I am very tech savvy. I guess it probably is a personal issue, personality, or frustration and not something based on the profession of the person involved?