This is why it's so important...
... to always respect your users.
I've come across large environments where there was a seriously bad atmosphere of "us against them", because obviously the users are stupid (in all fairness: they often do behave that way) and therefor us admins are smarter / better / etc. and they need to listen to us. Generating a real "us vs them" scenario which - in my opinion - is a stupid thing to do on all fronts.
One reason being mentioned in the article. If you work somewhere and tech support mostly works against you than with you, in such ways that you sometimes circumvent the system merely to get your work done (I've seen scenarios like this), then wouldn't that make it all the more appealing if some stranger comes up to you and asks you to perform a simple and 'innocent' task? Maybe installing that small program can actually do speed up your machine up to normal speeds, something you've been asking support about for the past 4 weeks already.
Sure it sounds stupid and extremely naive. But that doesn't make it less feasible.
Now, I'm not saying that admins should give users everything they want, it obviously doesn't work that way, but the message can sometimes be presented much better. I mean...
"I need a faster computer" => "Sorry, we're not going to do that".
... can easily result in "Aha, so there ARE faster computers but they simply refuse to give me one. Even though I obviously need it".
"I need a faster computer" => "Sorry, we're not going to do that because we don't have any available.".
... which could set a whole different message. It's not because we don't want to give you a new PC, it's because we can't. Easy.
I know that this doesn't always apply. But sometimes giving a simple explanation to an end user with a little reasoning behind it can set a much different atmosphere.
It's not always about you, the admin, but your users as well.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
