Perhaps it's the employee who regularly contacts the helpdesk because they can't turn on their PC. Or the staff member in marketing who is doubling the tech team's workload because they're 'having a go' at setting up alternative storage for their department.
Whatever the nightmare, rogue users can wreak havoc with schedules and staff morale in any IT department, which directly impacts on your ability to mange your team. How do you make sure that these problem users are dealt with in a way that doesn't cause the issue to escalate?
You don't want to alienate your internal clients so that they feel like they can't call the helpdesk or put in a request for a tech project that could result in time, or cost, savings for their department.
Conversely, it's important to reinforce with users what you consider to be acceptable and unacceptable requests. This follows through to educating users about the ways in which your IT department prefers to receive requests.
For example, you don't want to find that you assign one of your tech team to sort out problems a user is having with accessing their Web-based e-mail, when another department is having issues with a database they need for order processing.
While some outlandish requests can make the team grip their cubicles, laughing, it's also important to remember that the levels of experience amongst users can vary greatly. Sometimes it can be a matter of looking at these requests on a case-by-case basis to figure out whether they are genuine, or simply time wasting.
What are the strangest requests you've had as an IT professional? How does your IT department approach handling various user requests?
Please send your comments to Talkback below or e-mail us your tips to itmanager@zdnet.com.au
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