On Call: Boss wrongly claimed IT deleted his files, refused to learn the one-click fix

personal tech

There's no place like the Home directory, but the Documents folder is sometimes nicer

ON CALL Friday morning is The Register's home for tech support stories, which we showcase in On Call – the weekly column made possible by readers generously sharing their experience of what it takes to fix things for the furious, fatuous, or feebleminded users that infest every workplace.

This week, meet a reader we'll Regomize as "Lucia," who was once ordered to report immediately to a company director's office.

"All of my files have gone," the director fumed, before insisting this was all the fault of the IT team, who were all inept, incompetent, and unfit for duty.

Lucia examined the director's PC and found an empty "Home" folder.

"I saw that he had clicked on the 'Up' directory icon to get there," Lucia told On Call. "I casually clicked on the 'Documents' folder and his files magically reappeared."

Guess how much gratitude the director showed Lucia.

If you guessed zero, congratulations. When Lucia tried to impart a quick lesson in directory navigation, the director was having none of it.

"He simply bundled me out of his office, yelling, 'And make sure it doesn't happen again!'"

Have your users refused to learn a simple fix? If so, a single click here will speed your story to On Call, so we can share it on a future Friday. ®