1

As always password resetting is the most common ticket request, which is what I received.

For this SaaS site there is a password reset self-service but to expedite I triggered the reset my self confirming that the reset email was sent and delivered to the user.

So about an hour later I follow up asking if all is well… Nope it is not. The user said that they logged in with that reset password and was prompt to set a new one but the first field is asking for the old password and they couldn’t continue as they don’t remember their old password and is why the needed it reset.

Had to call and explain that the new password from the reset request is now the old password and to use that in the first “old password field” then type in the password they wanted to use in the second, confirming it in the third field… that’s when the DUH moment occurred, we both laughed.

29 Spice ups
2

Reminds me of the time I set a gent’s password to “IForgot”. He called up an hour later asking for it again because he forgot. I said, “IForgot”. He got angry and demanded to know how I could forget his password :slight_smile:

2 Spice ups
3

When I get people forgetting passwords to often I have in the past gone one of 2 ways either setting it to something so obnoxious they do better about remembering the password or setting it to RememberMe1 or RemindMe1. Both ways seem to have an impact.

4

A ticket I’ll always remember:

User calls. “When I’m typing, the stuff I typed will randomly disappear and I have to start over.”

I go onsite to observe.

What I see is that the user uses the left Shift key with the pinky for letters on the left side of the keyboard.

But, for A, instead of hitting Shift, sometimes the user hits Ctrl, instead.

Of course, Ctrl+A is “select all.” And the next keystroke replaces the selected text.

The easy solution? Remove the left Ctrl keycap.

4 Spice ups
5

Users…always good for a laugh.

6

Been there, done that.

7

This was so common on one of our systems that I included an explanation of this in the forgot password message. It cut down on calls on this subject by about 80%. There were still some faculty members that had to have it spelled out to them over the phone. Apparently a doctorate doesn’t reflect an aptitude for reading comprehension.

3 Spice ups
8

WHen I first came to the UK, I worked in a computer time sharing firm in Chelsea (London). - sadly now all now long gone.

Each evening, the operations team were given the task of creating new accounts after the nightly backups were run. On evening I was having around waiting for machine time (I could use the mainframe for my testing) and saw an account needed to be created. It was for the Metropolitan Police. As part of the setup, Operations would create the account and set a password which was then sent to the sales guys via the internal mail

So what password did Steve use - LOLOLO.

tt was funny at the time.

9

Formal Education != Common Sense … and there are times they seem mutually exclusive

1 Spice up
10

This is worth giving a try,.

11

I feel your pain. This happens far too often. I’ve had to personally go to users’ desks to walk them through how to reset/change their password.

12

Man I wish I could spice that up more. I am dealing with some professionals in my personal life right now while on top of lacking critical thinking skills, they have no personal experience in the subject matter they are experts in.

13

With Windows 7, it took a long time to train users to click the arrow beside the password change fields rather than the cancel button below.

For that matter, I made that mistake a few times, myself.