In the computing world, local access is exactly what it sounds like - the ability to physically touch the computer and its keyboard, and make sure that all of its cords are working as they should. Unfortunately, in the world of IT and tech support, you often have to be very far away from the device you're helping out with. As nice as direct local access would be, it's far too often not in the cards.
Of course, this does carry some benefits. But then, there are just as many drawbacks you'll also get to deal with. Sometimes, you may find that you're dealing with some errors that have nothing to do with the operating system or the hardware setup. Fortunately, there are ways to deal with all of these things.
The Early Questions
To start off, you have a set of questions that you have to ask everyone who calls in looking for tech support. One way you can make this more enjoyable is to ask these questions with an over the top accent, or to begin humming as the person starts to look for the switch to turn their device off and then on again. A small amount of humor can both help you to stay sane and help the other person have a slightly better day in spite of the problems that their device has been having.
Sadly, a lot of problems are the kind that you have to open up the device to ever find. Some people don't understand that heavy smoking can coat the inside of the device in a horrible tar that can disrupt performance, and you aren't supposed to talk about that. Some other people will happily eat over their device, never clean it, and then become surprised when it stops working. These are people who will never understand that a device full of roaches is beyond what you can take care of over the phone.
When a Problem Presents Itself
It can be enjoyable to simply glide through your day telling people to simply turn off the device and then turn it back on, or to stop going to shady websites and downloading mystery apps. Unfortunately, other problems can get trickier to solve, and that will require more work on your part. One of the worst problems comes when the owner of the device doesn't get the fact that their actions are the primary causes of any issues in their devices. This becomes even worse when they begin to blame you for a problem they entirely caused.
The Chargebacks
The term "chargeback" almost sounds like it should be one of those sportsball terms, but it's a real problem when you work in tech support. Some people expect miracles, even over the phone, and who will demand their money back if you're unable to wave a wand and make five years or so of mistreatment simply disappear. For this problem, you had better come armed with a tech support merchant account.