What do you do when someone's wrong?

Those who know me, know I work at a tech support for Manulife Financial.

One of the people I work with likes to talk (and give advice) alot about computers and windows and such, but most of it is usually wrong.

Should I:
-just keep quiet and not correct him, or
-keep quiet and then inform those he spoke with about proper information, or
-butt in and explain the correct info (that I am sure of, not just pretty sure, so not to look like a fool)

I'm sure some here have run into this and was wondering what you've done?

Personally, I feel pretty stupid when I inform someone something, then get outed when I'm wrong. However, I am happy that I didn't just inform someone (without knowing) to corrupt their PC, or open their vulnerability, or such....

personally :
I tend to do a combination of the three :)

I would butt in [but not too overtly - no shouting them down]
get the point across quickly, stretching things out tends to wind up BOTH sides of the conversation

I have to add, that this is not for every conversation I overhear :)
generally, it will be in a work area, as I find that doing it in the bar after work can be a painful experience :D

Hi tyger_claw


That's a fine line, you are walking, lots of problems can come about if not handled correctly, do you and this person get along say.... able to go out for drinks...if so, maybe having the old heart to heart..If it is someone senior, then definately bring your feelings up, this way the individual has been informed by you, point things out to him/her, support your argument with the facts, allow them to understand your position, if this fails then the next step is over their head....

Do not go around people,unless all else fails, as this is considered bad form, confront is usually the best course of action....

Keeping quiet never works.....(frustration and resentment settles in)
Do not go behind to correct the problem with the users (office politics being what they are, you may end up shafted)
Overtalking or Butting in may leave the user with the impression that you are the rude one, and that the dept can't get along....project professionalsim at all times if you can, petty squabbling or arguing is counterproductive at best....

Quote:

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Originally posted here by dalek
Hi tyger_claw


That's a fine line, you are walking, lots of problems can come about if not handled correctly, do you and this person get along say.... able to go out for drinks...if so, maybe having the old heart to heart..If it is someone senior, then definately bring your feelings up, this way the individual has been informed by you, point things out to him/her, support your argument with the facts, allow them to understand your position, if this fails then the next step is over their head....

Do not go around people,unless all else fails, as this is considered bad form, confront is usually the best course of action....

Keeping quiet never works.....(frustration and resentment settles in)
Do not go behind to correct the problem with the users (office politics being what they are, you may end up shafted)
Overtalking or Butting in may leave the user with the impression that you are the rude one, and that the dept can't get along....project professionalsim at all times if you can, petty squabbling or arguing is counterproductive at best....

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OK This advise needs to be read again because it is correct and the best way to deal with the situation.

Just to add a few:

Keeping quiet can get you fired.
Never argue in front of the user, but if real damage is imminent - state "If you do what they say, in my opinion x, y and quite possibly z will crash and die" If that isn't enough to prevent the user from doing something stupid. And the user does kill x,y,z your credibility goes up and users will stop asking your college - which in the end could be a bad thing.

To better give advice it may help to know the following. Is this person giving the bunk advice a superior, equal, or underling. Is the advice bieng givin as part of that persons job, or as a friendly tip to a fellow co-worker. What is your current relation ship like with the sdvice giver, do you like the person, do you want to stay/become friends with this person? all of these are thigns that i would take into account before figuring out how to deal with the bad advice giver.

Hey Hey,

I'm a rather outspoken person, so you may not want to follow my advice.

I tell people when their wrong... openly and in front of everyone... The first time I'm usually nice about it.. meek even... the next couple times, I'm still nice but not nearly meek... after about a half dozen times I become downright rude... I've told off many people... Profs, fellow students, co-workers and bosses...

It depends on your personality and what they expect from you... and also their personality... My boss.. I'd tell her she was wrong.. and she'd expect me too... we got along better because of it... others however didn't like being told they were wrong.. It closed doors for me sometimes.. and opened others for me... the way I looked is that it worked at least 50/50 prolly more so in my favour because correcting people fits me... so I never lost out because of it... and I got to be true to myself and my nature.

That's also very important... do what you would normally do... just use a little reservation when necessary.

Peace,
HT

Well, in my opinion, it would depend on what the consequences would be of this person knowing this false information. If the consequences are small enough that they can be avoided, then by all means avoid it, since it's just a waste of time. To the contrary, confront the situation and correct him/her, if possible re-enforcing it with facts, and actions (if possible). :D

Some very good points.

If it were work related, I would definetly tell the person they are wrong. Especially with all the privacy information stored on most of these computers.

This is more, off work topic, between co-workers. (sorry, should have been more specific, my fault)

Say you and I work together, and you can't get something working on your computer and you talk to him, and he gives you advice, but I overhear from my cubby. If you were you (?) would you want me to correct the person giving you advice during the conversation or prefer to hear about it later?

Quote:

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Originally posted here by tyger_claw
Some very good points.

If it were work related, I would definetly tell the person they are wrong. Especially with all the privacy information stored on most of these computers.

This is more, off work topic, between co-workers. (sorry, should have been more specific, my fault)

Say you and I work together, and you can't get something working on your computer and you talk to him, and he gives you advice, but I overhear from my cubby. If you were you (?) would you want me to correct the person giving you advice during the conversation or prefer to hear about it later?

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That is a different kettle of fish, if we were "cubby mates", of course I would expect you to correct it, after he had gone, we would keep it to ourselves, and in future I would ask you the questions,and if you couldn't answer them go back to those that may be able to..however if the solution he is offering me is "realtime" and requires a fix then and there, but you in your opinion disagree with this solution, then yeah in the "company's best interests", I would appreciate the intervention....at that time.....

I normally find starting with something like "actually in my experiance .........." works fairly well. That way you are not openly telling them they are wrong but you are giving the correct advice. Normally if the person is a friend or just not a total **** they will try to support their opinion and discuss it with you. That should allow you point them in the right direction either to your own experiance or the relevant sites.