What’s the scope of the user support service you provide? Is it more specialized, or does it run the gamut? Alphabet Soup? Everything from A to Z? That’s what I thought — until I was asked to put it to the test.

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I was recently asked about the type of support I provide, and my answer was something like Alphabet Soup — everything from A to Z. I’ve often given this sort of answer (in a lame attempt to be a little funny, I suppose), but I’ve never been called to task to prove it. OK, he said, come up with a service you provide or something you support using every letter from A to Z.

Well, not being one to back down from a challenge (especially one I practically placed upon myself), I promptly pulled out a pencil and paper, drew a vertical column from the top-left of the sheet all the way to the bottom, and wrote every letter from A to Z — all 26 of them. I then started to fill in the list.

A: This is easy – AutoCAD; B: Okay, I’ll come back to this one; C: Computers; and on it went. I jumped around at first, filling in the easy and obvious letters, skipping the more difficult ones. As time went on, I found it more difficult to find an answer for the letters. I started to redo my previous entries so I could use the harder letter on something that could be stated a bit differently.

Anyway, this is hopefully a lighthearted look at those of us who claim to provide Alphabet Soup support — everything from A to Z. Here’s my list:

A: AutoCAD

B: Batch Files

C: Computers

D: Digital Cameras

E: E-Mail

F: File Backups

G: Google (or google)

H: Hard Drives — internal and external

I: Internet Connections

J: JPEG Files

K: Keyboards

L: Laptops

M: Motherboards

N: Networking

O: Operating Systems

P: Printers, Plotters, and Peripherals

Q: Queues

R: Routers

S: Servers

T: Telecommuting

U: USB Technology

V: Video Conferencing

W: Windows Office Suite

X: XP (OK, admittedly a subset of operating systems, but it’s X, for Pete’s sake!)

Y: Yahoo! (Or, Yahoo, I’m almost done!)

Z: Zip Files

Try it yourself. It might not be as easy as you think — especially if you’re accurate and avoid redundancies by simply restating the same thing a different way.

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