I'm a backups guy, and sometimes my end users get hung up about a backup that didn't work, or a report that didn't happen.

Now I could and often do jump to and address their immediate concerns, but if push comes to shove I'll skip it.

Why? Because more important than their one backup getting done is the big picture, that the offsite copies get made on time for the courier to pick them up and get them away. That there is a daily point of consistency created and that it has everything needed in it.

One server's missed backup overnight means nothing. What the user really wants though he doesn't know it is that when the big earthquake hits (we're on a fault line here and one is overdue), or a power surge goes through that fancy disk array, that I can get his data back. Not for that one server... he may have to go back a day, but for everything else.