Gawd, do I need to rant

I used to get it all the time once and not just from Incompetent people that where supposed to know better. If it's plugged into a wall socket of some description I'm Responsible for it no matter what it was.

Back in the days when a computer weighted tons and took up the best part of an entire building I would get Sales Staff sell the wrong thing and then hit me to fix it. After all it was a computer so it had to do the job that they sold it to do. Didn't matter if it was a Printer Terminal it was still a computer and they wanted it to Compute. :(

I did however like one where I was called in to fix a problem and I found a TIG Welder not working. Because it Plugged Into a Wall Socket it was my responsibility but the cute thing there was they wanted to save power so I was the one called in. I pulled the plug and said it can not use any electricity now. Go Figure I don't know. :0

Col

You HAVE to be good to these people, they're your job security. Remember, a lot of people working did not grow up with PC's even though they're so ubiquitous now. They just want it to work. I know that my factory could replace me in a matter of days, probably for less money. So I thank the people who cause the ID10T errors; not for making my job easier, but for making my job.

Of course, as the phone's ringing, I do scream "Now who the FU<|< is that and why don't they leave me alone!!!!" But by the time I answer it, I'm pleasant as can be.

EDIT - Anyway, you picked a good place to rant rather than in front of your co-workers.

..But I've been guilty of this before, and it was not intentional.

I analyzed the situation and I honestly thought that it was a network issue (BTW, I am a network analyst). But, I do not have access to the network devices where I work, so I called support and asked them to ask the network department to check my network connection, thinking it would speed up the process to ask it that way.

Turns out it was a problem with my laptop and had nothing to do with the network. To say that I was embarrassed is an understatement. But I learned my lesson. From now on, no matter how sure I am of a problem, if I am not the individual that takes care of the systems, I will not push my limited knowledge and understanding of the situation on the administrator. There are far too many things I don't know to be sure.

Embarrassingly Yours

TCB.

that the "admin" is in charge of, running on the email server...... :p

Still her problem, not mine. ;\

...but nowadays, just about anytime you do actually call in for some sort of vendor support (and let's be honest, we all try to avoid those calls like the plague; since we know we're only asking for a headache), they walk you through more steps to show it isn't their products fault as opposed to actually trying to rectify the issue.

On the positive side, the fact that most of these types are half a world away probably saves me from going to prison. If they were stateside, the temptation to take a drive or board a plane to wring one's neck would prove very strong (now there's a blurb they can use in CIO Magazine's next article on why outsourcing is good...keeps domestic talent away from criminal charges). ;)

I have had issues similar to this in the past; most notably at my last employer. The IT departments were silo'd, and each specific 'ownership area' (I think that is the fluffy name they gave it) reported into someone different. So, you had helpdesk guys pointing fingers at net admins pointing fingers at mail admins pointing fingers at desktop support pointing fingers at net engineering, etc. etc. etc....the situation was a real mess. Of course, since they all went to managers, and those managers had different directors, you literally had to climb 3 or 4 branches (depending on which departments were involved) in order to find a management wonk that had equal footing in both areas and could make the call definitively. All the while, the users suffered, and overall morale was scraping bottom.

Modern management outcomes...the warmth you feel isn't a happy-happy-joy-joy moment; it's us p-ssing on your leg, and telling you it's raining!

I was working as a computer services section head, and had the finance director come in screaming...yes...screaming...that MY system had messed up HER accounting numbers.

I tried to assure her that, after the same RPG code running for over 15 years, the system would not just decide to stop working like it has.

She kept yelling, and eventually my boss (the director) came in and took her out and talked to her.

I ended up spending a day and a half finding looking manually through flat file records for the problem, and I found it: her A/R supervisor had misentered data.

I got an apology, which she was told she had to give me by my boss' boss...the executive director (evidently he'd heard her screaming at me too).

I used to see this kind of thing all the time at the company I used to work for. We had separate groups for desktops, LANS and telecom equipment, and the telecom guys were part of a different company. We had a packet switching network that routed through a serial cable on the phones, and they would always say its the PC's problem because they didn't know PCs.

The only way I would solve the problem is if I worked with them - not by playing telephone tag but by making an appointment for them to meet me at the users desk. I would walk them through my troubleshooting, and then ask them to do theirs. I learned about their environment, they learned about mine, and most importantly, they learned to trust me. So much so that eventually, when something failed at midnight, and they knew I lived 5 minutes from the office, they would ask me to go in to solve, knowing they could walk me through it and have me fix it before they could drive to the site.

It takes time to build these relationships. You have to position it properly. Too many times people dump problems onto others, instead of asking them to collaborate on an issue. I bet if the email admin had said that "she" wanted to find the solution, but wanted your help, it would have been much much easier going down.

It isn't about who is right and who is wrong, the customer doesn't give a gawd damn about that. The customer wants a solution.

James

Although the e-mail spam filter isn't [i]blocking[/i] e-mail from that particular source (whatever the return e-mail is on the scanner), per se, and it doesn't appear on a blocked list, try adding that e-mail address (whatever the return e-mail is on the scanner) to the e-mail server's White List.

Doesn't make sense, I know. But I'd bet you a beer that it'll work.

P.S. I realize that you've indicated it's the e-mail admin's problem, not yours, but I love it when I can solve someone else's problem that they can't (or won't) solve for themselves.

Later.....

I just KNOW that is what you heard, repeatedly..... :D

I know I haven't heard that in at least three days.... ;\

This is one of my "special needs" users that listens to [i]~shudder~[/i] kim Cammando all the time.

He had been on vacation for two weeks, came back and forgot how to run the machine....

Had another user go and try it out, worked like a charm.

Process of elimination, my dear watson! B-)

Edit to add, only AFTER the first incorrect assumption that it HAD to be my equipment, of course. ;\

But you have to see reality too.

When an issue is computer related, or network related, it is YOUR issue to deal with, end of story.

So, someone has no idea what the flow of data is, they don't understand if the spam filter (the bane of most office staff)is in control or not, SOMETHING isn't getting through to the desks and its YOUR problem, regardless of who's problem it SHOULD be.

I don't see what the big issue is really, it sounds like a very common and normal thing to have to address, so what if the boss tore you a new one, get over it, its only someone else's inability to deal with stress and work, not YOUR problem.

"and I had to explain (in front of the boss) that what she was accusing me of was impossible and if she knew the basics about the system,"

HUGE mistake, 'If she knew the basics of the system?" Too condescending, whether true or not, wrong attitude.

Whether she does or doesn't, irrelevant, she doesn't HAVE to know anything about the system, that's IT's job.

Seems like you just don't want to be the whipping boy anymore, unfortunately that IS how IT is seen by most bosses, whipping boy that is in charge of making it all work...all the time. as for who's fault or who should be addressing it, again completely irrelevant, if its not YOU, YOU should be sorting it out and seeing it is taken care of, whether that's your role or not....you are IT.

So many people seem to think office staff care the slightest about who's job is who's in teh IT department, but they don't.

Something goes wrong and they look for one of "those computer guys". The hirearchy means nothing at all, "You geek? Fix!"

If it was user error, that's your fault too of course, for not instructing the user or choosing a system that was more user friendly.

Sorry jd, sounds like run of the mill IT BS and office politics to me, nothing too absurd at all.

NSFW language:
http://www.thewebsiteisdown.com/

Finally got a decent cup of joe, it did its thing, just like every morning. So, I follow my normal routine, but then I realize, too late, the toilet paper dispenser is empty.

Just not my day. :(

We have hundreds of pieces of equipment sending and receiving data from our system. Any time a single piece of equipment ceases to send or receive data it is immediately our problem and the burden of proof falls squarely on our team even though hundreds of other system across 2 counties and countless building are functioning normally it must be our problem.

I think it happens because we are so much better equipped to troubleshoot than the owners of the other systems but it sure gets old. How about saying "Hey we thing we have a problem with one of our pieces of equipment, can you help us diagnose the problem?"

Now ya got me all fired up JD ;)

increasing the bandwidth for the company, or having everyone sit -- and sit -- and sit, waiting for something to happen.

On average Word/Excel/PPT (even when opening a local copy, since it opens all network connections first) takes 2-5 minutes to open. Now that is productivity there.

Do this several dozen times a day and no wonder people take lots of breaks to walk around the floor -- they are waiting for that 200 page contract to open!

nephew of some of the owners.

He was sent on a simple job at one of our remote locations. (2 hour drive each way). He had a list of what to do, and one thing was to replace a cd drive.

About the time he gets back to the office, the user called that their cd drive still didn't work. He forgot to plug the #@!@#'en thing in, and never tested it before leaving.

To make a point, my boss made him drive back and "fix" it, even though there was someone on-site that could have handled it.

After MANY documented such occurrences, he is no longer employed with us.

And I must say, I am not impressed.

We DID have point to point frame and I think it ran much better. :(

Cisco routers on each end? You should be able to use QoS. Even if your provider only accepts 4 classes. You should create a Critical, High, Normal and Low priority que and assign subnets or hosts using ACL. You can either assign a fixed number or % of bandwidth to each class (only use 75% bw total).
You could actually have a 'scavenger' class too that you throttle down to a low % so that it does not impede Internet usage too mcuh (in case Internet is high priority for some position functions).

After all, there are so many other things to give the ladies of TR a hard time about, why go for the easy one? :D

No, she isn't a blonde. ;\

with 2801's at each end.

The problem is, users out of ignorance create huge files, and then wonder why it takes so long for it to transfer.

I also get blamed because the customer they are working with bounces back their email with the same 10 meg file..... [i]~double sigh~[/i] Amazing how many people STILL have a 5 meg cap on emails.

MOST of the complaints went away when I went to the MPLS because we also tripled our bandwidth. B-)

We use a knife and fork. That way, if we mix up what we eat with and what we clean with, we know about it.

:p

I our internet is run off a WAP WAN. every time it thunderstorms, our internet is sporadic at best. And CC (Captain Caveman) comes over the PA, "Geekmaster come to my office, Geekmaster come to my office".

I always keep a smiley in my pocket. no matter how annoying it can be to explain it over and over that our network is up and the internet is down due to the storm. I'm not responisble for the internet being down, but its still my fault :D

Yippee!

He just decided to walk. He'd been in trouble just the day before about not doing what he was told, so he did exactly as he was told.

Did I mention this was in mid-summer. I think the temps were in the 90s and the humidity was in the 90s as well. He risked heat stroke to prove his point.

He had the decency to continue being stupid and stubborn, to the extent that he could be let go easily.

All too often, they remain passive agreesive but realise they need to walk the fine line to avoid being fired.

I would have suggested that having good judgment and a brain were part of the job requirements, and it was obvious he was lacking.

James

That's your opinion. Have the testicles to stand by it without ducking.

Besides, if you are NOT ducking, you make an easier target.

couldnt have said it better :^0

now, just ducking is not enough, you need to

Your expectring us to rise to that aren't ya..
so..not gonna..nope...

Damn! You're pushing your luck...

:D

I always have a sneaking admiration for the totally foolhardy. So long as I'm out of blood-splatter range.

If I want to say thank you or if I want to destroy your judy garland albums..

some decisions are just so hard.

Some people just don't know how to take a compliment.....

algore "created"..... ;\

And now algore is making a fortune off of global warming. The man knows how to turn a profit.

strange, because usually FF does a better job of catching that.... :(

Oh well, if the worst I have to worry about is you correcting my spelling, life is good. :p

my boys went into giggle fits last night when I told them about the thermometer bit.... :D

I see Mae is learning from Galliger and putting out some visqueen first, so that should reduce the splatter zone... ;\

Besides, if I wouldn't have slipped that last part in there, Mae would have thought I didn't like her anymore.... :p

gigantic red font..nice one guys..
]:)

I have separate filters on internal email as well as external. Maybe he/she was saying inadvertently that she doesn't mind circumventing the department hierarchy and he/she trusts your ability to look at it yourself without you screwing something up.

Of course if it is just a lazy admin, then you can always go in and apply a new filter that drops any message larger than 1kb or reset the admin password without telling.

:)

On my network, we have a few outlying shops that have their own pc/server support staff. I ALWAYS get blamed for any issues that go on in these places. Luckily for me management sees the bigger picture and I've been around long enough to be friends with the people who pay their bills. They respect my opinion and know bs when they hear it. But this has a downside as it further pi$$es these staff members off. Basically, they won't be happy until they have domain admin rights and admin rights to the Cisco equipment. But then they'll screw the pooch as they did in the past and I'll take the blame for allowing access. It's a no win situation for me. No matter how nice I try to be I'm the bad guy, the big brother guy trying to insult their technical ability.

It is NEVER "asked nicely" to take out the trash.

Is is a cross between a nag and a hassle, because said female will ONLY DEMAND it be done while you are enjoying something else, and there is NOTHING that pisses a woman off more than seeing a man enjoying something. ;\

Right now, you do it when it needs to be done, not when someone else WANTS it to be done. BIIIIIGGGG difference.... :p

i won't mind a bit. some guys don't have the attitude that their free time shouldn't be stopped by a request from their lady.

and besides, i've seen marriages both ways.

my neighbors are totally not like what you say marriage is like. she always asks him "could you please do..." and he is like "why sure."

and no, it's not an act.

just that when some people in this world get married, they have enough respect for each other not to demand or be snippy or condescending.

and that's one reason i'm not married yet. i want to find a lady, not a trophy wife or honey-do expert or maid.

i want someone i love and respect, and she me too.

otherwise, i'm staying single for the long haul...and i'll adopt a 20 year old woman from Belize or Argentina. ]:)