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Techie reported to management for failing to fix a stapler:
On Call The seasons turn, the tides ebb and flow. Just as regularly, each Friday The Register delvers another instalment of On-Call, our reader-contributed tale of another sad constant: IT people being asked to do amazingly dumb things.
This week, meet a reader we'll Regomize as "Phil" who shared a short and sweet tale of his time as a senior systems engineer.
That grand title reflects the skills and qualifications required to tend a sizable fleet of virtualized servers and their respective operating systems.
Which made the support call we recount today all the stranger – because it came from an executive assistant who needed help to fix an electric stapler.
[...] This machine was not even located in the facility wherein Phil toiled. Instead, the call came from another office several states away.
Phil nonetheless tried to help, starting with the – pardon the pun – staple tactics of asking the user if the device was plugged in and then requesting it be turned off and on again.
When that proved ineffective, Phil asked the executive assistant what he felt an IT person hundreds of miles away could do to repair the stapler.
"It plugs into the wall, isn't that what IT fixes?" was the non sequitur reply. Phil's response was to suggest the user contact their facilities department and order a new stapler.
For offering that sensible advice, Phil became the subject of a complaint to corporate that labelled the IT team "unresponsive."
What amusing things have you been asked to do which were nothing to do with your job? For those of you who have worked on help desks, what are your most amusing recollections of problems you have been faced with?
(Score: 5, Interesting) by quietus on Saturday October 15 2022, @08:36PM (1 child)
Microwave oven, satellite dish. The base rule is that, if it got electricity, has a problem and you're known to be an IT guy, you'll be asked to fix it. Golden rule: do not try to explain what you're doing, or they'll try it themselves afterwards, immediately, with predictable results.
Comedy gold: a small business owner who'd lost his accounting data. I recover, but make the mistake of showing him how to make a backup, "so you'll be safe next time your windows crashes". The very next day he's back with an enthusiastic expression on his face and "I've done what you said but now I can't find my data back".
To test, he had reinstalled his windows os, and formatted all drives, including the one with his backups, in the process.
But the funniest one had nothing to do with fixing things, instead they tried to fix me. Government institution, 15,000 clients, I'm responsible for the network: and someone in management got the brilliant idea of doling out stickers to cluttered desks. After 2 big red ones in short succession (and a hand-written note, if I remember correctly), somebody decided it was better to skip the IT department for the rest of the campaign.
Whoever implemented that idea clearly wasn't fit for higher management: but you've got to admire the courage of doling out these stickers to desks on the highest floor of the building.
(Score: 3, Touché) by fliptop on Saturday October 15 2022, @10:16PM
External drives too?
To be oneself, and unafraid whether right or wrong, is more admirable than the easy cowardice of surrender to conformity