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I've got another favorite story from some freelance work I did the other week. My client not only accidentally cleared the entire contents of her website and found her backup corrupted, she also managed to upload a document with personal banking information in its place. If it didn't happen to me, I would absolutely not believe it to be possible, but this is a thing that really happened. Seriously. Thing is, she's really smart. She's in her 70's and she used to program mainframes. She can tell you all about the nitty-gritty hardware level stuff in excruciating detail, but actually using the machines? Impossible.
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Feb 11, 2014 03:25
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sfwarlock posted:Rabbit season. Duck season.
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Feb 11, 2014 03:29
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RFC2324 posted:Duck season. Duck season!
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Feb 11, 2014 03:49
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semiavrage posted:Thing is, she's really smart. She's in her 70's and she used to program mainframes. She can tell you all about the nitty-gritty hardware level stuff in excruciating detail, but actually using the machines? Impossible. I think this is fairly common - my mom is a Sr. Sys Admin, she's been working on networks since '92, has a host of servers, and is the person that gets called when pretty much anything goes wrong where she works. She's in the process of implementing a 600 computer lab with slim virtual clients using LDAP and all sorts of stuff I don't begin to understand, but when we're at home, she has trouble using the TV Remote.
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Feb 11, 2014 03:54
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grnberet2b posted:I think this is fairly common - my mom is a Sr. Sys Admin, she's been working on networks since '92, has a host of servers, and is the person that gets called when pretty much anything goes wrong where she works. She's in the process of implementing a 600 computer lab with slim virtual clients using LDAP and all sorts of stuff I don't begin to understand, but when we're at home, she has trouble using the TV Remote. It's probably partly a lack of incentive. She can figure out whatever she needs to if she gets paid enough and if no one will do it, but the TV remote doesn't affect production and you'll make it work eventually.
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Feb 11, 2014 04:07
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RE: A ticket came in... Bitch loves rabbits. It's blackswordca's fault.grnberet2b posted:I think this is fairly common - my mom is a Sr. Sys Admin, she's been working on networks since '92, has a host of servers, and is the person that gets called when pretty much anything goes wrong where she works. She's in the process of implementing a 600 computer lab with slim virtual clients using LDAP and all sorts of stuff I don't begin to understand, but when we're at home, she has trouble using the TV Remote. This sort of thing has always fascinated me, when it comes down to really simple things. I had a CAD designer who worked on seven figure architecture contracts, ran his desktop super clean and efficient, never installed any junkware, and really just needed help with the nitty gritty, such as BSOD's and the like. He once rang me to ask how to install his new CAD software he'd bought. As in you put the disc in, and it has a giant 'Click here to install' button on the splash screen. He said he felt pretty silly after I told him 'Put the disc in, hit install and the rest should just be a next, next, next type deal'. I also know people who have worked with engineers who design systems that run giant chemical plants, who couldn't figure out how to check their cars oil. They read instruction manuals everyday, yet can't read the one that came with their vehicle. I think like mulls said, it can sometimes come down to focusing on what's 'most important' in a way.
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Feb 11, 2014 04:34
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H1KE posted:RE: A ticket came in... Bitch loves rabbits. It's blackswordca's fault. My last gig of 7 years was supporting a factory, which included a team of 20-ish AutoCAD drawing engineers. The lead engineer, who has worked there for well over 20 years, was literally unaware that you could just pick your mouse up and put it on any side of the keyboard your heart desired. 30 to 40 million dollars worth of prints crossed his desk for checking every year. Thankfully, he was quite a nice dude.
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Feb 11, 2014 04:39
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grnberet2b posted:I think this is fairly common - my mom is a Sr. Sys Admin, she's been working on networks since '92, has a host of servers, and is the person that gets called when pretty much anything goes wrong where she works. She's in the process of implementing a 600 computer lab with slim virtual clients using LDAP and all sorts of stuff I don't begin to understand, but when we're at home, she has trouble using the TV Remote. I left out a few details, like how she doesn't even own a computer at home. She also does not own a cell phone. Regardless of these facts, she is one of the smartest people, at least when it comes to hardware, who I have ever met. She does major jobs for the few companies in my city that still have mainframes (this exists in healthcare apparently,) gets paid a ton of money to work with computers, and is still stuck in 1976. She's the webmaster for her organizations website! (If you were wondering, she uses a 2003 version of some Macromedia or Adobe product to manage it.) Thankfully, I just put in a bid to redo her website with a proper CMS. semiavrage fucked around with this message at 06:29 on Feb 11, 2014 |
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Feb 11, 2014 06:25
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This came from my brother; A ticket came in, a user was asking if she could get a trackball as the mouse was making her wrist hurt. So off he went to do a workstation assessment for health and safety. When he got to the desk he had to do a double take as the lady in question was using the mouse rotated 180°. She explained that she had taught herself about computers and such and just assumed the mouse was used that way, because you know, when you see mice they are always running away from you so naturally the 'tail' should go towards her. The fact that right was left and up was down didn't phase her because she had learned to use it that way and was using the palm/heel of her hand to click the mouse buttons, I have no idea if it had a wheel or not, or how that would be used... I think she got a new mouse, if only to replace the ancient ball mouse she originally had, and a lesson on how to use it...
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Feb 11, 2014 13:05
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At the previous company we had a central helpdesk system with facilities, and their tickets were hillarious. There was one I remember that started with: Help! I'm being attacked by ants!
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Feb 11, 2014 14:06
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semiavrage posted:Today I got an email that stated, and this is a direct quote, that we were to "...return the cases, as they are not feminine and accessible enough." The title of the email was "Important Color Issue RE: Macbooks." This sounds an awful lot like the thinking feminists had when they complained about wikipedia not being feminine enough and that wikipedia was a "male dominated environment". Just, ugh. Way to fight sexism by reinforcing gender roles! Todays ticket? A client who has asked me to do a price update for her a good 10 times now. I've got no problem helping her, it takes 10 minutes at most and I don't have to take other (shittier) calls while doing it. The part that makes this stand out? It apparently took her ten repetitions of "ok, so i'm just going to press select all and update all the prices to the ones in this file" for her to realise there was an option next to the one I clicked that only selects price increases. I have mentioned it before (every time I do it I ask if she wants to select all or just the increases) but she's always gone for "just select all". Today I find out her company only wants to do price increases and its caused them a massive headache. Ugh.
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Feb 11, 2014 14:14
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adary posted:At the previous company we had a central helpdesk system with facilities, and their tickets were hillarious. s/ants/gnats/ and I put that very ticket in yesterday. Some shithead overwatered her plants and attracted a ton of gnats.
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Feb 11, 2014 14:21
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semiavrage posted:One time I was working on her printer while she was meeting with someone in her office. Somehow she steered the conversation toward rabbits, where it stayed for the next five painful minutes. Now now, there's nothing wrong with owning a Rabbit. Especially if you work from home and are waiting for a long progress bar. Passes the time nicely. 
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Feb 11, 2014 14:50
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adary posted:At the previous company we had a central helpdesk system with facilities, and their tickets were hillarious. At work once I had one earbud in to listen to music while working (leaving the other ear open to hear the phone) when I started feeling this...movement. Took out my earbud and started scratching my ear, and managed to pull a live ant out of it. It had apparently crawled into the earbud in my (completely clean, no food in sight) drawer before I stuck it in my ear. 
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Feb 11, 2014 15:21
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Sirotan posted:At work once I had one earbud in to listen to music while working (leaving the other ear open to hear the phone) when I started feeling this...movement. Took out my earbud and started scratching my ear, and managed to pull a live ant out of it. It had apparently crawled into the earbud in my (completely clean, no food in sight) drawer before I stuck it in my ear. I had this with a spider once. I also get bugs in my hair on occasion because I own a cat who doesn't understand that the correct bed he should be in is on the floor and looks like an old towel wrapped up in a feeble attempt to get the cat off my drat bed (he'd wake me up at 3am by scratching my chest until blood showed so i'd let him out). This prompted a conversation with a colleague who saw me pick a beetle out of my hair once and said "dude, you have lice". No, its a beetle you nimwit. Yes, I did shower today, it was tangled up in my roots (I had long hair at the time). Bugs are the worst and now I check for them every time I go to bed, even though I know i've not had the cat in my room for a year.
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Feb 11, 2014 16:27
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Sirotan posted:At work once I had one earbud in to listen to music while working (leaving the other ear open to hear the phone) when I started feeling this...movement. Took out my earbud and started scratching my ear, and managed to pull a live ant out of it. It had apparently crawled into the earbud in my (completely clean, no food in sight) drawer before I stuck it in my ear. I was an intern at a place that had ants in the coffee machine. When people went to get coffee in the morning, it crawled.
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Feb 11, 2014 17:20
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A server did not come in. We've got two on order from Dell and the shipping date has been pushed back twice now. My boss just followed up with our rep yet again and was told that not only are OUR servers delayed, but ALL servers on order are delayed due to a shortage of....internal power cables. A quick google brings up nothing to support this. Anyone else waiting on a shipment from Dell been told this?
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Feb 11, 2014 18:06
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semiavrage posted:I left out a few details, like how she doesn't even own a computer at home. She also does not own a cell phone. Because I wish I was brave enough to not own a cell phone or have any computers at home. I am too addicted to my kit and the amount of time I fritter away just farting around on them is frustrating...
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Feb 11, 2014 18:40
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so a ticket came in. Account lead wants me to image 12 new workstations.. for tomorrow morning. My problem is I only have enough bench room for two at a time, and each has its own software requirement. So I can use a base windows image for each machine, I'm looking at 30 min to 90 minutes of additional manual software installation. I've already told him ill get what I can done and I wont be working late tonight.
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Feb 11, 2014 21:13
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A failure to plan on your part bla bla bla At least you've already said you won't stay late. Just make sure you don't.
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Feb 11, 2014 21:15
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Caged posted:A failure to plan on your part bla bla bla I'm out of here at 4:55 as per normal. He can't dump two or three days worth of work on me half way through the day and just demand it done.
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Feb 11, 2014 21:20
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Sirotan posted:A server did not come in. We've got two on order from Dell and the shipping date has been pushed back twice now. My boss just followed up with our rep yet again and was told that not only are OUR servers delayed, but ALL servers on order are delayed due to a shortage of....internal power cables. We ordered a pair of C300 layer-3 switches and they got back-ordered for 6+ months. We've got one now at least... Our sales rep called, asking if he could swing by to "see how things are going" and we basically said, "Sure, just toss our $30K piece of equipment in your trunk and come on over!" The sales rep never called back and has been totally MIA since before the new year.
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Feb 11, 2014 21:26
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blackswordca posted:I'm out of here at 4:55 as per normal. He can't dump two or three days worth of work on me half way through the day and just demand it done. Re: A spine came in...
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Feb 11, 2014 21:30
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blackswordca posted:He can't dump two or three days worth of work on me half way through the day and just demand it done. Yeah, yeah he can. He'll also bitch about you not being able to get it done and have the higher ups on his side. It's your fault.
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Feb 11, 2014 21:33
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To be fair he should have pre-empted the workload coming in and extended the lab in anticipation.
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Feb 11, 2014 21:36
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Caged posted:To be fair he should have pre-empted the workload coming in and extended the lab in anticipation.
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Feb 11, 2014 21:50
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Zemyla posted:blackswordca doesn't have precognition. This is clearly his fault. Actually, he did, but this was disabled/removed and the audit logs for this action were turned off/wiped by higher ranking colleagues. This is also clearly his fault.
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Feb 11, 2014 21:56
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One of our employees quit and I finally got his equipment back after a month. I guess I'll be able to find a couple spare keys and clean up the laptop, but why can't people just take care of their things?
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Feb 11, 2014 22:45
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wa27 posted:One of our employees quit and I finally got his equipment back after a month. Good chance saying that he did and decided to trash the phone.
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Feb 11, 2014 22:48
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wa27 posted:I guess I'll be able to find a couple spare keys and clean up the laptop, but why can't people just take care of their things? Because they're not their things, they're the company's things.
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Feb 11, 2014 22:53
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People constantly break things because they just don't give a poo poo. New manager on his first day yesterday up in Seattle completely hosed up his brand new laptop to the point he has to ship it back to me. His first day! I'm sending him an old spare to tide him over while I fix the new one. CFO smashed the left side of his expensive year old laptop and killed all the ports. New laptop ahoy! VP lost his iPhone in December, smashed the replacement less than a month later. That's $400 in insurance deductibles and now Asurion dropped him. People are terrible.
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Feb 11, 2014 23:01
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Loose Ifer posted:Exit story So what happened?
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Feb 11, 2014 23:12
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wa27 posted:I guess I'll be able to find a couple spare keys and clean up the laptop, but why can't people just take care of their things? Because assholes in marketing realized this ad would work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzjN9QDbUsg
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Feb 11, 2014 23:23
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Paladine_PSoT posted:Because assholes in marketing realized this ad would work: the best part is, this kind of poo poo is why IT budgets end up in the red, and you can't replace that 10 year old server that you can't get parts for anywhere but ebay...
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Feb 11, 2014 23:27
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These kinds of things really reveal what people use their computers for. That is mail, web-browsing, the office suite and the occasional citrix-app. Because otherwise they'd agree with us that "breaking in" a new machine is a hassle best avoided if possible (nevermind the cost). And for those things an old machine will do nicely anyway, they'll probably not even notice the difference.
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Feb 11, 2014 23:52
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The machine in that ad is clearly way past warranty time and I hate giving such crapboxes to people too. If someone breaks one of our 8 year old laptops I'm pretty much giving them a handshake for ridding me of a problem.
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Feb 12, 2014 00:36
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A bribe came in:  Finishing a project in 3 days for a high profile account vs 2 weeks has it's benefits.
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Feb 12, 2014 00:42
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^^^ drat you. Lucky sonofabitch.wa27 posted:I guess I'll be able to find a couple spare keys and clean up the laptop, but why can't people just take care of their things? I don't understand how keys pop off of laptop keyboards. Seriously folks. What the gently caress are you doing that makes a button that is designed to be pressed down pop UP off the keyboard? I've been using laptops since I had my first big rear end battleship of a Dell twenty years ago and I've never had a key pop off. Ever. I've had motherboards/video cards die, cables get damaged due to repetitive stress, hard drives fail, but I've never had a keyboard break. I don't get it.
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Feb 12, 2014 00:47
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Agrikk posted:I don't understand how keys pop off of laptop keyboards. Seriously folks. What the gently caress are you doing that makes a button that is designed to be pressed down pop UP off the keyboard? It happens depending on people's typing style. Some people tend to push forward with their hands while typing in anticipation of another button press in a higher row and slip a fingernail under a key in the process. Other people drag their fingers while the keys are still pressed, putting pressure on the. Yet more people let loving cats with long claws walk across their keyboard and make cutesy noises at widdwe bwoo bwoo skwatching those naughty kweys off of the compooter.
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Feb 12, 2014 00:55
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Agrikk posted:^^^ drat you. Lucky sonofabitch. An old laptop of mine had a couple missing keys because if I forgot to close it one of my cats would sleep on it and would occasionally hook claws on keys as she stretched when waking up.
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Feb 12, 2014 00:56
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