Tales from Techsupport

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Originally Posted by Charbok

We have a special hosting customer that doesn't care for "unnecessary automation". Sales team of course acquiesces to every demand, and my support team gets stuck doing the menial, laborious tasks that should be happening automatically.

Like log rolling.

A monitoring alert for the server's Logs drive reports it is filling up and breached 90%. Standard SOP is for the tech on duty to hop onto the server and compress IIS log files. This takes a few hours, as there are multiple sites on the machine and the log files each take up around a 1 to 1.5GB per day. (I just counted; there are 36 sites hosted on this server).

So the tech starts this process, and leaves a note in the tracking ticket that reads - "Compressed last month's logs for all sites. Space utilization still rising, now at 94%. Something appears to be eating up the space and it's not logs."

Next tech investigates. Finds a couple of sites that didn't get compressed. Does so. Leaves a note in the tracking ticket - "Agree with [other tech]'s assessment. Space still rising, now 95%."

As 95% is considered a critical event, the issue was escalated. I look at it. I return the ticket with this comment: "After moving the files to the compressed folders, you still need to delete the originals. Space now at 73%."

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I am guessing this customer cannot be told that some automation processes are part of the operating system and cannot be disabled?

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Originally Posted by FilanFyretracker

I am guessing this customer cannot be told that some automation processes are part of the operating system and cannot be disabled?

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Just manually create a cron job for it.

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Originally Posted by FilanFyretracker

I am guessing this customer cannot be told that some automation processes are part of the operating system and cannot be disabled?

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Customer is aware of automation tools. Customer's last hosting provider used many of them and somehow irrevocably corrupted their source code.

Whether the two are truly related or not, I cannot say. What I can say is that the contract the Sales team signed and handed to us specifically mentions that menial tasks, such as log rolling, are not to be automated and are to performed by live techs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Charbok

Customer is aware of automation tools. Customer's last hosting provider used many of them and somehow irrevocably corrupted their source code.

Whether the two are truly related or not, I cannot say. What I can say is that the contract the Sales team signed and handed to us specifically mentions that menial tasks, such as log rolling, are not to be automated and are to performed by live techs.

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Mindboggling. But, hey, if it pays...

Me: I received an auto-reply from a customer's email address that states "mary.doe@law.com" is no longer with this firm. I want to record that they requested removal from our email system. Do you have an account number for Law Firm?
Coworker: What do you need it for?
Me: I need to remove their email address from the system.
Coworker: Why are you removing it?
Me: Because their auto-reply says that she's no longer with the firm
Coworker: Who sent you the email?
Me: It was an auto-reply from "mary.doe@law.com"
Coworker: And she wants to be removed why?
Me: She's no longer with the firm.
Coworker: I don't see a "Mary Doe" for that firm
Me: Right, she is no longer with the firm
Coworker: So how do you have her name?
Me: I got an email to remove her email address from the system
Coworker: Why are you helping them? They never actually purchased the software
Me: ... I'll just remove the address from the system
Coworker: Why did they want to be removed from the system?

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Originally Posted by Mileron

Me: I received an auto-reply from a customer's email address that states "mary.doe@law.com" is no longer with this firm. I want to record that they requested removal from our email system. Do you have an account number for Law Firm?
Coworker: What do you need it for?
Me: I need to remove their email address from the system.
Coworker: Why are you removing it?
Me: Because their auto-reply says that she's no longer with the firm
Coworker: Who sent you the email?
Me: It was an auto-reply from "mary.doe@law.com"
Coworker: And she wants to be removed why?
Me: She's no longer with the firm.
Coworker: I don't see a "Mary Doe" for that firm
Me: Right, she is no longer with the firm
Coworker: So how do you have her name?
Me: I got an email to remove her email address from the system
Coworker: Why are you helping them? They never actually purchased the software
Me: ... I'll just remove the address from the system
Coworker: Why did they want to be removed from the system?

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Who's on first?

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Originally Posted by Mileron

Me: I didn't send the email because I enjoy typing it - I sent it to prevent this kind of problem
Coworker: But it's not a problem, you're here to fix it now. I don't have time to read emails

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Among the many insanely stupid things I have to do as department head is forward to faculty emails from the Dean or Provost's office'd that they have already received, because they ignore all email from "administration" as a matter of course. It is bewildering to me that smart people can be so stupid.

edit: Of course some of them ignore email from me too ... those are the people I have to treat as unique and special snowflakes if I want them to do anything.

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Originally Posted by Voca

Among the many insanely stupid things I have to do as department head is forward to faculty emails from the Dean or Provost's office'd that they have already received, because they ignore all email from "administration" as a matter of course. It is bewildering to me that smart people can be so stupid.

edit: Of course some of them ignore email from me too ... those are the people I have to treat as unique and special snowflakes if I want them to do anything.

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We moved our Warehouse Operations last week.

Email sent Agency wide, explaining what was going on, that anything related to the Warehouse/Mailroom would be delayed and that normal operations were expected to resume this Thursday (To give us plenty of time to get things up and running and anticipate the unexpected delays that happen)

Doing the mail run today I am beseiged with questions - Why hasn't my package gone out/where is my mail/why don't you have any boxes down in the mail annex/some variation of "Why hasn't X occured?"
Every time I patiently explained about the move and reminded them an agencywide email was sent out a week and then 2 days before the move.

"Oh, I never read those emails"

/headdesk

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Voca

Among the many insanely stupid things I have to do as department head is forward to faculty emails from the Dean or Provost's office'd that they have already received, because they ignore all email from "administration" as a matter of course. It is bewildering to me that smart people can be so stupid.

edit: Of course some of them ignore email from me too ... those are the people I have to treat as unique and special snowflakes if I want them to do anything.

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Unless its required by your position you should send out an email that you are no longer forwarding emails, Ignoring them from the original source is not excuse for not knowing they exist.

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Originally Posted by FilanFyretracker

Unless its required by your position you should send out an email that you are no longer forwarding emails, Ignoring them from the original source is not excuse for not knowing they exist.

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The role of department head in an academic department is somewhat unique --- in order to achieve certain kinds of goals I need the other professors to do certain things, but I am not their boss -- I can't simply tell them to do them. First among equals gets at it somewhat, as does thinking of the role as a form of coaching. So I can simply not forward emails, or not walk down the hall and say "here's this opportunity, you should take it", and sometimes I don't. But sometimes it is important enough to me to do it. It's still annoying.

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Originally Posted by Tinthalas Tigris

Manager: NO GOD DAMNIT. I DON'T WANT ANY EXCUSES. I DON'T CARE IF IT WAS YOU, OR YOUR RETARDED BROTHER. IF YOUR RETARDED BROTHER CAN'T DO THE JOB RIGHT, FRANCO, YOU NEED TO LEAVE YOUR RETARDED BROTHER AT SPECIAL ED CLASS. THINK ABOUT THAT WHILE WE DON'T USE YOU TO DO OUR CABINETS.
[/b][/i]

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Sooo....

Franco delivers the hinges to me today. . . .


Me: "Hey man, I'm really sorry you had to get yelled at like that. It was sort of my fault. I just wanted she to be aware of what was going to have to happen with the cabinets before the tenants could move in. I had no idea you were going to get yelled at like that."

Franco: "It's okay man. I shouldn't have left my brother here by himself. I had stuff to do over at another job site, and I forgot to check his work when I got back. He's what you people call, how do you say, 'special?' It won't happen again."


Me: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -




:jawdrop:

Other-Tech: Yeah, one of the things I want to work on in the coming year is how to work on an Ipad...

Me: Ummm, What? You want to learn how to program for one?

O.t.: No, just learn how to use one.

me: THere's nothing to learn - you just fucking use it.

O.t.: Well, yeah, but how?

Me: Just like your phone

o.t.: But I have a droid, not an Iphone!

me: ..........
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..........
.........
...........
..........
.........

How skilled is this tech as a tech? I mean how can they be a tech if they cannot figure out an iPad?

My thoughts too. We have varying degrees of techs here, because you really don't have to know that much IT to change passwords, help with CAPS LOCK keys and find lost files.
But not knowing how to use an iPad ? Damn...

yea that was my point an iPad is so simple a Congressman can do it...

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How skilled is this tech as a tech?

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Not very - her primary role is webmaster. So more artistic then "tech".

That is even less of an excuse because with how popular ipad is a webmaster should at least once and awhile check their site with one to make sure nothing is too funky.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by FilanFyretracker

That is even less of an excuse because with how popular ipad is a webmaster should at least once and awhile check their site with one to make sure nothing is too funky.

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There are browser emulator websites that do that for free.

Add to that the fact that this is NOT the dot-com-BOOM of the mid 90's and most web developers do NOT get paid particularly well.

OK... Here we go again... and people wonder why I drink:

Webmaster to me: Hey would our Email encryption service do anything to PDF attachments?

Ummm WTF? No. WHy?

WM: Well, I got these 3 PDF's in an email and I can open them just fine, but when I try to put them out on the intranet for people to download - it just gives a 404 not found. and the Only thing I can think of is maybe the Email encryption service did something to the PDF's so that they can't be hosted on the website.

me: Now why in the hell would you think email encryption service had anything to do with our Intranet?

WM: I dunno that's just the only thing I can think of..

{Note, she grabbed me as I was rushing out the door to go fix other REAL problems}


So, I get back sit at my desk, RDP to the webserver call up IIS manager & boom, "logging off for restart"...

Me: WM? Did you just reboot the webserver?

WM: Yeah, why were you in it?

me: Yes.

WM: I was trying to fix that problem with the PDF's...

me: /sigh... fine whatever.

Server reboots get to looking at it & see the problem almost immediately...


Let's see if anybody here can get it file name was: insurance_form_#438523465-3495239457.pdf
{Not the real file name... but the one offending little character is there...}


WM after being told what the problem was: OH! I should have been able to figure that out on my own!

me: Yes, Yes you should have.

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Originally Posted by Melcar

me: Yes, Yes you should have.

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I hope you said that out loud.

I too have been losing my patience more often lately. I don't know if it's because of the weather or the straws of stupidity are finally stretching the camel's back or what, but I find myself being less and less forgiving when it comes to shit people should know.