Dear Users… (A thread for Sysadmin, Technical Support, and Help Desk people) Part 10

[arthwollipot]

Sometimes I think it might be better if it didn't ask at all. If it won't work without the certificate but the user insists it MUST work, just install the frigging thing and move on.

Yeah well when it's an essential tool that everybody needs and is asking to revalidate the certificate for NO REASON WHATSOEVER...

Ahem.

 

[arthwollipot]

Apparently it's called "Temporary Performance Loading" now.

I've just submitted my form so that I get paid for the next four weeks at the higher level.

 

[The Man]

Apparently it's called "Temporary Performance Loading" now.

I've just submitted my form so that I get paid for the next four weeks at the higher level.

Sounds like some kind of euphemism for steroid use. “No, no it was just Temporary Performance Loading”!!

 

[catsmate]

Apparently it's called "Temporary Performance Loading" now.

I've just submitted my form so that I get paid for the next four weeks at the higher level.

Yeah, one of my friends is becoming a "shared resource" at work....

 

[arthwollipot]

Yeah, one of my friends is becoming a "shared resource" at work....

That's been my fantasy for, like, forever.

 

[arthwollipot]

I really wish we could send out an all-staff communication saying "The Certificate Validation message that some staff have been getting is genuine - please accept the certificate". I think we'd cut our current calls by about a fifth if we did that.

 

[novaphile]

I really wish we could send out an all-staff communication saying "The Certificate Validation message that some staff have been getting is genuine - please accept the certificate". I think we'd cut our current calls by about a fifth if we did that.

I would have thought that pushing the certificate to all desktops would be easier.

 

[arthwollipot]

I would have thought that pushing the certificate to all desktops would be easier.

I'm pretty sure it's automated, and that nobody realises that it's happening except the people it's happening to. And us.

That's the kind of thing that happens when you have a client base of some 6,000 users in fourteen different agencies.

 

[arthwollipot]

I just had a sort of mini-PA meeting with my admin team, who said that they were very happy with my performance at this time, including my performance as Team Leader, even though it's only been three days so far. It was very encouraging.

 

[Darat]

I just had a sort of mini-PA meeting with my admin team, who said that they were very happy with my performance at this time, including my performance as Team Leader, even though it's only been three days so far. It was very encouraging.

Right before they dropped in holiday requests...

 

[arthwollipot]

Right before they dropped in holiday requests...

I was going to request another week's holiday, which is something I've been doing 2-3 times a year for a couple of years, but then a whole lot of stuff started happening and it just isn't a great time for it right now. I might try for August. The position I'm acting in will be advertised in October.

 

[The Man]

I just had a sort of mini-PA meeting with my admin team, who said that they were very happy with my performance at this time, including my performance as Team Leader, even though it's only been three days so far. It was very encouraging.

Hey, three days without a serious screw up, wish I could do that.

 

[catsmate]

I just had a sort of mini-PA meeting with my admin team, who said that they were very happy with my performance at this time, including my performance as Team Leader, even though it's only been three days so far. It was very encouraging.

 

[Blue Mountain]

I was going to request another week's holiday, which is something I've been doing 2-3 times a year for a couple of years, but then a whole lot of stuff started happening and it just isn't a great time for it right now. I might try for August. The position I'm acting in will be advertised in October.

You take vacations in the middle of winter? All right, you're in Australia, so it's not like you're facing knee deep snow and -25 temperatures.

 

[arthwollipot]

You take vacations in the middle of winter? All right, you're in Australia, so it's not like you're facing knee deep snow and -25 temperatures.

We can have holidays whenever we like, as long as we have the leave balance available. Right now I have 8.93259 days of annual leave available, which is remarkably specific. I usually have the first week of January off, which is when I get in all the beach time I can. I'm kidding. I'm a nerd - I live in a cave.

Our HR system is going down shortly for an extended time for some much-needed upgrades so I won't be able to request the leave for a bit. But that's okay.

 

[JoeMorgue]

*Sighs*

1. You decided to move a user into a new "office."
2. The "office" was an old storage room with no data drops and no power outlets.
3. You've already moved someone into the user's original office.
4. The user has no where to work and is basically standing there counting ceiling tiles.

Where in steps 1-4 did anything happen that was my problem? Why are you demanding I "figure something out." I'm not an electrician and you have a different contractor for your internal ethernet wiring.

 

[TragicMonkey]

Dear User: no, we can't "just copy" an existing piece of software and change one thing so it serves a completely different purpose for a different audience. I spent two years making it customized to the highly peculiar requirements of one particular purpose and one particular audience. I realize you're a) cheap and b) very stupid but no, this is not going to happen. What you are asking is the equivalent of getting a dental crown placement, the same in every respect as a normal dental crown placement, except instead of putting it on a tooth you want it to go on an eyeball and fix their vision.

 

[Norman Alexander]

Dear User: no, we can't "just copy" an existing piece of software and change one thing so it serves a completely different purpose for a different audience. I spent two years making it customized to the highly peculiar requirements of one particular purpose and one particular audience. I realize you're a) cheap and b) very stupid but no, this is not going to happen. What you are asking is the equivalent of getting a dental crown placement, the same in every respect as a normal dental crown placement, except instead of putting it on a tooth you want it to go on an eyeball and fix their vision.

Been down that road...

"I want your specialised payroll software to be modified to manage a bitumen production plant as well!"

"Nope. Not possible. But here's the source code. You have fun, now!"

"But...but...but I'm not a programmer! You are!"

"Yep, That's why I said what you asked for was not possible. You would have to pay me more than the cost of buying the proper software to make the changes, and the result would still be crap. So perhaps you should STOP BEING A CHEAPSKATE AND ACTUALLY PAY FOR THE RIGHT STUFF??!!"

 

[JoeMorgue]

People deeply, deeply understand that if I were capable of automating their processes to the point that all they had to do was push a button and everything would magically work like they want it to it would, near literally almost always, be easier to do AND take them pressing the button out of the equation.

I'd love to see some kind of metric on how much IT staff are expected to basically "Automate everything to some exact balancing point where my job requires zero effort but not so much that I'm obviously not needed." Because I bet it ain't zero.

 

[a_unique_person]

Dear User: no, we can't "just copy" an existing piece of software and change one thing so it serves a completely different purpose for a different audience. I spent two years making it customized to the highly peculiar requirements of one particular purpose and one particular audience. I realize you're a) cheap and b) very stupid but no, this is not going to happen. What you are asking is the equivalent of getting a dental crown placement, the same in every respect as a normal dental crown placement, except instead of putting it on a tooth you want it to go on an eyeball and fix their vision.

What they mean is it just has to look the same, roughly.