Tales from Field Support IV Tech Support |
| Posted: 24 Jan 2021 08:51 PM PST Y'all keep enjoying these so I'll keep 'em coming.Last few-The Wifi is Frozen! : talesfromtechsupport (reddit.com)Wifi nonsense part II : talesfromtechsupport (reddit.com)Tales from Field Support III : talesfromtechsupport (reddit.com) Same company from the first two stories, and spoiler- same moral. You get what you pay for, and it's better to pay more to get something than pay less and get nothing. In this case, quite literally. I was sent to troubleshoot why certain sections of the store had no music. I do a walk around, take note of how many speakers were 'dead' and where. I also noticed it wasn't just music, but also in-store paging. Completely silent. First thing's first. Amplifiers and zone controllers. All those in-store speakers use an amplifier to drive them, and larger stores often use 2-3 wired to separate sections of the store- and further break down those sections into 'zones', each zone given it's own volume knob. (Zone controller). Different departments carry sound differently, and being able to adjust each area's volume independently is pretty handy. Sometimes someone just- turns down a knob. Happens. I check, all the wiring seems right, all the volumes look good, no missing connections... so the only thing left to do is go up and have a look. I grab the scissor lift, putter my way to one of the dead speakers, and up we go-! I have a look, and these speakers literally have no wiring. Not just- 'not plugged in', there's no damn wire connected or near them at all. They're mounted in the ceiling but the cabling for them was never ran in the first place. I'm not there to install these, I'm there to REPAIR these. Seems like a small difference, but from legal and contractual sense- not so much. So there's a trick I know. I ignore the managers, and I find myself a real old stocker. Someone who's actually got a smile on their face, looks relaxed- but is moving very effectively. The experienced one. I find my an old lady who looks like she predates my grandma. I ask- she's been working in that same store something like 20 years. Perfect. I ask about the speakers- she thinks for a moment, and confirms my suspicion. Certain franchises like to call their stores different things. Sometimes a store gets a new subtitle if they make it bigger or something. It's not just- (Franchise name), it's a (Franchise Name) SUPERLOCATION! Well, about ten years back, this store was converted to such a super location. Which meant removing drop ceilings above certain departments to make it feel bigger. When they did that, they had to install new speakers that were much higher up and set to be louder to compensate. Well- nobody ever actually finished that job. Cables were never run, speakers never functioned. They never even bothered removing the plastic wrap from the front of the speakers. Ten years later someone actually bothered to send a repair guy for something that was never actually plugged in, and this SUPERLOCATION only had store music and paging in about 1/3rd of it's floorspace. I document every word of it, get a manager to sign off, and hit bricks. Store has no recourse, they signed off on the work and paid for it a decade ago. Far too late to go chasing for a refund or warranty support or such. Only thing to do was pay someone new to redo the work, at very high cost. Work like that would require closing sections of the store while the cables are run, meaning lost revenue. So they paid for the work to be done at night instead, at extra cost. Do it right, or do it twice. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 Jan 2021 07:56 AM PST Once upon a, I used to be an electrician on an aircraft carrier. Now, I do maintenance for an electronics manufacturer. Weirdly enough, users are users, no matter what the field. Imagine, if you will, your nemesis. I know you have one. That server rack with power supply troubles, that database that has some deep-seated issue with mathing correctly, that one printer that just will not stay addressed. The one that makes you hesitate to pick up a call from that department, because you know your afternoon is fuckered if you do. That one piece of equipment or code you would love to launch into the sun. My nemesis was the Disruptor. An angry oversized oven, with a custom sheet metal air flow monstrosity in its guts. Said sheet metal monstrosity meant that any work done on this thing was tripled if I was lucky. Work that would take me an hour on a different, reasonable chamber would take me six on this bastard. I have spent actual days of my life completely bodily inside this thing. And of course, it was a single point of failure kind of equipment, so any time it went down was an emergency. I spent so much time in it, 'Disruptor Whisperer' was on my performance eval. The process soot is imbedded in my pores like a tattoo from hell. I have burn scars from the time a relay in the back blew up. Fuck this thing, is what I'm saying. And then. Then. Shining relief. Someone realized that this thing was Awful, and shelled out the cash to replace it. Still a single point failure, but the new chamber is designed to do what the old one was modified to do, so no sheet metal disaster, no soot traps, no shredded stripped out holes where single use screws were used again and again. It's beautiful. It's maintenance friendly. I love it. The old bitch is getting its useful parts stripped and is currently slated for the dumpster. First thing out, though, is the sheet metal thingamabob. Still remember your nemesis, TFTS? Imagine taking your nemesis in hand, giving it a good shake, taking it out to the back lot, and smashing it to a pancake with a sledge hammer. Imagine picking up the busted scrap and yeeting it into a dumpster, so thoroughly wrecked that no one can ever make an argument for putting it back into service. Imagine the relief of watching it get smashed again by the compactor. Imagine the high-five from your boss, who is well aware of your seething hatred. I wish for every single one of you to experience the euphoria I did today, of the downfall of your nemesis. Fucker did give me one last blood blister on its way out :< [link] [comments]  |
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