It's not always on and off again, it's "did you pull the leaver?" Tech Support |
- It's not always on and off again, it's "did you pull the leaver?"
- security? I'm too busy to think about that!
- A broken clock is always wrong
- Correctly logging the issue
- It was rogue
- "What do you mean the server is GONE?"
- "So I know they'll remove inactive alumni emails from the system after six months...can I expedite mine?"
- The nicest stranger getting saved by our Apple DEP.
- The Tale of the Missing Server
- Non-paying invoices for a unreported issue
| It's not always on and off again, it's "did you pull the leaver?" Posted: 05 Dec 2021 11:27 AM PST I always imagine myself going "PULL THE LEAVER KRONK!" over the phone...but that would be unprofessional. Side note, hope I ain't breaking the anonymity rule... just pretend you can't see my user. Anyway, allow me to introduce myself to the sub, I am a typewriter repair and service technician by trade. You may be wondering to yourself, "who needs tech support for typewriters?" Excuse me while I take a break for a hearty laugh. Apparently a lot of people do. So allow me to rifle through my rollodex of amazing stories of unplugged tech support and bring to you a young man's perspective of a dying and sometimes annoying industry. If I don't get kicked outta here, I have more ;) Anyway, allow me to paint a picture of a generic portable typewriter. It comes in a case with a handle for portability. However, in order to protect it inside the case, most machines come equip with a small leaver to keep it all locked up. Queue many calls of typewriters "not working," which I normally handle with prose and patience (if I do say so myself). HOWEVER there will invariably be this old fart who knows more about typewriters than some 21 year old city boy because they've been around the block a few times and grew up with them. I have since retired the tirade of "I've seen machines you didn't even know existed etc etc" because it's lame and frankly...unprofessional. instead I politely ask the age old question, "have you tried turning it on and off again?" Which in typewriter language is said as follows: "have you unlatched the carriage lock?" "Oh yes I have, I know how to use my typewriter, every time i press a key nothing happens" seller said it was working blah blah blah. Either they bring it into me and I smugly pull a leaver and type away, or I circle it in a photo they sent me. It's really thankless work. Sometimes, yes, it is genuinely broken, hence why everything must be approached with neutrality. But it really is something to see someone who thinks they're all knowing be foiled by a leaver. The leavers also apply to paper release and the age old mimiograph settings.... a story for another time. And don't get me started on DIN numbers.... God help me. [link] [comments] |
| security? I'm too busy to think about that! Posted: 05 Dec 2021 01:21 PM PST Back in the olden days when I worked at a University as a sysadmin, my department assisted another department from time to time with computer issues. This was pretty much okay but we were rather limited in what we did for them, and sometimes folks just didn't understand that. Anyway, one day I get a call from our network security team, they've received notification that a computer in other department that we assist with is doing something bad, probably its infected, can I get it shut off? They don't have the ability to kill the switchport its on, they will have to take the entire building offline. Supposedly the switches in this building are so old they can't remotely manage them or something, but they can manage the upstream switch. They are able to give me enough information to identify a professor's lab so at least we know who to contact. I look up the departments webpage, find the faculty list, professor's office number is listed so I call it. A grad students answers, I explain what's going on, grad student talks to professor, grad student tells me professor is too busy to talk and he's using the computer, so no, he won't shut it down or disconnect it. I call the administration person for the other department and explain that Professor X needs to shutdown his computer or bad things will happen. No problem they'll contact him. Security guys call me back, the bad computer is still on the network. I call over again. Apparently Professor X will not listen to anyone, he's busy. The computer is still up and running, and connected. I explain again, your entire department is going to be disconnected if X doesn't shutdown his machine, or at least unplug the network cable. Admin folks explain that they don't have the authority to make X do anything. I suggest they escalate to the head of their department RIGHT NOW. I call the security guys and explain what's going on, they tell me they will pull the plug. I explain, I have no authority over this department, or this professor, or anything, we just help them out from time to time. I don't have access to the wiring closets so I can't disconnect him from the switch. As a matter of fact, the security guys shouldn't have called me anyway, we don't support faculty machines for the other department at all. Security asks if I'll walk over to the other building and try to talk to Professor X. No, I have no authority, I'm trying to get the Dept Head to handle it, he has the authority. The admin person calls me, Professor X has told them that he won't shut down or disconnect the computer, if the security guys need to unplug the whole building, that's fine with him he needs his computer running and connected. Apparently he doesn't realize that his computer is going to be off the network one way or another, the only question is how many other folks are going down also. Finally Professor X realizes he better do what he's been asked, or a whole lot of folks are going to be pretty mad at him, so he unplugs his network cable. Sometime later he got his system patched and I had a meeting with the Head of the department on what they should do. I said they could hire a sysadmin/network person and give them authority to disconnect machines that had problems, that was how it was handled in my department. Of course they didn't have the budget for that so it didn't happen. Eventually the switches in that building got upgraded so that the security guys could shutdown individual ports, which pretty much solved the problem. [link] [comments] |
| A broken clock is always wrong Posted: 05 Dec 2021 07:34 AM PST A broken clock is always wrong Background: I am filling in for our sysadmin as we attempt to hire and onboard a new person. As such, all tickets for Frontline and sysadmin are landing in my desk. Also, we are an institution of higher learning. On to the show. Arrived in the office Wednesday morning, opened our help desk ticketing software, It started to process from the afternoon/evening list of tickets which were minor, until I got to the Entitled Professor. EP: The clock in #classroombuilding is not functioning, despite having tried fresh batteries. ME: hello EP. Is this a clock on the computer or projector, a clock on the wall, or a digital clock mounted in the room? We do not work on clocks or any clock hardware as that is not a computer or a/v issue. If that is the case then this may be an issue that maintenance can try to assist you with. EP: It is an analog clock with hands that hangs on the wall. Should I contact maintenance? ME: As stated below please note that IT does not work on clocks, and if its an analog clock that takes batteries the clock may be dead. You can reach out to maintenance or if its a cheap plastic clock that someone put up there it may just be time to dispose of it. TICKET CLOSED In case you are wondering this is a "Technology" professor and not even the most frustrating encounter with a professor this month. My wife is a Professor at the same institution and you better believe she hears about all of these and has advocated for us during faculty Senate meetings. Additional background 2 months ago the same professor put in a ticket to repair his personal ear buds that he uses for running that he slammed in his car door. Last semester I had to leave a meeting as there was an urgent outage impacting the classrooms in an entire building. Upon arrival I found the HDMI cable was not fully seated and with a slight push had it in. He assumed if it was in at all it would work and that it was not working because our entire system is down. 1 1/2 years ago he submitted a purchase request for software to make his non touch screen laptop work as a touchscreen. Yes he is friendly but this is very frustrating. Additionally our maintenance tickets go to a different system and email, think maintenance@ versus itsupport@. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 05 Dec 2021 02:42 AM PST A positive one for a change - as there have been a lot of logging failures recently. One user in the building managed that rarest of things - to be A) someone who genuinely understood computers and only came to us with sensible stuff and, B) a really nice bloke too. He served as an unofficial liason between IT and his team, a position I've held myself. Oh, and he was a fellow Sci-Fi geek which really helped him to be a friend. Thankfully, his team had him logging issues for the whole team just for efficiency. One day, his report just read (in full, word for word) "I". I should really have phoned but I needed a leg stretch and needing friends is always more fun in person. Him: "I know, I know, I'm editing it. So, you notice this one quickly then, don't you. Bit faster than your average". Me: "Oh we always see it quickly - it's just we see it's from you and put it to the bottom of the queue." We then both had to explain to his senior management (who passed behind we were chatting) that no, this was not an issue between our teams. To be fair, he was fine with it. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 03 Dec 2021 09:39 PM PST I work for a MSP and the other day I had client report that multiple computers couldn't print. I connected one of the devices and tried to ping the printer and was unsuccessful. I then tried to ping the print server and was also unsuccessful. I thought this was odd because the user wasn't remote, they were sitting maybe 20 feet away from their WAP. I decided to hit the gateway and it almost immediately dawned on me what the problem was. This client uses Ubiquiti access points and upon accessing the WAPs web management portal I was greeted with a login page for Netgear. I called the client and asked if they possibly knew why this device was connected to a Netgear WAP. The client told me, "Yeah, Sally the receptionist brought that in 2 weeks ago because her internet was running slow" I was stunned, they decided to allow a low level employee to bring their own WAP from home, plug it in, and allow half of the users to connect to it. [link] [comments] |
| "What do you mean the server is GONE?" Posted: 03 Dec 2021 07:33 AM PST I work in a datacenter. We are supposed to have several people on-hand to allow clients in the doors and to their cabinets, but because we can't keep people employed here I'm working that duty on top of my normal tickets/phones/receiving duties. Anyway, I get a message that a client is hard down. Their Equallogic is reporting as down and their VMs are all fucked. As "acting door dude" I have to go out to the cabinet to check it out... but the cabinet documentation is wrong. This client split into two, but the new one was never set up right so now I have to look in all kinds of places. I can't find this Equallogic anywhere, right? I even found the switch it should have been in, and traced the labelled cable all the way to the end, and found it was just gone. The ethernet cable was just hanging there. It must have been moved during the split and not documented. I'm telling all of this to the facility engineer, who takes care of the building (HVAC, coolant, power, etc). He goes, "ha, there was that field tech in today, he was in that cabinet. Would be wild if he just took it." We laughed. That would be funny. ... ...he WAS in that cabinet, wasn't he? ...and he left with a server. I called the head technical supervisor immediately who got field services to bring it back. They're setting it up now and we're trying to figure out how to tell the client we literally just... took their entire storage environment and left with it. I need a drink. EDIT: Apparently it was erroneously marked inactive when it obviously was not. Because it was our company's device being used for their paid service/environment, but was marked inactive for that client, the field tech just ripped it out to put it into another internal environment thinking it was all good. So there are several levels of oops here [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 03 Dec 2021 10:18 AM PST So I'm a student worker for my University's ITS Help Desk. I enjoy the job and generally it's smooth sailing with people calling needing help with Password resets and occasionally the faculty needing us to fix some Zoom/high flex stuff. Anyways, our university put out a notice to all alumni with emails that if they don't utilize their college-affiliated emails after six months then they'll be removed from the system. This is generally due to security concerns and also to clear up some room on the servers which have like 300,000+ email accounts on record but only 40% of then actively used. We anticipated a bunch of calls from people either upset or panicking or confused about this, and we have gotten a decent amount of tickets so far, which my supervisor has mostly taken care of. We got a call from an alumni about the email thing, but to all of our surprises they weren't trying to save it, but delete it faster. The wild thing is that they told me that they reset their password shortly before calling us, but then decided immediately to 180 and get rid of the account. We told them that as long as the email account is not touched or interacted with in six months, it'll delete automatically so really the caller doesn't have to worry about it. "I see, but can you expedite deleting it? I don't want to have an old email floating around affiliated with me if I'm not using it." I get the callers concerns but we all found it funny because up to the point the notice email was sent out, they didn't care as much about this. Also they literally reset their password which one would normally do if they wanted to get back in! We did deactivate their account for them and of course the whole thing was friendly and cordial, but when I hung up my coworkers and I had to laugh at the apparent absurdity of it all. It's like accelerating the car as you see the bridge collapsing in the distance. Times like these are why I'm never board here! [link] [comments] |
| The nicest stranger getting saved by our Apple DEP. Posted: 03 Dec 2021 10:47 AM PST I worked for a financial institute. This was right around the holidays a few years ago. I get a call from helpdesk(non-IT) at my company saying there is a person (non-employee) on the phone who has a device (iPhone) with our company on it and he's looking for a login. This is the main purpose of Apple DEP. (Incase you don't know what DEP is. Think iCloud activation lock but if the serial is registered to our company the activation unlock part after wiping it goes to our company MDM login. This is regardless of if you have icloud/find my iPhone turned on.). At this point I get the guys information and he was the nicest friendliest guy. I get the serial number. He tells me he bought this off craigslist for $180, I think it was an iPhone 8. He just wanted to use the phone and thought it was a retired phone we use to own. At this point I think I am dealing with internal theft. I am thinking IT helpdesk guys are selling company phones on craigslist. I do some digging in our MDM and find the last person the phone was registered too. I also see that this person has a new phone. I go straight to the helpdesk manager and explain. She is now concerned. We bring in the IT helpdesk user who did the swap and registration. We casually ask like nothing is wrong: "what happen with the user who had the phone swapped?". He explains that they lost the phone but they think it will turn up so the user was lent a loaner phone until its found. At this point we are relieved that there is no internal theft but now worried about that the phone which may or may not have company data on it and is in the hands of a stranger. The stranger is also out $180. We talk to compliance about the issue and we are 90% sure the phone is wiped because it was at the MDM login screen, but not 100%. The phone should of been remotely wiped when first reported but the user who lost it thought it would turn up at his place, car etc. It lost communication with the MDM. Either with the sim card pulled or someone wiped it with a PC/MAC. I called back the guy and explain that he bought a lost company phone. I told him we can reimburse him for the money he was out ($180) if he returned the phone to us. We upped it to $200 for his troubles. In compliances mind it was worth $200 for peace of mind. This way he is made whole and we can verify the phone doesn't have company data on it. He returned it and was grateful. We were grateful to him. He gave us the craigslist sellers information but he already reported them and there wasn't much we can do. This could of gone differently, we could of been assholes and told him to return it and paid nothing or reported him to the police for possession of stolen property. He also could of been fucked out of $180. Our MDM told him who the phone belonged to and saved him. This story has a pretty nice holiday season ending. [link] [comments] |
| The Tale of the Missing Server Posted: 03 Dec 2021 08:05 AM PST In a previous life 2 years ago I worked for a local MSP. Small shop. Supported the usual mix of business and municipalities, a few state agencies... I have to be very vague on this, and I apologize. Actors: $Me = DanuinKBH, the doofus that answered the phone $CO = Co-Owner of business. *phone rings*"MSP, this is $Me, how may I help you?""$Me! Just the person I needed. This is $CO at -business that is 50 miles away-! Our server is gone!" I think to myself.. "Gone? WTF did you do this time!?" This user only runs stuff on the server as admin (Don't Get Me Started! I KNOW. I fought and fought, but MSP-Owner allowed it.) "OK, $CO, what is it doing? Are there any lights? LEDs? Fans?" "No! It's just GONE! I need a new server! Today!" says the frantic person. "I can dispatch up there for the usual fee and take a look, but if there is a new server needed, we are looking at AT LEAST a 3 week lead, but closer to 8 week. The lockdowns and pandemic have really caused a delay." "It won't do any good! They took the server!" It's at this point that I sit there and just blink. And try to process what they said. "'They took it'? Who took it? Did you file a police report?" $CO proceeds to tell me that it has been seized by the police. "Well. Did they take the backup devices you have?" I ask in trepidation... "No! I found one from 2 weeks ago!" "OK, so, at least you have some data. As long as you have your work orders and receipts, you should be able to rebuild your PeachTree/Sage books. But, this is going to get expensive. Just a heads up. We are looking at a LOT of work to COMPLETELY REBUILD YOUR STUFF." I am not sugarcoating this. This shit is gonna be expensive for the small business. New server, restore of data (from USB..), build of the server, rebuild of the AD..... "Just do whatever you can to get us up and running!" $CO says in frustration. I drive up there, spend the time to get a workstation hosting the books. TL;dr- Do everything by the books and you won't get your shit seized. [link] [comments] |
| Non-paying invoices for a unreported issue Posted: 03 Dec 2021 08:20 AM PST Out of my regular Linux admin job, I'm at the same agency as a maintainer/tech support guy for one of our in-house software, and we have some customers. Yesterday, I have the pleasure of getting a angry accountant waiting at my office door before I even get at work, already got that before, so no stress
I turn my back at them while cutting their speech
Seating down and inviting them to do the same
I put my seat up and spin ticketing website up
I stand up with them and invite them out After closing the door, I seat back and pick up the phone, quite in rage
They gasp audibly
I really hold my anger
Have them send the internal ticket Reads It's needed to contact support techs of the software as a tech support answer posted in May
As I was with the person troubleshooting, I get a message They paid the bill at last That's why having a consensus on what software you want to use is important, if a person don't want to support something they'll trash the software/the person that deals with that software, and eventually come to blatant lying about support personnel (although, in this case they were right, tech support didn't do its job, but they're usually lying) [link] [comments] |
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