Stupid Question No. 72,463

**bluninja** · 9th February 2005, 10:14

You not had people asking where the 'ANY' key is?? :spudwhat:

**Bob** · 10th February 2005, 01:38

Originally Posted by bluninja

You not had people asking where the 'ANY' key is?? :spudwhat:

Amazingly, no. But I'm sure it'll happen one of these days.

One last thought: I happened to mention working in IT... and sat back and watched a series of diatribes about IT people.

Now what if I'd said I worked in a meat packing warehouse? I could still have answered the phone and been asked the same question. So would there have been rants against "Meat packers and their attitude"? I guess not.

Of course, I could work in the IT dept of a meat packers I suppose...

**bluninja** · 10th February 2005, 06:58

Bob, chances of this happening recede every day, since most programs say to hit the spacebar, rather than the any key.

As for diatribes....imagine the response if you'd said you worked as a meat packer in a whorehouse?

**riffer** · 10th February 2005, 20:48

I had a bad IT day. Actually I've had a bad IT month. I'm an end-user in a company that has approximately 150 computers (Macs)

It started with an incompatibility between the Cisco Routers and OS 10.3.7. This manifested itself in a URL coming back as "location not found". Type it in again, press return and the page comes up.

It's irritating, but Apple's had a fix for it for yonks so I find the Technote on the Apple site and helpfully pass it on to the IT manager in an effort to fix the problem.

Get a message back condescendingly thanking me for my input but reminding me that as I'm not IT staff I really should leave it to the experts. To this day, the problem remains. Most irritating, as its a simple fix.

Then we get to the laptops we use for working from home. I place print work with a number of companies overseas, particularly in Hong Kong. Well with Chinese New Year coming up I have had some deadline pressure on me, and as I work 7.00am - 3.00pm I need to send an receive email.

ME: "Can I check my email from off-site?"
IT: "No, sorry email is only accessible through the intranet, as the mail server isn't exposed to the outside world."
ME:"Right - what about the VPN?"
IT: "We don't have a VPN"
ME: "What's this VPN connection on my laptop for?"
IT: "Oh, that's never been implemented."

Dammit, I'm not gonna put up with that. So I get home. Log on to the internet on my laptop using MY dialup so as to not waste company resources on this venture.

Activate the VPN - whaddaya know - a response from the VPN server. Okay, I'll log on using my work Kerberos ID. Hey - access to the network. Let's go find the hosts file for the DNS server - okay, here's the real name for the mail server - oooh - that's an external IP address. Let's enter that in the POP3 settings and use my ISP as the SMTP in my email programme and wow - it works!

So now I've got access to:

1. The Filemaker Pro server
2. Using a TN5250 javascript shell I have access to the AS/400
3. I can check and send emails

Get to work on the Monday and - you guessed it - IT have found out and my laptop privileges are revoked.

Then the printer (which has been stuffed for ages) finally dies. I've been going spare about this for ages and this is the last straw.

So I pick it up and place it on the IT manager's desk with a big sign on it saying "EXORCISE ME"

Boy does that attract a shitty email about removal of IT equipment without permission of the IT department. Which is promptly ignored by me of course.

The new printer turned up last Tuesday and was installed finally yesterday.

The first document printed on it was the company policy on IT, and there it was, placed on top of my desk, ready for me to read today as soon as I got in.

And to top it all off, for some strange reason, my username had been removed from the network.

It took me until 2.00pm to log on today.

**Suney** · 10th February 2005, 21:00

Originally Posted by Sparky Bills

I hate it when people ring and ask...

"Are you open?"

Well if im here to answer the phone, what the hell do you think!!!!haha

or...
or the other day someone came in and asked..
"Do you sell motorbike stuff?"

Im not trying to be an asshole, but come on. haha

Calling into a place to see if they are open saves me a 10min drive and back for no reason!
Also I called into the place and someone answered and they werne't open, some random lady was doing paper work :P

**WilDun** · 10th February 2005, 21:29

Oh, sorry, I must be in the wrong place,
I thought it was a bike forum!

**madboy** · 10th February 2005, 21:53

My dear former team leader delegated me the task of writing her powerpoint presentation one day, which I duly did, e-mailed it back to her and told her to have a look at it while i went to lunch.

Oh, how do I look at it without all the bits showing on the side?
Run the slideshow
The what? I just want to see what it looks like without all the bits down the side.
Okay, hit F5 that brings it up. I'll see ya soon.

So I wander back, Burger King ready for the arteries...

This bloody thing doesn't work, I haven't got time to waste trying to figure out how to use this bloody program - just print it out for me.
Have you tried F5?
I've been doing that for the last 15 bloody minutes... see... F... 5

now imagine what she'd be like talking to a helpdesk with a real IT techie!!

**Bob** · 10th February 2005, 21:58

Originally Posted by WilDun

Oh, sorry, I must be in the wrong place,
I thought it was a bike forum!

(Goes into full IT mode...)

Technically, posting in here means you are NOT in a bike forum!

As it says at the top... Off Topic > Rave On

The rest of the place is bikes though... which is nice

**Wonko** · 10th February 2005, 22:02

Got to love calling help desks. When I need to call someone about IT help, I never tell them that I'm trained or working etc. Can be frustrating as hell at times, but I alway's give as much information as I can at the begining. Amazing how many times you can be transfered to level 2 help when you tell the level 3 tech more information about the problem than he knows about that problem existing.

End users can be true idiot's due to lack of training/superiority complexies/not wanting to use new system. Spending an extra 10 mins training someone has saved my hours of work down the road fixing the same mistake again.

Last thing - Backup before changing anything major.

**Hitcher** · 10th February 2005, 22:16

Originally Posted by Sparky Bills

I hate it when people ring and ask...

"Are you open?"

Well if im here to answer the phone, what the hell do you think!!!!haha

They probably wanted to buy a Ducati, were tired of walking around the store and being ignored, and just wanted to check. Ha ha ha!

**Biff** · 10th February 2005, 22:22

Originally Posted by celticno6

I had a bad IT day. Actually I've had a bad IT month.

Shit - that has got to be one of the worst IT departments I've ever heard of. Absolute dick heads. Or is it a corporate conspiracy to get rid of you? Have you been caught photo copying your arse again?

**WilDun** · 11th February 2005, 07:19

Originally Posted by Bob

(Goes into full IT mode...)

Technically, posting in here means you are NOT in a bike forum!

As it says at the top... Off Topic > Rave On

The rest of the place is bikes though... which is nice

Only joking!- used to ride bikes a lot ( not anymore) and I just wanted to have a look at the bike scene today.

What is IT? - an IT Yamaha? - they wonder why us old guys get confused! ( mutter mutter):spudwhat:

So I'll go and have a look for the bike dept. (down the corridor 3rd on the right did you say?).

**Blakamin** · 11th February 2005, 07:31

Originally Posted by celticno6

It took me until 2.00pm to log on today.

which meant you were bored for about 6 hours?????

Originally Posted by hitcher

They probably wanted to buy a Ducati, were tired of walking around the store and being ignored, and just wanted to check. Ha ha ha!

they were probably in the shop when they rang... only way to find out if anyone actually does anything!!!

**riffer** · 11th February 2005, 07:39

Originally Posted by Blakamin

which meant you were bored for about 6 hours?????

Not quite.

I've been here for nearly two hours now and in all that time the AS400 is still down and the main server is still down.

At least I've got internet access.

Can't do any work but.

Oh well, a representative of IT should be in in an hour or so...