I have yet to run out of stories from my time in IT, but honestly I have to admit that some of them are not nearly as humorous or ridiculous to non-IT folks as they appear to those of us who have been in the field. Some aspects are universal - they transcend the technology or even the occupation and are accessible to everyone who has ever dealt with similar issues in their fields. Budgetary, supply concerns, supervisory short-sightedness, and other such issues are things to which we can all relate, despite the details being different.
IT Tale of the Day #1
I had mentioned in my initial "Traumas of a (Former) IT Professional: Tale #1" (https://steemit.com/computers/@phoenix32/the-traumas-of-a-former-it-professional) that I had applied to and was hired by the school district in my home town as part of the Technology team. I was thrilled to be a part of a team that was vital, and (for those who read 1Traumas 1, you can skip to the next paragraph) there was a massive mess to untangle - a VoIP system that was still not completely ready to roll yet was deployed, SMART Boards and projectors, documents cameras, retrofits on 40+ year old schools, WiFi retrofits... It was both a disaster and a dream, really.
I had been at the district for about 9-10 months or so, and there was some skullduggery happening at levels well above my paygrade. My supervisor, who I had mentioned was a great guy, had managed to anger the powers above him. Suffice to say that I'm sitting at home and it is getting late. I had just finished supper with the woman I was dating at the time when the phone rings - and I don't recognize the number. I would normally have let it go, but something told me to pick it up - that something is the same inner techie voice that guides me in my work. So I answer the phone...
Me: "Go for phoenix32."
Voice: "Is this Mr. phoenix32?"
Me: "Yes, speaking, who is this?"
Voice: "Mr. phoenix32?"
Me: "Yeah... Who the hell is this...?"
Voice: "This is Mrs. Superintendent-of-schools."
Me: "Oh. Can I help you, ma'am?"
Voice: "Yes, I was calling to ask you to come in half an hour early in the morning. I will be meeting with your team to discuss the direction that your department will be going in, as the Board has decided to suspend Mr. Supervisor."
Me: "Sure. I can be there half an hour early."
Voice: "Great. See you then."
I arrive the next morning, half an hour early. Of course, we were all kept waiting while she managed to get her Nordstrom-clad self over to the Tech Department office 45 minutes later than she had requested. She explained to us that the Board of Ed. had decided to suspend our supervisor, but she did not elaborate as to why. OK, so just leave us in the dark here, no big deal. In the meantime, they knew that he was going to be able to have remote access to the whole of the network, so they opted to pull the plug on the Internet. This was like raising the drawbridge and leaving the district isolated. Mass confusion plagued the teachers in the high school and middle school who were banking on the Internet for certain lessons - and there had been absolutely no warning to anyone that the Internet was out that morning, so chaos was reigning supreme. Our phones were all ringing off the hook, and email was still functional, since we had a local server that was on-site and within the Local Area Network (LAN), so we were getting bombarded. Of course, we had no answers to give until we were told how much we could discuss.
It took our "ranking" guy (longest employed tech; we did not get tenure) almost an hour to undo the tomfoolery that had been performed on the network the previous night to keep Mr. Supervisor from tapping in and playing merry hob with servers and files and such. The drawbridge was lowered again, and everyone connected to the various outside sites and whatnot as they should.
We spent 5 months without a supervisor. There's a scene in "The Office" where [SPOILER ALERT] they are all coming into work and doing their jobs in the absence of a supervisor. Welcome to our lives. The 3 of us worked as independent operatives, consulting each other when stuck or in need of parts.
Unfortunately, inventory was running low.
This was the only thing for which we needed a manager - someone to authorize the ordering of parts and supplies. That was it, really. Our "ranking" tech had experience with navigating those ever-so-treacherous waters, and I was more than willing to stay clear of that potential disaster.
I found myself in the Mrs. Superintendent-of-school's office one fine day. One of the guys on the team, who normally covered the offices, was absent, so the "ranking" tech and I split the difference. I got the fuzzy end of the lollipop and was stuck with the administrators. These things happen, I suppose...
So Mrs. Superintendent-of-schools was out of the district for the day, so it should have been a smooth visit.
Should have been.
It was not.
Her secretary was some sort of cross-breed of bulldog and Zuul the Gatekeeper.
I explained to her that the fix she needed would take some time, as I was trying to figure out where to get parts to fix her system.
Zuul: "Well, I don't see what the problem is. Just go get some parts and come back and fix this."
Me: "If only it were that simple, you see -"
Zuul: "What's so hard about it? Just go get the parts."
Me: "As I was trying to say, we don't -"
Zuul: "You don't what? Have the time? This is important."
Me: "Parts."
Zuul: "What? What about the parts? Go get'em!"
Me: "Don't have'em."
Zuul: "What do you mean?"
Me: "We are out of parts."
Zuul: "Well, get creative. Scrape the bottom of the barrel, phoenix32."
Me: "Zuul... we're well beyond scraping the bottom of the barrel. There is no barrel. We have already dismantled that for parts. We need someone to approve our purchase request."
Now, realistically, Zuul had no power or authority. And I am certainly NOT Vinz Clortho, and even if I was, there was no way that Gozer the Gozerian was going to get summoned. But the fact that I had to explain that not having parts ordered for 5 months meant that we were probably running extremely low on parts.
