ughh I hate IT

[Falloutboy]

ok I consider myself a pretty knowledgeable computer person, only reason I didn't go into IT or a related field is I hated dealing with people being idiots with computers, and knew most entry level jobs that would be the primary roll.

Now I can't be the only person like this who works for a company and you know about as much if not more than the first level Help Desk you have to call when there is an issue that you can't fix directly. Today I had to call in because for some reason the server I use to log into work remotely was down or I just wasn't able to connect to it. Told the lady nicely that soemthing is wrong with the server and would you mind checking it out. she cut me off and made me go thru 45min of diagnostic the whole time talking down at me because I kept trying to tell her the problem wasn't on my side. Call ended with the problem unresolved, while they were looking into the issue. Well I called my friend at the HQ he said the server was down for maintance......Seriously 45min and she didn't even check the server.....

how do you guys deal with this it drives me crazy to no end, because of bs like this I by pass IT completly, if I think I can fix it on my own and when I get caught the rat me out to my boss, he doesn't really care all that much, but they try to get me in trouble over it, and i'm just trying to do my job.

List of things IT said were impossible I figured out on my own to do.
-Work email on my Android phone - got it to work fine after 20min of experimenting with server settings
- printing from the work system remotely - one check mark in the connection settings and oh my I can print
- Log in remotely with my evo - ok this one I didn't even ask about I just did it for shits and giggles and showed my boss and he was like show me how to do that (helps him because he is always on the road and its easier than pulling his laptop out for basic stuff)

On the flip side you guys in IT do you really hate people like me?

 

[Leros]

You have to understand, the average user is a moron. Their computer "isn't working" because they accidentally turned off their monitor and they'll call IT and ask if the network is down.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Try working in IT before you rag on people who do. If I had a dime for every employee I had to deal with who "knew more than IT," I'd be a wealthy man. The ones who think they know more than IT are the ones who are the most dangerous.

It isn't IT's job to support every employee's toy. If you have an Android phone and they said it is "impossible" to get it working, that translates to "It isn't our standard and we aren't supporting it." And I agree with that 100%. We have users here who have iPhones and they want them connected to Exchange. Sure, I could have easily done it and actually did do it when we tested iPhones for use here, but that isn't the point. The point is that it isn't our standard and we are not supporting non-standard devices.

 

[Joemonkey]

better check your acceptable use policy, getting work email on a non-approved device could be grounds for termination!

 

[trmiv]

better check your acceptable use policy, getting work email on a non-approved device could be grounds for termination!

Yea and the fact that he can even set this up without any interaction from IT is some major fail on the IT department.

You have to understand, the average user is a moron. Their computer "isn't working" because they accidentally turned off their monitor and they'll call IT and ask if the network is down.

Pretty much. I just received a ticket to setup a Good Messaging account for a user to use on their iPhone. The user is offsite and will be here for one day in like two weeks. They want me (I'm a sys admin) to send the ticket to our desktop support folks to meet them when they arrive and help them setup Good Messaging on their phone. This setup involves 1)Download Good from App store, 2)Launch Good, 3)Enter email and PIN, 4)Enjoy email. But this person can't figure this out. On an iPhone. My 70 year old mother could figure this out without my help.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Yeah, and if IT is complaining about you to your boss and your boss is doing nothing, the IT Director should have a chat with his manager.

I foresee a thread backfire happening.

 

[Golgatha]

I always involve CIS and then ask if I can mess with systems or settings. Those are not your computers or networks and you shouldn't be messing with them.

That said, if it's something simple and I can do it myself (e.g. lab computer memory upgrades or attaching an available network printer for printing over the network), then I typically don't call CIS for help. I wouldn't do the memory upgrades except for the fact that those systems are unsupported by our CIS department (stupid, stupid, stupid policy of only supporting HP computers even though lab equipment sometimes comes with it's own validated computer along with the piece of instrumentation), and the fact that I'm the manager of the lab.

 

[HumblePie]

For reference, most of the entry level IT jobs like help desk jobs aren't held by IT people really nowadays. That lady probably had no schooling in IT at all and is just following a checklist from a book.

Or it could be that she is being made to follow that checklist and she really is a good bonafide IT person. But due to circumstances she is being forced to use a checklist she doesn't want to so in retaliation she is going way overboard on the checklist and you just happen to be the victim she used to prove her point.

Those are the only two situations I can think of for the story.

 

[Leros]

I liked the IT at my last job. I had a disk in my RAID array go out. They IT guy came by and dropped off a harddrive. I got to do everything else myself

Sure beats the job before that where IT would take your entire computer for a day to do any maintenance. It kinds of sucks being a developer without a computer

 

[TXHokie]

Users like you create an IT security headache. Scenario in question:

List of things IT said were impossible I figured out on my own to do.
-Work email on my Android phone - got it to work fine after 20min of experimenting with server settings
>>your Android phone get hacked with malware and start sending any copy of email you receive to external email source...ooops, that email that was addressed to internal employees only from the CEO and clearly marked "Internal confidential company use only" just went out to the public

- printing from the work system remotely - one check mark in the connection settings and oh my I can print
>> Hmm, I don't know where that "Executive Salary" spreadsheet just printed to, it didn't come out of my printer behind me.

- Log in remotely with my evo - ok this one I didn't even ask about I just did it for shits and giggles and showed my boss and he was like show me how to do that (helps him because he is always on the road and its easier than pulling his laptop out for basic stuff)
>> evo get hacked by malware giving hacker in Russia full control, now the bad guy have full access to corporate network too when you're logged in...yay!

I blame your IT dept for saying that it's impossible, but it's things you should not do

 

[IndyColtsFan]

For reference, most of the entry level IT jobs like help desk jobs aren't held by IT people really nowadays. That lady probably had no schooling in IT at all and is just following a checklist from a book.

Or it could be that she is being made to follow that checklist and she really is a good bonafide IT person. But due to circumstances she is being forced to use a checklist she doesn't want to so in retaliation she is going way overboard on the checklist and you just happen to be the victim she used to prove her point.

Those are the only two situations I can think of for the story.

Yes, and it is always easy to bash the low-man on the totem pole -- the help desk person. I never had to work on a help desk, and thank god I didn't. It is the worst job imaginable -- you deal with whiney, unhappy people all day, you get yelled at, and you don't get paid squat. On top of that, people in the company who think they know IT think you're an idiot.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Confirmed. Thread backfire in progress.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I blame your IT dept for saying that it's impossible, but it's things you should not do

Chances are, the IT dept just said that to get a ticket closed and to quiet him down. I don't work in the help desk, but at times, I've told users things like "Not possible" or something like that rather than give them a long, drawn out technical explanation of why it technically might be possible, but it just isn't feasible or something we're willing to do.

 

[rcpratt]

I hate IT because it took me a whole day when I started my job to properly install a browser that isn't from 2006 and another few days to stealthily install flash. No, I don't really hate them, but I'm not going to work at 30% efficiency on IE7.

Plus, whenever I call the response is always "there's an eForm for that". Which isn't really their fault, but the eForm setup/search is awful.

 

[Joemonkey]

Users like you create an IT security headache. Scenario in question:

List of things IT said were impossible I figured out on my own to do.
-Work email on my Android phone - got it to work fine after 20min of experimenting with server settings
>>your Android phone get hacked with malware and start sending any copy of email you receive to external email source...ooops, that email that was addressed to internal employees only from the CEO and clearly marked "Internal confidential company use only" just went out to the public

- printing from the work system remotely - one check mark in the connection settings and oh my I can print
>> Hmm, I don't know where that "Executive Salary" spreadsheet just printed to, it didn't come out of my printer behind me.

- Log in remotely with my evo - ok this one I didn't even ask about I just did it for shits and giggles and showed my boss and he was like show me how to do that (helps him because he is always on the road and its easier than pulling his laptop out for basic stuff)
>> evo get hacked by malware giving hacker in Russia full control, now the bad guy have full access to corporate network too when you're logged in...yay!

I blame your IT dept for saying that it's impossible, but it's things you should not do

Totally agree with you on this. I've worked too many places where people say "well what's the worst thing they could access?" and when I say "Things like insider trading information that would result in big fines for the corporation if they ever were made public, or my HR information such as SSN and bank info!" they change their tune

 

[pontifex]

Probably because we have to deal with people who "know" what the problem is all the time when it really isn't what they think it is. There is a troubleshooting process that needs to be followed.

maybe next time you think the server is down, just ask "is the server down?" then maybe you wouldn't have to go through the troubleshooting.

 

[bobdole369]

On the flip side you guys in IT do you really hate people like me?

It's an issue of support. Do you think "debbie in accounting" will be able to handle that? Its hard enough to get her to not run virii or pour pepsi into the "modem". Thus the immediate answer is no - that isn't supported. No, that can't be done.

You aren't smarter than everyone, they are just jaded by idiot EU's.

 

[trmiv]

Chances are, the IT dept just said that to get a ticket closed and to quiet him down. I don't work in the help desk, but at times, I've told users things like "Not possible" or something like that rather than give them a long, drawn out technical explanation of why it technically might be possible, but it just isn't feasible or something we're willing to do.

Setting up his work email on his phone really SHOULDN'T be possible without help from IT. Some serious security fail there.

 

[sourceninja]

I don't work the help desk, but a quick look at the tickets closed last week. I'll paraphrase

Problem: Computer is not working, monitor is broken.
Resolution: Powerstrip button was turned off.

Problem : "My thingie is missing and I can't work"
Resolution: They were speaking about their IE icon, it was in their trash.

Problem: "Slow computer"
Resolution: She had 30 IE windows open with multiple tabs in each window.

Problem: Can not register for classes, login not working.
Resolution: They were not enrolled this semester.

Problem: "Need new mouse" (read: Magic Mouse is broken)
Resolution: Installed new batteries in mouse.

At least 50 instances of employee's forgetting their passwords to start their notebooks or decrypt their flash drives.

At least 100 instances of students deleting important work from their home directories and asking for it to be recovered.

At least 25 instances of 'big shots' filling up their home directories with non-work related material and asking for more space.

At least a dozen people wanting us to setup their email/calendaring/etc on their non-approved phone/notebook/device.

Plus there are random calls that look like someone talked an IT guy into setting up their non-approved device, and now they are pissed that it is not working and they want help.

That was just a quick scroll though the ticket list.

 

[Leros]

Setting up his work email on his phone really SHOULDN'T be possible without help from IT. Some serious security fail there.

Setting up email on my phone is as simple as entering the address for the exchange server and my user credentials.

 

[sourceninja]

Also, the problem is not just related to non-IT. I know several people in our IT department who are in many cases bigger idiots then standard users.

For example, we have a 'software specialist' who uses terms like LAND, SAND, VLAND, etc when talking to network admins about issues. That same person loves to ask if the 'vmware is down' when anyone calls in with a problem connecting to anything (We run a large about of servers virtualized).

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Setting up his work email on his phone really SHOULDN'T be possible without help from IT. Some serious security fail there.

If it is an ActiveSync connection, AFAIK, the only requirements are server address and his credentials (which he would know). The only way to avoid this, I believe, would be to disable ActiveSync on his account. His company probably enables ActiveSync connections by default.

 

[ViviTheMage]

On the flip side you guys in IT do you really hate people like me?

Yes, we don't support your non-work applications/devices...so don't ask us to make it work for you.

.. specificlaly your list of "List of things IT said were impossible I figured out on my own to do." You have to understand, with 1500++ employees, we need to have a standard.

And the tech lady you called is pretty lame, she should have checked if it was in maint. or not.

 

[daishi5]

I hate IT because it took me a whole day when I started my job to properly install a browser that isn't from 2006 and another few days to stealthily install flash. No, I don't really hate them, but I'm not going to work at 30% efficiency on IE7.

Plus, whenever I call the response is always "there's an eForm for that". Which isn't really their fault, but the eForm setup/search is awful.

Oh I hate people who do that. We had to lock down machines hard because people insisted on installing their favorite browsers on shared workstations. If people would stop screwing with that crap it would be a lot easier. At least here we are using an ancient browser for a reason. It is so much fun to find out the previous doctor installed IE7 because he liked it and now the next Doctor cannot view his radiology images before the next surgery because IE6 is required. But it is a balancing act because some of the disks that other hospitals send require a client to be installed before the images can be viewed, so the doctor needs to be able to install some software.

 

[amdhunter]

On the flip side you guys in IT do you really hate people like me?

I actually like the people who know stuff. Less stuff for me to do.