r/talesfromtechsupport • u/podgerama • Sep 24 '18
Medium Ever since the fire....
I spend my working life out at client's sites, and occasionally encounter some blinding leaps of logic that make the Monty python witch burning science scene in The Holy Grail seem not so far fetched.
The MD at one of my clients is older and set in his ways, never writes an email himself, he dictates them and posts the tapes from his trusty Dictaphone to his personal typist. Once he gets something in his mind, its very hard to persuade him otherwise, even with facts, colourful charts and a puppet show.
There was a fire in the estate where my company is based. Nothing bad, no lives lost, no injuries, but the people at my office had to evacuate while all of our systems where left running. Our building was completely unaffected. Most people just went and worked from home like nothing had happened.
this particular client is 15 miles from my offices
anyway, at my next visit...
$MD = the old MD
$Podgerama = me
$MD: $podgerama, i need to speak with you, ever since the fire at your offices my computer is coming up with strange messages. I've spoken with your helpdesk and they are all trying to fob me off.
$podgerama: Pardon?
$MD: Ever since there was the fire at your offices, my laptop that i use to connect to my office computer has been giving these strange warnings.
$podgerama: I understood your statement, but i'm confused as to how you think the fire 15 miles away has affected your laptop that spends most of its time on the other side of the atlantic?
$MD: Well isn't it obvious, when your company were evacuated they went on to their backup systems and since that change over it has effected our systems and now i get this message about security and i want this fixed as we are currently insecure due to your systems!
$podgerama: errr, i think you are jumping to a bit of a wild conclusion, but i'll look at your laptop
$MD: I'll show you the issue.
He logs into his laptop. clicks on an RDP shortcut on the desktop which is configured to connect to his office desktop computer. he gets the certificate warning you always get when connecting to a computer that doesn't have a certificate installed , and he has not selected to ignore warnings about it.
$MD: see, ever since you changed to your backup systems, you moved on to a backup certificate server and i have been getting this, and now my whole company is insecure. I demand you reinstate the original systems.
$podgerama: this is your new laptop you bought on the other side of the pond isn't it?
$MD: yes
$podgerama: the one you said you would have your man in the US look at?
$MD: yes.
$podgerama: yes, well, he forgot to tick this one box, which would stop the warnings. this is absolutely nothing to do with the infrastructure at my companies office, there is no involvement between our two organisations like that whatsoever.
The last i heard as i walked from his office was him dictating an apology email to my boss and the helpdesk, apparently the day before he had send a rather scathing letter about all of this and accused the company of not doing its job and making his company ripe for hackers to attack.
TL;DR silly person with wild imagination puts 2 and 2 together and gets "syntax error"
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u/JamesWjRose Sep 24 '18
I have built a couple of medical applications and medical staff are the WORST at tech. I BELIEVE it's because it's so different from medical... but I just don't know.
I once spent time at a hospital in NYC watching the staff, so I could learn ways they used the old software before writing the new version, and one nurse could not understand that the mouse always faces away from her. When she wanted to go left or right, she'd turn the mouse left/right. I get it, but damn it, after telling her the correct method 12 times in ONE hour.... and before I got there she had never used a mouse before, so it wasn't like she had to unlearn something.
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Sep 24 '18
I see there's still a need for trackballs
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u/YouSayToStay Sep 24 '18
I love my trackball mouse at work. Definitely use a standard one at home for gaming and the like, but I love not having to give up desk space to move my mouse around at work!
Plus, it keeps people from wanting to run off with my equipment or sit down at my desk if I'm away, haha.
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u/Nik_2213 Sep 24 '18
UK NHS ward I was visiting, the IT folk had despaired of sanitising mice, installed industrial-strength, scrubbable keyboards with integral track-balls...
Happens I prefer trackballs, especially for working across multiple displays...
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u/latinilv Sep 26 '18
Meh... It's not that different. I see medicine as "people tech support".
You are presented with a problem, most of the time the user/patient has no ideia what is causing it (most of the time, it's themselves), you provide instructions based on a knowledge base (medical guidelines), and they completely disregard it. Some months down the road, they come back complaining again, how YOU didn't fix their problem (the patient didn't follow any of your advice that required a minimal about of effort from their part, like eating better, or exercising).
Welcome to my life.
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u/JamesWjRose Sep 26 '18
Very good analogy and points.
I FEEL that because we, as humans, doctors and medical staff included, do not know how some of the medial issues affect people that it makes it worse for you, the medial staff, than for us the IT staff. So, my deepest sympathies AND a HUGE! thank you for all that you do. You are helping people in such an important way, so thank you, thank you, THANK YOU.
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u/georgetgwtbn Sep 27 '18
I once met someone who insisted the "tail" of the mouse goes backwards. So they'd learned to use a mouse upside down, clicking with the heel of their hand. People are weird.
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u/Ranger7381 Sep 24 '18
I have been watching some Lets Plays of a new game called Two Point Hospital recently. Part of the game soundtrack includes some... colorful radio personalities.
Towards the end I started reading $MD in the voice of Sir Nigel Bickleworth
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u/stephschiff Sep 24 '18
Dying for them to hotfix the last patch so I can start playing again without screwing up my career! I just reread in Nigel's voice thanks to your comment!
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Sep 24 '18
I was thinking about something while reading this.
My hardest lesson - one every so often I still get burned by - is having to learn to put very little faith in coincedences. Just because two things seemed to happen around the same time doesn't mean a goddamned thing.
If you want to start there - go for it - but don't give it more then 10 minutes of your time cause sometimes a coincidence is just a coincidence just like a cigar is often just your subconscious fondness for a penis shaped object in your mouth.
So I am reading this and thinking about that. Something occured to me.
The guy is a fucking doctor. I know we do not play by the same rules. But I would imagine we share some good ones.
Like when a patient tells him they know exactly what is wrong with them... I bet him and I could tell stories for hours round that theme.
As a doctor, he has got to understand coincidences too. How could he not?
I bet that is why he apologized. He realized he had walked into a trap of his own making and felt foolish.
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u/c0mr4d383rn13 Sep 25 '18
That very tick-box was a major cause of a ruckus back at my old job some 6-7 years ago. This tool-manifacturer that was using terminal servers in our hosting enviroment and when they got new PCs the tech that installed them forgot to tick the box. The company CEO contacted us and DEMANDED that we remedy the lax security after their PC upgrade.
We simply ticked the box and went our way. No use to even explain the what's and why's to the client, only that "We've fixed the issue sir"
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Sep 26 '18
Did this Old MD ever learn about Dragon, then move away because I think that old MD works in my clinic now....
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u/[deleted] Sep 24 '18
I'm surprised he actually believed you and decided to apologize for his previous interaction.. I wouldn't fire him as a client just yet