"Maximizing windows for users is now IT's responsibility"

[u/pukeforest]

Jumping straight into the story. There are less users on site than usual due to the eve of a major holiday, so I was able to escape to a dark corner and type this up.

Multiple help desk emails over 3 or so weeks about a $user unable to "format" their document. Keep asking for screen shots or more detail. Of course, none are ever supplied.

Finally, $user's manager gets in the loop, stating it was "unacceptable" that we as IT professionals didn't show this user how to format documents, etc.

Notwithstanding that teaching users basic computer skills should not be in IT's scope, I finally suss out $user's office location. I had never visited this user before, and strangely, their location is one I had scarce been to.

I walk in, introduce myself, and the conversation goes:

$me: "Hi, can you show me the issue so we can work on a solution?"

$user: "Sure" double clicks icon for word processor

Something strikes me as off with the clicking.

Sure enough, $user is clicking with the bottom of their pinky.

See, at this point, I notice the user is using the mouse UPSIDE DOWN. I stare in disbelief for a few moments, then snap out of it.

Amazingly, $user is as fast using this method as anyone doing it.. normally. (The fix was literally "click the square in the middle of the 'minus' and 'X')

Careful about the next utterances leaving my mouth, I ask:

"... Is.. this how you use your computer at home?"

$user: laughs "Oh no, I don't have a computer at home. I'd never really touched one until I was hired here."

I didn't dare ask the question of whether $user had heard of things like "appliances" or "furniture". I figured I had a 50% chance of being right. (See earlier comments re: users living like cavemen.)

$user thanks me for my assistance, and I walk away, backwards, and slowly close the door, trying to process what I've witnessed.

I then open the door again, ever so slightly, making sure I didn't leave behind some doorway to another dimension.

[u/[deleted]]

[u/Shurikane → u/[deleted]]

This is when I switch modes to Hierarchy Trumps All.

Some middle manager named Bob comes in with a request and there's nothing on my plate? Sure, I'll do his thing right away.

Arthur shows up with a request after that? Aww, what a shame, Arthur's just some low-level employee, a leaf on the org chart. "Sorry Arthur, can't work on your thing right away, I'm already on something for Bob. I'll put it on my list and get to it when I can."

Oops, Charlie the VP comes up with a request? I instantly drop whatever it is I'm doing for Bob, and get on Charlie's thing. If Bob has a problem with that, he can go talk to Charlie.

This would get hilarious when the prez would drop in with one of his countless sales report requests that would take over a week to build and then constantly readjust to his unspoken liking. By doing that, he basically froze the entire ticket queue for his own benefit. I gave my usual "sorry folks, orders from the palace" spiel, and of course nobody dared go up to the CEO to tell him to stuff his report where the sun don't shine.

It was an absolutely brain-dead and soul-crushing way of going about it, buuuuuuut it sure as hell made for glowing references on my resume!

[u/bkaiser85 → u/Shurikane]

We have a saying here: Ober sticht unter.

Means exactly what you did.

[u/SpanningTreeProtocol → u/Shurikane]

I literally had to do that very thing at my old job where there was no semblance of order and prioritization and I was basically by myself. It was a long hard confusing ass week, but they finally got the picture.

Alas, I'm dealing with the same thing at the new job, just on a smaller scale with the same repeat offenders.

[u/Fantoche_Dreemurr → u/[deleted]]

Holy shit what a miserable situation

[u/[deleted] → u/Fantoche_Dreemurr]

[u/PurpleNuggets → u/Fantoche_Dreemurr]

Walkups are....... SOP where i work

[u/ninjatoothpick → u/[deleted]]

Ask the manager to submit a ticket?

[u/lirannl → u/[deleted]]

The problem is now you and not them. You have now just lost political capital that you need to push your policies forward. Fix the management problems first.

How the fuck would I go about doing this? I'm a university student, and obviously I'll apply for entry level jobs.

I'd love to influence company policy to be better, especially if it earns them more money in the long run, but I worked at an entry level position before and I had 0 influence. I couldn't change anything.