A story about job security

[emt-hawk.livejournal.com]

I work for a bunch of people who charge an awful lot of money for their services. Just for the subtitles, we run XP Pro here.

One user called my office, six days ago, complaining about his computer not being able to recognize his memory stick. I told him to reboot, and get back to me. He said "But I just booted my computer yesterday..."

Today, he came to my office, complaining that he was not able to access a single USB device since Thursday. I asked him "Have you rebooted your computer since Friday?" which earned me a blank stare. "But I just booted my computer last Thursday, when the server forced me to update my service packs, and then the memory stick stopped working! Fix it!"

So I rebooted his computer. Guess what? Yup, it worked fine. These people are job security. Now to convince them they need to pay me more.

--EMT Hawk

Comments

[jecook]

Love those people.

and off topic, love the icon. :)

[canray.livejournal.com]

The fun has me far too often.

Thanks

[emt-hawk.livejournal.com]

originally, it was just that frame from the comic, but a friend re-lettered it for me because the original lettering bugged her.

--H

Re: Thanks

[goose-entity.livejournal.com]

is icon stealable?

Re: Thanks

[emt-hawk.livejournal.com]

i don't have a problem with it, but you'll need to send a note to Howard Taylor telling him how wonderful it is. He drew it, not me. If you really want to show some Schlock-Love, buy a book, tell him I sent you.

--Hawk

[misfit4leaf.livejournal.com]

I wish more people would realize that if something's not working on the computer, to try rebooting it first.

But then

[emt-hawk.livejournal.com]

they wouldn't need me. I got car payments to make, and unemployed people to support!
--H

[nem0.livejournal.com]

What frustrates me is the ones who REFUSE to reboot. Yes, it'll take a few minutes. Yes, you'll have to save and close all your documents and possibly even write down what you were working on. Yes, I know it takes AutoCAD a long time to load, even on a blisteringly fast machine. SUCK IT UP AND REBOOT ALREADY.

[misfit4leaf.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that bugs the shit out of me too.

Re: I got around that problem handily.

[nem0.livejournal.com]

Man, I wish my company had the budget for those.

I think the main bottleneck is when the program requests a license from the server, which is probably a cheaper fix than trying to convince the bosses that I need to buy a pile of SSDs.

[outcastspice.livejournal.com]

icon love!!

[armethis.livejournal.com]

When in doubt reboot. Amen.

I remeber reading a while ago an article on how to force a PC to reboot if a USB device is not "Safely Removed" might be good for a hard lesson.

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

This is why I recommend nightly corporate-wide reboots. (As well as temp and Trash deletion.) Either automated, for places that understand IT, or manually kicked off via a timer for places where job security is an issue.

Then there's always the "yeah, we installed a 'fix it' button on all the computers, it's on the front of the case, go give it a try..." approach.

[jjjiii]

A system that requires a reboot in order to recognize a hot-pluggable device? Not something I'd call "working properly".

He'd not rebooted

[emt-hawk.livejournal.com]

after the system updated his computer. Plus we're a big company, the tie-wearing bunch tend to be arrogant about how they treat the employees.

Never mind that the guys I work with bring in $70 K a month in income for the business.

--H

Re: He'd not rebooted

[jjjiii]

Ah, OK. Yeah, if a reboot is warranted and the user won't do it, they might have a problem like that.