Paying the price for forgetting rule #1

[harry-whodunnit.livejournal.com]

Rule #1 of course being "users lie".

I'm installing a printer in the Endoscopy Dept. at the local hospital, and having a hard time finding the right port. Most of the rooms aren't signposted, and the ones that are marked aren't numbered in any logical order, so I stick my head through a door that doesn't have any medical equipment inside and ask for directions.

"I know exactly where that's going!" bellows the helpful user joyfully. "$BOSS_LADY told me to expect you!"

She shows me to the room, making small talk the whole way, and I switch out the old printer for the shiny new one I brought with me. Get in my van and drive back to base where the old printer goes on a pallet. Hospital policy says *all* equipment removed from site gets junked, not just drives.

The following day I come in and find the hospital has been leaving messages for me since the wee hours — they've been having trouble printing, which is weird because I tested the printer before leaving and it didn't have any trouble.

This is where rule #1 comes into it. I hustle back over there and find that the helpful user who showed me where I was going decided on the spot that was *her* printer I was carrying, and got me to replace the one she'd been using, which was supposed to remain in the environment for another two years. Now they have two devices with the same IP on the network, and when the nurses turn on the second one (which is only used during procedures so doctors can print colour photos of a patient's intestinal tract) there's a conflict. Serves me right for not checking the port number and asset sticker against my work order?

I call the dispatcher to have him pull the old device off the pallet in the yard and see if it's still good to go. He pours three inches of water out of it and tells me probably not.

$MY_BOSS talks to $THEIR_BOSS about it, and the result of the discussions is that the Queen of Lies gets to keep her nice new printer, the doctors make do with the old one for the rest of the replacement cycle, and I have to go back to the Endoscopy room to correct the IPs. While it's in use.

Happy days, gritted teeth, *so* nice to see you again.

And the whole time I was working (testing that PC after PC after PC could print to the right machine because the users were nervous) there was a guy face down on an operating table ten feet away getting a camera shoved up his ass.

Comments

[meijhen.livejournal.com]

I did software training for endo doctors for a time. I spent way more time than I ever wanted to in the room with people having cameras shoved in pretty much every orifice they had. Man, I so don't miss that....

Well, it wasn't really that bad, I guess...at least they were sedated and not trying to chat or whatnot while I was in there. Talk about awkward...

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

Rule #1 - users lie.

(At least you weren't trying to give birth while the window-washers were looking in...)

[kuangning]

I'd've suggested nicely that the doctors get the new printer and she get their old one, since she's the one who claimed the one meant for them in the first place.

[historychick49.livejournal.com]

This.

[emt-hawk.livejournal.com]

+1

[harry-whodunnit.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't understand that part either. "You lied, stole, and inconvenienced dozens of people. Well done, have a cookie!" When hospital management are involved, the results are never what I expect.

[ptstech.livejournal.com]

Worked for the bankstas...

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

"...and the doctors' printer go to the users of the current worst printer in the building, and that printer go to the user. And it shall follow her around for the next twelve months no matter where she transfers to. And all members of any new team she transfers to will know why they suddenly have a shitty printer."

[mouser.livejournal.com]

Does Queen of Lies know that I.T. will remember them? And no request will ever make it to the top of stack in proper order?

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

Does she know that a printer which is plugged into the wrong "type" of port in her part of the hospital can mysteriously start developing all kinds of horrible problems unless it's swapped for a model exactly like the doctors' old one?

[harry-whodunnit.livejournal.com]

Are you two from some kind of parallel universe where actions have consequences?

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

Funny because it's true. And tragic.

Sometimes, consequences can come from all kinds of sources... *clickky*

[emt-hawk.livejournal.com]

And you thought your day was bad.

--H

[3fgburner.livejournal.com]

If it'd been me on the table, you'd have to wait until the procedure was over, I put my pants back on, and got wheeled out. Of course, that would spare you the sight of my ugly ass.

I don't let them sedate me, and I get violent when my privacy's invaded.

[mix-hyenataur.livejournal.com]

Did the camera have an IP?