Emails that come in.

[usekh.livejournal.com]

I do graveyard and the main part of my job is answering all the emails that come in. Mostly fairly painfull but this gave me a laugh

Recently my computer was attacked through the Internet. The two IP =
addresses were (customers own IP) and 127.0.0.1

Computer comitting suicide?

What part of "Working As Designed" is hard to understand?

[naggy.livejournal.com]

I support a program that is almost 9 years old now (but it undergoes monthly updates). One of the primary functions of the program is to calculate a foster child's eligibility for Title IV-E Foster Care payments - since it's a federal program, the eligibility requirements are an equal mix of confusing and vague. Unfortunately, subtle changes in how the rules are interpreted can affect millions of dollars of federal reimbursement - you'd think they'd want to be a little more precise.

The program is contracted out, therefore, once the state signs off on the design and it's implemented, they have to pay to change it. Therefore, one of the more important distinctions is whether something needs to be fixed, or whether it's "working as designed", and requires the state to pay for it.

Recently, we learned that in a specific instance, what the programming does and what our federal consultant say should happen are two different things. This happens pretty frequently, especially since the law's language is somewhat vague. I looked at the design, as did my boss - both of us felt there was no way that the change could be justified under the design that was signed off by the state, therefore, the State would have to pay for it.

Today, I get a call from the state employee that drafts the requests for changes, asking if I could send it back to the programmers as a fix - this is after she had updated the ticket saying she would draft a request.

Her: "I noticed you never sent this back to the application team."
Me: "That's right, because it would require a change to the design."
Her: "But the application team never said so."
Me: "That's because I looked at the design, and couldn't justify sending it to the application team."
Her: "Well, can we send it back to them as a fix?"
Me: "You're certainly welcome to try."
Her: "Won't you do it?"
Me: "Nope, especially since you just updated the ticket saying you'd draft a request."

5 minutes later, I get an e-mail saying that they had made the request 2 years ago (low priority requests can sit for years, given our budget). Nice try, but no.

(no subject)

[lilpeach.livejournal.com]

A word to the wise:

Do *NOT* call your tech support rep sweetie. Even if she DOES sound 12 on the phone. Remember, she has access to ALL of your account information. DO NOT PISS HER OFF.


thank you.

(no subject)

[bekscilla.livejournal.com]

We've just started an exchange migration from 5.5 to 2003 (*sob*). We've been having a few problems, one of which is that the Profile Updating Utility takes hours (literally) to create their .ost file and get them all ready to actually use outlook again. I sent an email yesterday telling people that the utility is creating an ost file, and not to close it because it then needs to create the file from scratch so DON'T stop it. Also, because it's making the ost file, and some people have huge mailboxes, it can take up to a couple of hours (yeah, I'm loving it).

Today we had someone getting a message that their profile hadn't updated. We finally worked out to run it manually, and one of our guys starts doing that. He sat unavailable for like 40 minutes watching it to see if it'd work. Then he cancelled it! He tried it again, and after another half hour, rang the guy running the project and was told not to stop it because it has to run again. He makes noises about wishing he'd been told that.

When he got off the phone, I ask him about it, and said to him "I could have sworn I sent an email about that". He starts claiming it's all something different, and has nothing to do with the .ost file being created! I read him the email again, pointing out about it creating the .ost file, and not to close it, and he still thinks I'm wrong.

He told someone else that he was really pissed off - so I messaged the other guy and said he wouldn't be if he'd read my email :P

he went back to trying to fix it (dude, start the bloody utility running and tell the guy to leave it overnight, don't sit there remote controlling it and making it slower!), and kept getting pissy when our supervisor told him to let the project guy deal with (*whines* "Sounds like a good idea to meeee"), and when he was told to take calls - he'd spent an hour and a half stuffing around with it!!

Aarrrrghh. Sorry if I'm not very coherent, I'm tired and still annoyed about it.

(no subject)

[tmercenary.livejournal.com]

I know there are people internationally who read this community.

I don't know what it is like around the rest of the world, but in the USA, there is a growing concern in the corporate IT industry (Amongst the employees) about the outsourcing of IT jobs, especially helpdesk/call center work to other countries, particularly India.

I have found the solution to this problem. Some of the India staff have been treated to trips to our corporate headquarters recently, to see the enviroment they are supporting.

Know what I found out?

Techies, regardless of where they are from, seem to love Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.

Thats right, so next time you lose your job stateside to corporate downsizing and outsourcing, just remember, take the inititive and open a doughnut franchise in India.