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The other side of the fence.
Apr. 29th, 2007 04:08 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
phrogg.livejournal.comThink of me as the "middle-man" between the lusers and the helpdesk.
Users come to me with their issues, i troubleshoot and fix the problem if it's on our end. If not, i escalate it to the helpdesk, and they promptly pass it off to the netops team.
Today, as i'm walking into the office, my boss sees me and says, "Hey Phrogg! You need to call those stupid douchebags over there and tell them to fix our s***!" This is before i'm even aware there's a problem. I ask what the problem is: "The network's all dicked up again."
I go to my computer, check it, and sure enough, there are some major issues going on: logging in takes 20 minutes (after the third timeout), using Outlook is useless, and network shares aren't accessible. But we CAN surf the web. So i call the help desk.
HD = helpdesk
ME = take a guess.
HD: /company/ helpdesk, how can i help you?
ME: Yeah, we seem to be having some sort of issues with authentication...do you know if there's a problem?
HD: No, i haven't been told about anything, what's your problem?
ME: It takes forever to log on, Outlook can't talk to the Exchange server, and network shares aren't allowing us in. Pings return successful, even to external websites. This leads me to think there's some sort of problem authenticating.
HD: Okay, i need you to check the cables on the back of your machine and...
ME: Already done. They're all seated properly, the router's uplink light is green. We can get to the outside Web. It's not connectivity issues.
HD: Well, we don't know that.
ME: You've delegated me as your tier 1 support. What good is that if you're not going to trust me when i call?
HD: Well, we have to see it for ourselves. We'll send someone out.
20 minutes later...
Tech arrives, goes to log on, and, lo and behold, it takes him 20 minutes it STILL hasn't logged him in completely (ie, it's still "Loading your Personal Settings"). So he calls back, and says, "Hey, is there something going on with the authentication server? ....Oh, really? Okay."
So after he listens a little longer, he hangs up the phone. "We're having some trouble with the server. I've got a couple guys checking it out right now, and it's going to be my priority today. I'll let you know something by the end of the day."
Right. It's an hour past quitting time for me, and i still haven't heard anything back.
It feels like i'm stuck on the wrong side of the fence today.
Users come to me with their issues, i troubleshoot and fix the problem if it's on our end. If not, i escalate it to the helpdesk, and they promptly pass it off to the netops team.
Today, as i'm walking into the office, my boss sees me and says, "Hey Phrogg! You need to call those stupid douchebags over there and tell them to fix our s***!" This is before i'm even aware there's a problem. I ask what the problem is: "The network's all dicked up again."
I go to my computer, check it, and sure enough, there are some major issues going on: logging in takes 20 minutes (after the third timeout), using Outlook is useless, and network shares aren't accessible. But we CAN surf the web. So i call the help desk.
HD = helpdesk
ME = take a guess.
HD: /company/ helpdesk, how can i help you?
ME: Yeah, we seem to be having some sort of issues with authentication...do you know if there's a problem?
HD: No, i haven't been told about anything, what's your problem?
ME: It takes forever to log on, Outlook can't talk to the Exchange server, and network shares aren't allowing us in. Pings return successful, even to external websites. This leads me to think there's some sort of problem authenticating.
HD: Okay, i need you to check the cables on the back of your machine and...
ME: Already done. They're all seated properly, the router's uplink light is green. We can get to the outside Web. It's not connectivity issues.
HD: Well, we don't know that.
ME: You've delegated me as your tier 1 support. What good is that if you're not going to trust me when i call?
HD: Well, we have to see it for ourselves. We'll send someone out.
20 minutes later...
Tech arrives, goes to log on, and, lo and behold, it takes him 20 minutes it STILL hasn't logged him in completely (ie, it's still "Loading your Personal Settings"). So he calls back, and says, "Hey, is there something going on with the authentication server? ....Oh, really? Okay."
So after he listens a little longer, he hangs up the phone. "We're having some trouble with the server. I've got a couple guys checking it out right now, and it's going to be my priority today. I'll let you know something by the end of the day."
Right. It's an hour past quitting time for me, and i still haven't heard anything back.
It feels like i'm stuck on the wrong side of the fence today.
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