Promotion Fail.

[mix-hyenataur.livejournal.com]

My boss told me that I was promoted to NOC manager of international server issues in India and Europe.

I was shocked with joy.

Until I realized I was his only employee.

What do you mean there is no Ethernet?

[awarrenfells.livejournal.com]

So, I received a call from an "IT guy" for some company out in Washington. He states that he couldn't make telephone calls via our VoIP service and search the internet at the same time. Now, the last two times I ran into this, it was a result of customer supidity, but hey, he was an "IT Professional" so I gave him a little benefit, and tried not to judge him right off the bat.

Well, it was pulling teeth to get the account pulled up. Guy just gave me his name, and assumed I pulled up the account already. Didn't know the phone number, account number, or any of that. The guy wasn't even on site. After some persistence, I finally got the account pulled up.

IT Guy: "So, can you just go in and change the configuration settings?"

So, I explained to him that there is no way to access the firmware on the ATA, as that option is turned off at the manufacturer. His response?"

IT Guy: "No, I didn't say anything about the firmware, you did. Can't you just change the configuration settings? Can we just pull up a web based GUI or something?"

Me: "..."

So, either I am stupid, or he just didn't understand what I was trying to tell him. I would like to err on the latter of the two, but whatever. We butted heads for a moment on this.

After a few more minutes, he finally gets the IT guy on site on the line. A man with a rather thick australian accent answers the line. I start off with trying to get him to explain to me what exactly happens when he tries to connect to the internet, or make a phone call, when using the other aspect of the service. The guy is not making any sense, so I retreat back to basic troubleshooting.

Me: "So, sir, can you explain to me what the other end of the ethernet cord coming out of the modem is connected to?"

On Site IT Guy: "Well, I don't have an ethernet connection.

This is where I heard something drop, and footsteps walking up to a phone that was obviously on speaker phone.

IT Guy: "What do you mean there is no Ethernet connection? Why are we calling these people then?"

The onsite IT guy tries to explain, but is rapidly cut off by the other IT guy.

IT Guy: "Sir, I apologize, and am very sorry for wasting your time.:

As the call was being disconnected, I could hear him laying into the other IT guy. If I know anything, I know that Admins do not take very well to being made to look bad, or stupid.

If anything, my manager got a very good laugh out of it all. ^_^