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System Administrator Appreciation Day
rmadmin writes "Yes, it's that time of year again! Today is the 5th annual Systems Administrator Appreciation Day! Show us admin's how much you love us. (Otherwise we may just walk out, It's been a long day) Happy Systems Administrator Day!" If any of the OSTG netops staff are reading this, thanks again for all your help in recent weeks.
It's about time we see appreciation other than the shrines to bad users and other system sacrifices.
End the FUD
Thinkgeek has a special section just for SysAdmins as well as an interest store for it too.
Check it out.
You guys rock! Hats off to you!
btw, can i have root access now?
Yeah. You make my life more... memorable. Thanks.
In honor of today
Does this mean I'm allowed to drink on the job today?
Yeahhhh, Hi there, so uh, SysAdmin Appreciation Day, huh? That's just great. Great... Yeah. Listen, the VP of Finance just called me, and his daughter's laptop is giving her some weird message, could you get that fixed today at lunch? Yeah.. that would be great, thanks.
Don't forget that!!!
For a couple years now I've been one of two de-facto sysadmins in a small operation, and I've definitely come to appreciate sysadmins much more than I did before.
It's hard work and the vast majority of it is tedious. Of course a really good sysadmin doesn't have to do much of anything on a day-to-day basis (having scripted everything up nicely), but when something tricky needs doing it's soooo much better to have a real admin on hand to spend the day doing it.
Next time I have a sysadmin who's not me, I'm definitely buying him/her a t-shirt and a beer on S.A.A.D.
(...though it would be nice to have a happier acronym)
This Like That - fun with words!
A holiday for the rest-iv-us! Yay!
Method of processing duck feet
That's what my sig refers to.
It seems like all the men I date are SysAdmins. So to say that I appreiciate them would be a gross understatement.
So when is the Hawkeye movie coming out?
Thanking your admin is nice and all, but baking cookies won't take away from training your underpaid Indian replacement.
Admin Appreciation Day is a pat on the shoulder while someone is getting ready to put a knife in your back.
WE LOVE YOU SYSADMINS no really, the job is harder than it looks and we all appriciate you doing a fine job (in most cases)
The required list for today:
Getting the most from your IT department
1. When you call us to have your computer moved or fixed, be sure to leave it buried under half a ton of postcards, baby pictures, stuffed animals, dried flowers, bowling trophies and children's art. We don't have a life, and we find it deeply moving to catch a fleeting glimpse of yours.
2. Don't write anything down. Ever. We can play back the error messages from here.
3. When an IT person says he's coming right over, go for coffee. That way you won't be there when we need your password. It's nothing for us to remember 300 user passwords.
4. When you call the help desk, state what you want, not what's keeping you from getting it. We don't need to know that you can't get into your mail because your computer won't power on at all.
6. When IT support sends you an e-mail with high importance, delete it at once. We're just testing.
7. When an IT person is eating lunch at his desk, walk right in and spill your guts right out. We exist only to serve.
8. Send urgent email all in uppercase. The mail server picks it up and flags it as a rush delivery.
9. When the photocopier doesn't work, call computer support. There's electronics in it. Ditto for the microwave, timeclock, and coffee maker. Hell, if it plugs in, we're probably in charge of it anyway.
10. When you're getting a NO DIAL TONE message at home, call computer support. We can fix your telephone line from here.
11. When you have a dozen old computer screens to get rid of, call computer support. We're collectors.
12. When something's wrong with your home PC, dump it on an IT person's chair with no name, no phone number and no description of the problem. We love a puzzle.
13. When an IT person tells you that computer screens don't have cartridges in them, argue. We love a good argument.
14. When an IT person tells you that he'll be there shortly, reply in a scathing tone of voice: "And just how many weeks do you mean by shortly?". That motivates us.
15. When the printer won't print, re-send the job at least 20 times. Print jobs frequently get sucked into black holes.
16. When the printer still won't print after 20 tries, send the job to all 68 printers in the company. One of them is bound to work.
17. Don't learn the proper name for anything technical. We know exactly what you mean by "my thingy blew up".
18. Don't use on-line help. On-line help is for wimps.
19. If the mouse cable keeps knocking down the framed picture of your dog, lift the computer and stuff the cable under it. Mouse cables were designed to have 40lb of computer sitting on top of them.
20. If the space bar on your keyboard doesn't work, blame it on the mail upgrade. Keyboards are actually very happy with half a pound of muffin crumbs and nail clippings in them.
21. When you get a message saying "Are you sure?" click on that Yes button as fast as you can. Hell, if you weren't sure, you wouldn't be doing it, would you?
22. When you find an IT person on the phone with his bank, sit uninvited on the corner of his desk and stare at him until he hangs up. We don't have any money to speak of anyway.
23. Feel perfectly free to say things like "I don't know nothing about that computer crap". We don't mind at all hearing our area of professional expertise referred to as crap.
24. When you need to change the toner cartridge in a printer, call IT support. Changing a toner cartridge is an extremely complex task, and Hewlett-Packard recommends that it be performed only by a professional engineer with a master's degree in nuclear physics.
25. When you can't find someone in the government directory, call IT Support.
26. When you have a lock to pick on an old file cabinet, call IT Support. We love to hack.
27. When something's the matter with your computer, ask your secretary to call the help desk. We enjoy the challenge of h
"What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
/)
Signed: your colleagues from the US office you administer.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
Guinness? ;)
I'm sure "SlashdotMedia" will improve on all the wonders that Dice Holdings blessed us all with
Sysadmins are Internet plumbers!
oh dear god, please never let me see any sysadmin's buttcrack.
The system administrator at my school banned me from the computer system for a year because I crashed his server. I don't feel like honoring him.
Why am I now expecting to see a string of, "what's your number?" posts?
call me if you need me. Or better yet, don't call me.
Best way to show your appreciation to your Sys Admins is making sure their websites get /.ed
Go to http://www.ampcast.com/music/22488/artist.php and get the Sys Admin song by Wes Borg (also known for his Internet Helpdesk skit) We're eating pizza for lunch today in celebration, and I'm being taken to see Napoleon Dynamite tonight for the same reason.
Under the guise of appreciating my sysadmin, I emailed him this morning to notify him that our Exchange server had crashed again.
Fortunately, he's taken his own appreciation to heart and is on vacation until the 9th of August. I guess hearing back from my new Nigerian friend will have to wait a few weeks!
God bless you!!
Sys Admins. Bunch of overweight, bespectacled idiots. All they do is waste time and money. A monkey could do their job. Honestly, everyday, talking about new distro-this, Farscape-that, get a damn life. No, get a treadmill. You've got no power over me. What a-+|... NO CARRIER
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
"The printers aren't working!" ."
"I went searching on the internet and I'm getting popups!"
"Why can't you convert that scanned image to text?"
"I spilled water on my keyboard"
"I spilled Pepsi all over my $300 phone"
"My mouse isn't working... (replace it three times, notice water on the keyboard). That shouldn't have broken it."
"My computer that sits in a telnet shell all day isn't fast enough for me to look for new houses
"Why can't I spend all day on Pogo games?"
"I don't care how important that server install or network install is, my mouse is dirty, and it's not rolling smoothly!"
"I still can't print!"
"The laser printer is always jammed in the corner and covered with paper, thereby not allowing it to breathe and frying every six months because I like to put my newspaper on this side of my desk. Why do you ask?"
Why can't I use Wordperfect anymore. I don't like Word."
Ad Nausea....
I'll appreciate the /. admins much more, but I can forgive for now and say thanks
"Look Lois, the two symbols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a fat white guy who is threatened by change."
Flood his connection.
Chief Wiggum: "Well if it isn't Mr. No-Bribe."
This guy is way out there
How about:
1. "Sewage Workers Appreciation Day" - the fine men and women who recycle our shit surely deserve a special day of their own.
2. "Road Kill Removers Appreciation Day" - Ditto
3. "Crime and Accident Scene Cleaners Appreciation Day" - Double ditto.
4. "Proctologists and Gynecologists for the Morbidly Obese Appreciation Day" - Triple ditto.
Neopets - the best free game on the Int
Because you project your desperation onto other slashdotters?
I've had this in my calendar as July 23rd for years. When did it change?
The content you are trying to request is not available.
-- dieman - Scott Dier
Why am I now expecting to see a string of, "what's your number?" posts?
733967, of course. Can't you read?
KFG
This poster should get the highest possible rating available on the funny scale. I think 11 should do the trick.
This was an excellent way to add humor into my boring day.
Thanks!
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Romulan Ale or Aldeberan Whiskey
"I think so, Brain, but 'instant karma' always gets so lumpy." - Pinky
"Decepticons FOREVER!!!" - Ravage
This track by 'Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie' is from a few years ago, so the date is off. Other funny tech tracks by them are available here.
I really loved last year's UserFriendly for SysAd day. I actually printed two copies and gave it to my two SysAds (love you guys!)
Just like "Administrator's Day", "Bring your daughter to work day", "Bring your son to work day".
Someone is just coming up with stupid holidays so people buy stupid things. Where's the calendar that points out every day of the year as "Something special day". I'm sure tomorrow is "Good User Day" where sys admins give prizes to the best users, and then it will be "Taxi Cab Driver Day" where you should give the cab drivers extra tip.
Why do we have the need to create these stupid "fake holidays?"
There used to be a reson for these days. I think it used to be awareness, but when every day became another thing you should be aware of, it got tedious, and then all these stupid ones came about.
How about people just do their job and stop thinking that they are the saviour of the world. The fact that you are getting paid is your appreciation.
"Time is long and life is short, so begin to live while you still can." -EV
This happened to me, I called the secretary and 'fixed' her problem, closed the case.
C-level type individual got mad, started complaining. My boss asked me about it, I merely asked him to access the case and tell me what computer was broken. (My boss couldn't tell from the case as it was entered)
Since then, everyone opens their own helpdesk cases.
Sometimes, you just need to force the issue.
Don't pick up the pho*(@)$*@&@!@ NO CARRIER
Hey Mr 5y5admin, can you gue55 what'5 wrong with your po5t?
My brain hurts ...
I hear there's rumors on the Slashdots
The employees here actually remembered sysadmin day! Choice quotes:
"Today is SysAdmin Day and I would like to thank the IT dept for hanging in there when the going gets tough. Join me in thanking them for all their help this past year and keep up the good work."
"I am always grateful to you guys but I will say it again THANKS!"
"YOUR THE BEST!!!!!!"
Makes us all warm and fuzzy inside. After all, were the best!
We just slashdotted your site.
Happy System Administrator Day! from the gang at slashdot.
So remember to have everyone sign a nice card and send it off to India.
If you dont show your appreciation to your System Admins, then the terrorists have already won.
Thanks... for confusing the fact that you have full access to my PC for having some kind of authority over me. Thanks... for treating my software development team with the same disdain and condescension as you treat the temp secretary who asks where the 'Any' key is. Thanks... for copping a major attitude... it's probably justified, I mean, I only have a BS and MS in CompSci and 12 years experience and you have some MSSTFU certification that probably took about 12 weeks.
Thanks.
Dear Self, Happy SysAdmin Day. Love, Self.
He was cranky, wasn't overweght, and he never wanted to help. He was a contractor, making about $70/hour +/-. Anyway, the joke was, "if you needed help, get out your knee pads and KJ". Really! It wasn't frivolous shit either! It was access rights and things like that. We got to the point where we were trying to hack the system so that we wouldn't have to deal with him!
System Administrtators
Whom we love and hate
Enjoy your SAAD day today!
i heart haikus
"This is you left and that's your left. This is your right and that's your right. You're gonna die!
it is often this person who really keeps the wheels of your company turning
Never mind the people who, you know, actually create products. I know that sysadmins support those people, but c'mon guys... that statement makes the profession sound a bit self-absorbed.
irb(main):001:0>
Hey bud, I installed Linux as a present for you. No more worms! Great, huh?
[1 day later]
Hey bud, how do I set up dual monitors?
[1 hour later]
Hey bud, how do I change the refresh rate? They're stuck at 60.
[30 minutes later]
Hey bud, how do I get Quake running on this thing? I know, I know.. I just need to make sure my 3D card is working even though nothing during my work day even touches the 3D card.
[10 minutes later]
Hey bud, on Windows I could change my mouse cursor to a Tweety Bird, how do I do that on Linux?
[another 10 minutes later]
Hey bud, OpenOffice doesn't support this ActiveX control I need for my presentation, how do I fix this?
[1 minute later]
Whaddya mean you're putting Windows back on it? I switched just for you, man!
"Derp de derp."
You have some great points - enough for me to lose some karma points over too! This is my protest over your moderation.
Earlier this year my Exceed xterms stopped running my .login script when I login even though nothing changed on *my* end. No one seems to be able to explain this.
Oh, what the hell... I'll send them some e-flowers or something. Maybe then they'll tell me how to run the new version of FPGA Compiler, or get my .cshrc working consistently so I don't get the ^H^H^H^H^H effect every third login.
--- Ban humanity.
This kind of once a year on the calendar day for appreciation is not an appropriate way of recognition.
This day is now just like other obligatory days like: Mother's day, then Father's day (why is he left out), and even the other ones like the Office Admin day.
If it does not come sincere from the person doing it, then it is not that great. The only advantage I see is that it reminds those who are nice and appreciative, but forgetful.
2bits.com, Inc: Drupal, WordPress, and LAMP performance tuning.
This is great...It's my birthday today. I get double presents now!
Or is that presents and a weekend at work fixing a MyDoom infection?...
-R
...for I adminster SCO OpenServer.
Actually I try not to do so, I'm hoping one day to wake up and they'll have all disappeared. All 50+ of them.
The Poor Underpaid Intern Who Fixes All The System Administrator's Mistakes Appreciation Day
Need help treating your acne? Come here!
Canonical Guide to System Adminstration
1. Send out daily emails about the latest Microsoft IE virus. People don't delete those without reading them.
2. Recommend installing a Mozilla browser. Why would they need you to do it for them.
3. If they fuck it up, make sure to make them feel small and stupid. That's what you're here for.
4. When a manager tells you he can't log into his email, assume that he had neglected to skip every step required to log in to email before checking the email system. Managers often enjoy having their intelligence insulted.
5. Warn users that the network will be down no more than 15 minutes before scheduled maintenance.
6. Before disallowing users to use P2P software, make sure you have found a workaround for your workstation. This is your SysAdmin perk.
7. When the printer won't print, and you've had the user reset his machine at least 3 times, you may then diagnose the printer. Not before.
8. How did these people make their way out of their respective mother's womb?
9. It's okay to spend your spare time bothering the receptionist. She's there to entertain you.
10. When a project manager tells you he needed something yesterday, that means you can wait 364 days before getting it done.
11. Even though there are commercials on the radio training idiots to do your job, you are an irreplaceable resource.
12. Since you are in charge of the IT infrastructure, it's okay for you to bitch incessantly about Windows. That's the only things will ever change, anyway.
13. Surf porn on your computer. After all, if you're worth your salt, it's not being logged or firewalled. It's also not at all creepy.
14. New computers don't require a UPS.
15. When making out the budget for new equipment, make sure that your computer has a 256MB video card. You want to make sure that you get the clearest picture possible for your shells. It's only money, right?
16. Speaking of which, make sure that computer need to be upgraded or replaced on a semiannual basis. This is what we call "job security".
17. If you see someone printing out a large document. Cancel it. they should have knwon better.
18. Make sure that when the entire development network goes down, you're out back smoking a cigarette with the receptionist. She'll never go out on a date with out if you don't put in the time.
19. When users are doing the death march and you get paged at home on the weekend, it's no hurry. Nothing that can't wait until you get done playing Unreal.
20. Users will never learn unless you adequately convey to them how truly ignorant they are. You are their god, and they should recognize this by now. But make sure to use dirty looks and exasperated sighs to convery this, not actual word.
21. Yes, the receptionist did just wink at you as you walked by. How can she resist your ponytail and questionably groomed facial hair?
21. Finally, your job will be easier if you set up an easy way for users to submit problems online. However, make the location of said online help as difficult as possible to locate when it's needed.
Guinness?
Reminds me of the BOFH test:
The security and integrity of your email is due to:
1) National Law
2) Company Policy
3) The high quality of Microsoft products (bwahahah)
4) Regularly buying the SA a pint on Friday evenings
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
...my two sysadmins are complete idiots! What if I don't want to celebrate them?
-jls
Techno-pagan
You should see the thong he got to keep...told you I appreciate my SysAdmins...
So when is the Hawkeye movie coming out?
This is the first time we have celebrated this at work (I didn't even know it existed). All the sys admin's got a chocolate cd. I feel loved. :)
Yeah, so I'm not a sys admin.
And I'm not a damn secretary.
Hell I'm not even a father (or a mother for that matter).
Yeah congrats everyone else for doing your %^&*$in' job.
When the @#%^*& is my day!?
It seems like all the men I date are SysAdmins. So to say that I appreiciate them would be a gross understatement.
Yeah...especially when they get their systems up and running...
Thanks nmb3000. It's been a stressful week. I needed that. I think I will print this list off and send it out as a policy letter. Unfortunately, most of the people at my company wouldn't see the sarcasm and actually try some of these things.
Yep, I've had most of that happen to me when I used to do support.
"9. When the photocopier doesn't work, call computer support. There's electronics in it. Ditto for the microwave, timeclock, and coffee maker. Hell, if it plugs in, we're probably in charge of it anyway."
I was actually called by a user because her kettle wasn't working! I had to go looking for a fuse in the stores and change it for her.
Another time, there was some work going on and they planned to switch off the power to the whole site over the weekend. On Monday morning no-one could understand why they couldn't login to the VAX and RS6000. Of course they didn't tell us that the power would be going off! We just found out when we saw the console screens.
Another time there was a hardware failure and we had spent hours getting everything working again. I overheard a user moaning that we always cause things to stop working. I felt like just randomly swapping the patch leads in the cabinet, going home and letting them sort it out.
Perfectly valid for people stuck on dial-up, but can't seem to read TELCO on the back of the modem.
09f911029d74e35bd84156c5635688c0
You forgot a biggie: 36. When a supplier, be it of bandwidth, hardware, printer paper, etc. screws up, please get mad at us personally. We need the inspiration of your berating in order to effectively berate said supplier, and they need our berating because they love it when customers who 50% of the time ask for the wrong thing and get it, get even more upset the other 50% of the time when they're given what they actually needed in the first place.
Quote: Show us admin's how much you love us. (Otherwise we may just walk out, It's been a long day)
:)
Actually I did just that - quit my job today - so congratulate me!!!
Methinks that the SysAdmin's at sysadminday.com might not appreciate this story...
You can have Guinness any day. Today is a special day...
Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters for all!
Like Rodney Dangerfield said: "I don't get any respect".
Geeeeeee
Since nobody else has done it, I guess I have to...
So, what's your number?
Or, better yet, your IP?
Snicker snicker snicker
LongTail SSH Brute Force analysis tool is here!
Cool. It's the SysAdm appreciation day.
;)) appreciation by my lusers... :D
And obviously it's the only damn day this week that I ain't at work!!!
It looks like I'll have to wait another year to get some (overly due
"Only unimportant jobs such as secretaries and the like get their own "appreciation days".
If I were a sysadmin, I'd be insulted."
Actually, secretaries and sys admins fall into a line of work that requires them to work their asses off and receive little to no recognition for hard work when their users/bosses become successful.
I'd actually feel that appreciating them one day out of the year is a step in the right direction. Now for the other 364 days...
Sigs are for losers
The difference is, with Windows, you spend most of your time supporting the computer. With Linux, you spend most of your time supporting the user. Linux isn't a magic bullet which will melt away all your support problems! The user must be knowledgeable, or else you'll just waste even more time than Windows was already wasting.
"If any of the OSTG netops staff are reading this, thanks again for all your help in recent weeks."
Don't you mean:
"If any of the OSTG netops staff are reading this, GET BACK TO WORK YOU LAZY BASTARDS!"
Kidding of course... nice work fellas.
While I understand your complaint against so-called "Hallmark Holidays" (so named because they are just an excuse to buy a Hallmark brand card) I think sysadmins really do deserve a day like this. By and large, most people's interaction with syadmins is to complain that something isn't working. No one ever walks up to a sysadmin and says "Hey, everything is working great today! Thanks for all you do!" (unless things have recently NOT been good). In this respect, sysadmins are very much like doctors or psychotherapists in that they have to deal with fixing things when the chips are down. These health workers, however, usually get lots of vacation time and very generous salaries to compensate for their stressful jobs -- something sysadmins typically do not enjoy.
Not only are sysadmins taken for granted but unlike others in that situation (e.g., secretaries) their job is one where people are constantly complaining to them. This makes them very unique and very underappreciated. I don't think it's too much to ask that for one day out of the year that people interact with their sysadmins in a positive manner.
GMD
watch this
7. When an IT person is eating lunch at his desk, walk right in and spill your guts right out. We exist only to serve.
I always presume that if someone is at their desk they're working and therefore available for work-related discussions. If they want to eat lunch in peace, they simply have to go to the break room, outside, whatever.
As a corollary to this rule, if someone does eat lunch at their desk regularly, I will wait until they start eating to go and ask them questions. This is to avenge the awful smells they spread around the office, distracting those of us who are trying to get some work done.
To begin with, let me just say I have nothing but respect for good sys admins.
However, I have nothing but contempt for lazy ones. Our current one is lazy; we get a ton of DNS errors when trying to access the outside world, the VPN in doesn't work (more DNS problems), and I'm sure the only reason my "MAC" is on the network is becase he doesn't know how to block access to it.
No appreciation here. Get your lazy ass back from your coffee break and back to work.
I'd actually feel that appreciating them one day out of the year is a step in the right direction.
No, it isn't. It's hypocritical BS. If I were a sysadmin, I'd punch you in the face for letting me work my ass off and then thinking a lousy, phony "appreciation day" means anything to me.
If you want to appreciate them, give them more money, more responsibility (not as in 24/7 support) and all the other goodies people in sales and management get when they perform good.
"I think so, Brain, but 'instant karma' always gets so lumpy." - Pinky
so that mean's I'm pretty much doomed then?
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Last night, I was at the weekly drink of our department. Our sysadmin was also there...
Around 10 pm the airconditioning of the serverroom broke down.. so after calling ppl for an hour, finally someone would come fix it.
When that person finally arrived after an hour or so they spent 2 hours in the creepy basement..
Not that it mattered.. he had to shut everything down anyway, because things were overheating before it got fixed!
Oh, and his bike got stolen!
And he'll have a hangover..
As a lifelong sysadmin who actually enjoys helping people (for the most part) I actually had my IT group come in and buy me a can of coke! Man, what a treat!
It really hit the spot too!
I love my Sysadmins, but what about us Network Admins. We keep the backbone of the company running, and do we get any thanks.
Of course not.
It really is a shame the only ones who even know about (let alone recognize) system administrators day, are the system administrators.
Funny you should say that, one of my university's SysAdmins could easily shave his head and pass as Kingpin. If you're reading this, Rob... I kid because I love. And because you don't know my real name.
I did exactly this today and it was appreciated. How very timely.
...because SOME people treat me like one for PHP/MySQL over AIM. It's like someone put my AIM & MSN names up on php.net labelled "24/7 newbie tech support". These are REAL QUOTES of things people have said to me!
...
...
"I have the following error: 'Parse error: parse error, unexpected T_ECHO, expecting ',' or ';' in whatever.php on line 2', but line 2 looks fine! PLEASE HELP!"
"You missed a semi-colon on line 1."
"It says line 2, not line 1, that can't be the problem."
"Believe me, it is."
"Okay, so which one is the semi-colon again? is that the one next to P?"
*BLOCKED*
"Can I use a 'switch' statement for when I want a variable to be changed if a certain condition is true?"
"Why not use an 'if' statement?"
"Yeah, I was thinking about that, but I don't feel like writing one of those right now, can you write one for me?"
*BLOCKED*
"I am getting a 'Parse error', but I don't even know what a 'parse' is!"
*BLOCKED*
"Now I got this problem! 'Parse error: parse error, unexpected ',' in whatever.php on line 1', HELP!"
[I look at code and find:
echo($var1,$var2,$var3);]
"Don't take this the wrong way, but have you actually read a book on PHP, or even at least read a 'beginning PHP' guide on the Internet?"
"They make those?!?!?"
*BLOCKED*
Really, truly, I do appreciate SysAdmins, because they have to deal with these problems, but with stupider people. They don't have the comfort of a nice shiny "block" button that I have.
Happy System Administrators Day!
PS: Does anyone know if there is a block limit for AIM & MSN? I hope not...
Oh, all right. I'll get something. Let me see if the bum on the park bench will sell me his T-shirt.
"Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." -- George Orwell
No one in my company said anything....:-(
I'll go start deleting user accounts till they send me a damn E-Card!
*clickety click click*
Hmm... you don't seem to even have an account on this system...
A Job Offer.
I actually got my current SysAdmin job on SysAdmin Appreciation day two years ago. I had been unemployed for 4 months, which was not bad considering the Boston regional economy.
"I'm The Bounty Bear. I will find him anywhere. I'm searching."
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
NOW GET BACK TO WORK!
(sound of whip cracking)
http://www.ugu.com/
No! *thank yoooouuuu!*
~hylas
They used FrontPage to create the website???
If the SysAdmin just sets the system clock back a day every day, HR monkeys will celebrate it every day! Whoo-hoo!
10 years ago our law firm could run solely on typewriters and paper if the computers went down as they were only being used as intelligent typewriters only.
Now with the new practice management system and all lawyers carrying on significant research and client communication via web and email there would be a major impact if the system is down for any length of time.
If you don't want to repeat the past, stop living in it.
....of System Administrator Appreciation Day cards.
-Mikey P
You should see the thong he got to keep...
Sorry, not into fanny floss myself, but hey, whatever rows your respective boats.
KFG
quite funny, the boss and I are actually thinking of doing just that - and taking all the little yellow stickies with us.
Damn the Man! Save the Empire!
Happy sysadmins day indeed.
1. We are asocial nerds. Please don't personalise your machine. It confuses us.
2. We are incapable of replicating any bugs you produce. sorry.
3. If you are unable to do any work, please stare at your screen until the admin gets round to stopping by. DO NOT get a coffee. We'll be there within an hour.
4. The admin is incapable of engaging in discussion to diagnose problems. Please remember to diagnose your problem yourself before telling the admin.
6. All our admin emails are sent as high importance. We think we're important people, and you really need to know everything we send you no matter how trivial it may seem to you.
7. IT people are unable to leave their computers for more than 3 minutes at a time. Please take this into consideration when you think they're working.
8. Admins left school before they were taught upper case letters. Please use lower case.
9. Warning, admins can only administer one type of equipment. They are also unable to direct you to the admins who deal with other equipment.
10. Admins can be called even if you don't have a working phone line. Try it sometime.
11. Admin people have no idea what the company policy is on disposal of computer equipment, and have no interest in finding out.
12. If an admin person asks you to bring your computer to them, and they aren't there, please lug it back to your desk and try again later. Don't assume they will remember asking you to bring it to them.
13. Remember, admin believe anything you say is wrong..
14. The admin will be there shortly. The last 50 times were just an anomoly.
15. If at first you don't succeed, give up.
16. And don't try innivatinve solutions
17. We expect you to be able to handle our specialism as well as your own. It's important to know that RS-232 and RS-343 are totally differnt.
18. Please use online help. Admins believe it actually helps.
19. The mouse cable cannot handle the same loads as most other cables.
20. Eating at your desk is a privilege only afforded to admins.
21. All messages are important. You must stop working and meditate on the significance of the error box that asked you to confirm every single action you perform.
22. IT people are most likely to be engaged in personal business at work. Please remmebr this is moreimportant than what they get paid for.
23. The admin's work is more important than yours.
24. Please learn to do the admins job for him.
25. IT people do not deal with IT problems. Sorry.
26. IT people, dispite claiming to have lots of skill are unable to find the person with a spare key.
27. Admin are unable to come and fix a problem. They are welded to their computers.
28. Even though we give you lots of email space, please don't use it.
29. We can't be bothered supplying sufficient resources for printing.
30. IT people have no sense of irony. Please don't make jokes.
31. Only IT people are entitled to send mundane information to everybody.
32. IT people have no interest in the field they've dedicated their life to. If you meet them in a social context, try to engage them in discussions about historic Welsh sculpture.
33. Admin people can't put name labels on computers.
34. Please supply documentation. We are unable to use the handy wizards to work out what your hardware is.
35. Even though we have been rude and downright insulting towards you, we expect you to be polite and courteous to us.
4. When a manager tells you he can't log into his email, assume that he had neglected to skip every step required to log in to email before checking the email system. Managers often enjoy having their intelligence insulted.
Which is why they continue entering the wrong account info into Outlook again and again and again. Sometimes logins need a 'burn in' process.
6. Before disallowing users to use P2P software, make sure you have found a workaround for your workstation. This is your SysAdmin perk.
Oh sweetie, if you only knew...
11. Even though there are commercials on the radio training idiots to do your job, you are an irreplaceable resource.
Especially after repairing the damage caused by aforementioned Management hiring said Idiots.
One more thing... Seriously talk to your boss about the harassment that you are apparently dealing with in your workplace. That's not sysadminny, that's creepy.
Literalism isn't a form of humor, it's you being irritating.
In USA, plumbers are notorious for (purposely or not, you never know) exposing their buttcrack for the whole world to see, while they're bending down to fix your pipes.
Please give me more free space.
I had my file tree up and decorated on System Administrator Appreciation Day Eve. ;)
I have successfully lobbied our alpha geek to spring for a small party for our IT guys. Here's the problem: I need to distract both the PC support guy and the Networking guy for about 15 minutes while we set up. Our guys rarely work together on stuff and their paths rarely cross, so this is a bit daunting. Can anyone suggest a way to get them both out of the way for a few minutes that won't seem suspicious and won't involve actually destroying anything?
Interociter
-=What do I want? I'm an American. I want more.
i'm sorry you're having a rough week. Actually, the grass is not greener on the other side of the hill. I worked at one of the biggest .com's (profitable, established, etc) and no one ever got fired for screwing up, just promoted or moved into management.
I know it sounds cynical, but it's the honest truth. Don't feel bad and get some sleep.
Just got my first paycheck, from my first Sys admin Job EVER. Life is good... (I wish i could walk outa the office in slow motion right now with "D*MN it feels good the be a gangster" playing in the background)
come comment on the madness at http://slashdot.org/~phreak03/journal/
OK, so who's the stupid one here? The user that called you, or you, for actually fixing the silly thing???
Actually saw a guy do "rm -fr /" on a live server once. What a moron. What he was trying to do was "rm -fr /backup" but he hit the space bar and the 'b' key at the same time, and then hit return without checking for even an instant, so what he got was "rm -fr / backup". I was screaming at him for almost a minute before he realized what he'd done. A weeks work down the drain.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
I wanted management to understand just how hard all of our system administrators work at keeping the systems available for the rest of us. So I took it upon myself to make it obvious. I just panic'd all 217 of our servers at the same time. Happy System Administrator Appreciation Day.
Accually a lot of offices have a bosses appreciation day too. So I guess depending upon if that is also a day that is celebrated, I wouldn't feel so insulted them.
...and suddenly, I have fans...
So when is the Hawkeye movie coming out?
Yes, Mr. Moderator, call me a Troll all you want, but at least try working with the sysops that I've worked with in our company, have heard from other companies, and have direct communication with as the Director of Technology for an ISV who simply refuse to help. Try that and experience what I have, then judge me.
To anyone, where do you think BOFH comes from? I assure you the "H" isn't for "Heaven".
I'm a sysadmin, and I'm not worried about my job being outsourced to another country.
Although I can do 99.999% of my job remotely, I'm needed from time to time to physically be there to diagnose a hardware problem or something else that requires me to be physically near the machines.
Why would sysadmins want a special day all to themselves? Do we need to have a "Programmer Appreciation Day" too?
Where's "Janitor Appreciation Day"? If there is anyone that is underappreciated in this world it's them (among others, of course).
Self-glorification is an ugly thing.
Too many guys skilled with computers fix PCs for attractive women, hoping something comes of it other than a half-sincere "thank you." Why don't we simply say "no" for a week, without explaining why and see what happens?
I'd just been learning to use Unix on a VAX, and thought it was cool that I could create filenames with spaces in them.
But then I couldn't figure out how to delete them, until I discovered that wildcards could do the trick:
rm * *
Would that be Sys Admin Deprecation Day?
I would never do that.
Also, whenever I monitor network traffic with ethereal, I exclude my machine from monitoring. Besides, the traffic created from my DVD image downloads at 6.0Mbits/sec makes a mess on the screen.
"With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine." -- RFC 1925
Well, you're not an irreplacable resource yet. First you have to wait until management brings in the DeVry graduates who set the network up in complete ignorance of RFC1819, make up domain names to use internally which really exist elsewhere, open inbound ports 135 and 139 up in the firewall to allow for some remote windows printing, and then loose a bunch of data because they thought RAID had anything at all to do with backups.
I don't need a holiday for this. Whenever I want to be appreciated I just randomly unplug cables from the switches, "troubleshoot" it for an hour, then plug everyone back in and magically solve the problem. Suddenly I'm everyone's hero. :)
"With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine." -- RFC 1925
We are unfortunately losing our current part time sys admin, and are in the process of looking for someone who is familiar with Debian, Samba, Apache, mysql, along with a little php or unix scripting. He was great - experienced, thoughtful, and fortunately for our little business, inexpensive.
If you happen to be a student in need of part time work (about a day a week), and are near Burlington, Ontario, Canada, let me know! :)
ie. Sysadmins look cute and Cuddly, but if you disturb them when they are sleeping or eating, they'll tear the skin off your face?
Norman Cook's Ode to Sl
Huh. I don't know about heroism. Problem with system administration is that you're a hero when everything is working, but no one is aware of it. When things break, then everyone knows your name.
...and email a tech toon like this one to all your sysadmin comrades. Drawn by a sysadmin for sysadmins.
-Bob
The PC Weenies: 11 Years of Online Tech 'Too
They asked me to do that sort of thing not because "I love to hack" but because they knew I was capable of it. My father's friend was a cop and taught me a few things of that sort. Between him, some of my family, and my father's other friends, my childhood was spent gathering um interesting knowledge. heh
Everything I need to know I learned by killing smart people and eating their brains.
well, i'm not a system administrator, and... who can live without you guys? seriously you are really important and i hope any of you've received a gift today... or maybe just a note. bytegirl
OK, best case: the systems are locked down, the servers are *ix or *ux, and things are running swimmingly. Unfortunately the PHB's notice that you don't seem to be doing much, so they fire your ass and hire some Romanians to administer the system for $5/hour (the current going rate for Eastern European IT resources, by the way -- this is not a joke).
OK, worst case: you messed up, left some service running that you shouldn't have, or you forgot the 1,345,678'th BIND patch that came out this afternoon at 4:59 just after you left early for once to go on the only hot date you've managed to score in the last two months. So they fire your ass and hire some Romanians to administer the system for $5/hour.
OK, middle case: you didn't mess up, but some bonehead hooked up his Typhoid Mary laptop to the network after spending all night unprotected on his home DSL line, and every PC in the place ends up being owned by some spotty teenager in Liverpool, who uses them to conduct a DDOS attack against some government site, and now there are guys in black suits and skinny ties and sunglasses heading toward your cubicle and then you get a call on some cell phone that some FEDEX guy just dropped off and... no, wait a minute, sorry, got carried away. Anyway, they fire you for that, too.
1. We are asocial nerds. Please don't personalise your machine. It confuses us.
- Personalizing your machine does not mean burying it under tons of stuff and not moving it when you want support.
2. We are incapable of replicating any bugs you produce. sorry.
- How does one replicate a bug without a thorough description of the error generated by said bug?
3. If you are unable to do any work, please stare at your screen until the admin gets round to stopping by. DO NOT get a coffee. We'll be there within an hour.
- It's very difficult to fix a problem without the user present. It's also very frustrating to have people put in support calls and immediately disappear.
4. The admin is incapable of engaging in discussion to diagnose problems. Please remember to diagnose your problem yourself before telling the admin.
- No, just describe the actual problem instead of being vague. If your machine doesn't turn on, don't say you can't get email say "My machine won't turn on." Similarly if you caused it not to work, don't lie about it. I've had users knowingly delete the system directory to get more space and then indicate the system stopped working without them doing anything.
6. All our admin emails are sent as high importance. We think we're important people, and you really need to know everything we send you no matter how trivial it may seem to you.
- Remember that the next time there's a scheduled outage and you bitch about everything not working when you come in over the weekend to do work.
7. IT people are unable to leave their computers for more than 3 minutes at a time. Please take this into consideration when you think they're working.
- It's noon, you see someone eating...come on now...
8. Admins left school before they were taught upper case letters. Please use lower case.
- Right, that's why most support calls regarding password problems are a result of someone having the capslock key on.
9. Warning, admins can only administer one type of equipment. They are also unable to direct you to the admins who deal with other equipment.
- Mmmhmm...and you're a programmer. You work with computers, I see no reason why you shouldn't know how to fix the copier either.
10. Admins can be called even if you don't have a working phone line. Try it sometime.
- Your phone line can be crappy enough to not allow a modem to dial out, yet still be used to make calls. This can, and does happen frequently.
11. Admin people have no idea what the company policy is on disposal of computer equipment, and have no interest in finding out.
- Why should the company bear the burden of disposing your own computer equipment from home? Why can't you figure out the location of your own local computer equipment disposal area/service?
12. If an admin person asks you to bring your computer to them, and they aren't there, please lug it back to your desk and try again later. Don't assume they will remember asking you to bring it to them.
- First off the original point was made about equipment from home. In case you didn't notice, if you ask me to fix your busted up PC from home and I agree, I'm doing you a favor. Second if I'm not there when you come by (you can't bitch about how long it takes for us to arrive, and bitch about us not being in our office at the same time) leave a post it note on the machine indicating who you are, how I can contact you, and what the problem with the machine is.
13. Remember, admin believe anything you say is wrong..
- Remember, most of the time it is...as you expressed with point #17.
14. The admin will be there shortly. The last 50 times were just an anomoly.
- Well if we weren't busy staying in our office to make sure we were there so you could bring your home PC by for us to repair for free, we may actually be able to get to handling company related support calls.
15. If at first you don't succeed, give up.
- Gee...if it doesn't
Give me a job! :)
:)
(not kidding!
and my paycheck just bounced..
... 16 year old girls are fair game.
In the Netherlands I blieve young girls as young as 12 are, but I may be mistaken.
In muslim societies very often girls are married just shortly after they menstruate for the first time.
Do not assume your wrong is an aboslute wrong everywhere.
I think everybody would agree with the sick and twisted part you are pointing out.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Also perfectly valid for people with cell phones...
Hey, I wasn't expecting anyone to take me seriously. I just wanted to provide a different take on these things. A few of them are a little tenuous because I wanted to cover all 35 of them.
.txt to .html" "WARNING WARNING WARNING!!!!! I couldn't find this web page. I felt this was so important that I had to interrupt the entire applciation to let you know". The Alert dialogue is so overused that people have learned to ignore it.
A few points though;
It's very difficult to fix a problem without the user present. It's also very frustrating to have people put in support calls and immediately disappear.
True. It's also the perfect time to get a coffee. especially if the admin guy usually takes 5 minutes or so to finish what he's doing.
Remember that the next time there's a scheduled outage and you bitch about everything not working when you come in over the weekend to do work
There's the problem. I don't come in over the weekend. Ever. The fact that you are, and your telling me about it means that you're giving me pointless information, which devalues the important emails.
Mmmhmm...and you're a programmer. You work with computers, I see no reason why you shouldn't know how to fix the copier either.
Why would a programmer need to use a photocopier:P But if someone asked me to fix it, I would. I'd call the photocopier repair guy. If I didn't know who that was, I'd call someone who probably does.
Your phone line can be crappy enough to not allow a modem to dial out, yet still be used to make calls. This can, and does happen frequently.
This is a matter that can be diagnosed over the phone. I've never had a line so bad that the computer didn't register a dial tone though.
Gee...if it doesn't work the first time, try the same exact thing 20 more times
Did I actually remember to press print? Did I click ok and not cancel? Better not tell the cranky IT guy in case he gets mad at me. Let's give it another couple of goes to make sure it's definitely not working. It's not like it's going to use up any paper if it doesn't work.
Hmm...one printer didn't work, lets mess them all up.
If trying to print is what's causing the printers to mess up, then the print server is broken.
What, suspension bridge cables?
Come on. a mouse cable is made from durable plastic, and steel! this can handle a fairly sustantial compression force. It's also only bearing a fraction of the weight of the computer.
Warning deleting this file may cause certain programs to no longer function...should we ask first...naaa...delete it.
Warning! You are about to delete an EXE file! This will stop it from working! Are you sure?". "WARNING! I am about to do what you asked me to do!". "WARNING!!!! You are changin the extension of this file from
How is this related to a sysadmin's job at all? Call a damn locksmith.
Don't be such a Jobsworth. You're the person most likely to know who can help. You're the technical assistant they're most familiar with. If someone asks me about the database interface on the software, I'll point them to the person who wrote the database interface.
Hey admin I had to reinstall windows 95 on my 10 year old laptop and now the modem doesn't work. Could you fix it...
Sure. It's most likely got a hayes compatible modem in there. If not, the Windows auto detect wizard will detect it because it's either pre-95 hardware or a plug and play device.
Perhaps a replacement keyboard to take care of that little R problem in lieu of nutsack-ink-art?
There's so little difference between politics and jihad lately...
But I was also reinstalling. Kinda fun. Like pulling a running SCA drive out of a raid aray. It feels...dirty.
You should have told me that years ago.
Signed,
Mr. Goatse
True. It's also the perfect time to get a coffee. especially if the admin guy usually takes 5 minutes or so to finish what he's doing.
If you know it takes 5 minutes and you only take 5 minutes that's one thing...however also realize that if we go over there immediately and have to wait 5 minutes, that often means everyone else in the support queue has to wait 5 minutes. It's also another thing to put in a request in disappear. I have a support request out now in fact where I have been unable to get a hold of the person for a few days. I'm guessing they went on vacation or something...I'm sure they will expect the problem to be fixed when they get back, however without them present I really can't fix it.
There's the problem. I don't come in over the weekend. Ever. The fact that you are, and your telling me about it means that you're giving me pointless information, which devalues the important emails.
I see...and we're supposed to know who does and does not come in? A network outage is potentially relevent for everyone...maybe you don't come in, but you expect a build to occur over the weekend...maybe someone else who works on your project needed to do work that may cause a delay in something you were expecting to do on Monday. Who knows...the point is, don't complain if something is down and you were told a week ago via email you decided not to read that the outage was going to occur.
Why would a programmer need to use a photocopier:P But if someone asked me to fix it, I would. I'd call the photocopier repair guy. If I didn't know who that was, I'd call someone who probably does.
Right, so you again on one hand indicate we're slow to respond and on the other think it's reasonable for us to handle things that office staff really should be doing further setting us behind. I've been asked to fix so many things...fax machines, fans, copiers, mini fridges, etc...It's ridiculous.
This is a matter that can be diagnosed over the phone. I've never had a line so bad that the computer didn't register a dial tone though.
Lucky you. I've had people with lines so staticy that the modem picks up the line and does not register a dial tone there. You're right it can be diagnosed over the phone. Hey, I hear a bunch of static on your line, the likely cause of your problem is your phone line...call the phone company. The problem is, people think you're just brushing them off when you give them an answer like that.
Did I actually remember to press print? Did I click ok and not cancel? Better not tell the cranky IT guy in case he gets mad at me. Let's give it another couple of goes to make sure it's definitely not working. It's not like it's going to use up any paper if it doesn't work.
This is very selfish of you, because each stuck job in the queue prevents someone else from being able to print. We're also not talking about 2 or 3 tries. We're talking about the people who go, "Hmm...it didn't print...well...click click click click click click click click..."
If trying to print is what's causing the printers to mess up, then the print server is broken.
Or, your software is sending something messed up to the printer...or the job is too big...any number of issues can be at work. It's not necessarily the print server. If it is the print server, sending it 20 times isn't going to make a bit of difference. Now, what I would normally do is send the document to someone else and ask if they can print it. If they can, I'd call the sysadmin and say, "My computer won't print this, but Chuck's can." if they can't I'd call and say, "It seems this document won't print...I tried and Chuck down the hall tried it too."
Come on. a mouse cable is made from durable plastic, and steel! this can handle a fairly sustantial compression force. It's also only bearing a fraction of the weight of the computer.
Ever notice those indentions that are in the cable when you do that? Do i
I am really overwhelmed by the modesty of the people reading /. It really is too perverse.
It's like the oscars, where the incrowd hands
each other prizes:
actor 1: OK, you'll have the prize this, but...
actor 2: you'll be the hero next year.
Oh. Sorry. I forgot:
- last year I was actually operated by
a sysad.
- I think the transistor, the fundament of the
thingy you admire so much, was invented by a
sysad.
- napster was the invention of a sysad too.
- the road you drive on yourself everyday to your
work, was put together by a sysad.
- I can go on with this for weeks (May I am a
sysad too)
- and last but not least, both my parents were
sysads too.
Half the planet is starving, think about that
at least for a minute.
Accually a lot of offices have a bosses appreciation day too.
Oh yeah, and it's always a complete and total surprise to the bosses. And the employees who get panhandled by the *administrative assistants* don't worry at all if they don't contribute and sign the card. Truth be told, I'd be more worried if there were an official Sysadmin Day, and I didn't sign the card. :)
Okay.
Fuck you.
Now - what day is "End User Appreciation Day" again?
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
Just don't do it with any of your virus ridden email accounts. lusers.
(ducks. runs.)
Sysadmins day on a saturday? someone didn't think this over very clearly.
Saturday, when no-one else is in the office, except the sysadmin in question, slaving his/her ass off to keep the infrastructure humming along or cleaning up after the latest shitbomb of a virus which some user got infected with at 8pm on friday?
No-one to get them a coffee, or doughnuts? Noone
there to appreciate them, on appreciation day?
Hang on, maybe that's ideal
Screw you all! I'm off to the pub
Plumbers do not get called from their lovemaking sessions in the middle of night and "told" to report back, because some dumbass boss let loose W/Netsky into the network.
Plumbers also charge by the hour.
Don;t get me started...sysadmins are one of the most overworked, underpaid species on earth.
"Doing what i can, with what i have." ~ Burt Gummer
For starters, I wasn't calling *you* self-absorbed. But I think you've done a pretty good job of painting yourself that way by basking in the glow of your (probably exaggerated) power. Why don't you try finding honor in your responsibility instead of dreaming up ways to cause trouble for your hostages?
irb(main):001:0>
That's why we walk quietly and carry a big lart.
Whenever you read this sig someone's refrigerator light turns on.
Big words from an AC.
"Director of Technology" is only a title; I'm actually the senior software architect and have over 15 years of professional experience in this field writing software in about 6 different languages. I've even written articles that pioneered several methodologies in computer science regarding specific technology.
Care to make more generalities based on titles instead of experiences?
Personally, I feel that a few too many people are give a few too many tasks on the PC with the assumption that they know what they're doing. I know these are intelligent people who know how to do their jobs. Most of them are even pretty good with the things they do on the computer, with a bit of training, that are related to their jobs.
The trouble begins when these intelligent people begin to make assumptions about how the computer magic works. They're complicated, and take some know-how to make work right. The trouble users don't undertand what "safe computing" is, or they don't believe bad things will happen to them, or something simple like that. No malice, just no training, and sometimes no respect. .
Most of the problems that result in clashes between these intelligent people and are based on OE: Operator Error. Downloading crap because it's there. Clicking on every "yes" button they see. Thinking that because they can send and receive e-mail they can for some reason manage network shares on their own.
Truly, not understanding what it takes to make a computer work, and then working outside of whatever parameters they are shown is a bad thing. Most of the goofs and trouble made are because these intelligent people don't know what they're doing in my arena. I don't know how to do their jobs, and you'll notice I don't sneak into their offices and mess with their papers when they're not looking.
It's rude, I'll give you that, to think that all of the users are stupid (some may be, but it's rude to think that, too). Pause for amoment and think how idiotic it is for some asshole to not understand the dumbass things you do for a living. Trained monkeys with broken arms can do that, right? Can't be that hard to sort paper and push pencils. That's not right, is it? You took it seriously enough to go to school, or work at it for a while, or fight your way up from the trenches. Sysops do not do this because other options are slim.
The individual pricks you work with may well be in the wrong job. It's probably the case that they're just overwhelmed with the blissful environment you provide them. I'm really going strong on the feedback you've provided. The first thing I think when someone calls me a prick, is how much of a prick they are. Probably just goes downhill from there.
For me, I'm about as nice as they come. I realize that my 15-years of computer experience has given me a unique insight to how all of this magic stuff works. I truly understand the bit-packed arrays of data that you call a spreadsheet, I understand what all those cables do sticking out of that big noisy box on your desk. Yes, I can write software from scratch, and I know why you can't get to your e-mail.
I sure don't hold it against anyone who's using a computer as a tool to do their real work if they don't really get what the computer's trying to do. I do take it personally when they second-guess or make shit up and then get pissy when it doesn't work, especially if I'm holding back a well-deserved "I told you so.".
Be nice to me and my compadres. We work hard so you don't have to. Yes, I can take any piece of shit computer you have, plug it into any bizarre situation you demand, and make it work. Probably even make it work well. I am darn good at my job, and I know most of the other ops out there are, too.
(Oh, and we get paid more than you. We know because we can see everything on the network.)
End the FUD
I see...and we're supposed to know who does and does not come in? A network outage is potentially relevent for everyone...maybe you don't come in, but you expect a build to occur over the weekend...maybe someone else who works on your project needed to do work that may cause a delay in something you were expecting to do on Monday. Who knows...the point is, don't complain if something is down and you were told a week ago via email you decided not to read that the outage was going to occur.
And maybe you've sent something to the entire company marked "Important", which isn't important to most people. People learn to associate the "important" marker with some mundane IT stuff that doesn;t affect them. Of course they're surprised when it does affect them. They've been trained to ignore it.
Right, so you again on one hand indicate we're slow to respond and on the other think it's reasonable for us to handle things that office staff really should be doing further setting us behind. I've been asked to fix so many things...fax machines, fans, copiers, mini fridges, etc...It's ridiculous.
Delegate. Get a list of support numbers. Forward the request on to the right person.
This is very selfish of you, because each stuck job in the queue prevents someone else from being able to print. We're also not talking about 2 or 3 tries. We're talking about the people who go, "Hmm...it didn't print...well...click click click click click click click click..."
You're expecting a user to know how the print queue works. They assume that either it prints, or the request gets lost. Most people are not IT experts.
Hey...blame software developers...not sysadmins...I personally read all dialogues that come up before clicking on them. If I don't like certain dialogues, you can usually check a box that tells the software not to display them.
I do blame the software developers. You seem to be blaming the users. It's not their fault. Can you check a box that stops windows from warning about a change in extension, or that firefox couldn't find a web page? You use software where errors are actually important. Most people don't.
I work a helpdesk providing first line support to around 4500 users, I can tell you from experience that the problem is usually at the users end whether they be admin assistant or director. Of course while I talk you through checking the mail settings I'm simultaneously remoting onto your mailserver and pinging your machine but you don't see that. All you will see is that I ask you to do some stuff and (barring a completely stuffed server) within 5 minutes you're back up and running. I don't have time to wase explaining everything I'm doing at my end and you aren't interested and don't have the time to listen to me. You ring, I fix quickly and efficiently. Everyone's happy. Most of the "email" problems I get are nothing to do with the mail server, it's just that being unable to access email is the first thing users notice and the most common cause is a laptop user with an improperly seated network cable.
You reset the netport while I restart the spooler (the NT server spooler is notorious but not half as much as netports are). Again, 5 minutes max and you're good to go.
If a project manager needs it yesterday then he's not managing his project very well. Give us even a days notice and we can probably do it, ask for it today and you're probably dreaming unless it's a config change. Ask for domain admin rights and you're in cloud cuckoo land, you can probably get local admin but never domain admin. No way, not never. I don't need root on your projects development boxes, you don't need domain admin rights. Oh, and when you ask for permissions we get you to complete and sign a form for a reason, we're not being awkward. It takes 2 minutes to complete, get it signed, and fax it. No we won't do it without one.
And you can be replaced by any idiot with an MBA, doesn't mean they'd be any good though. I love my job, I provide a high level of customer focused service. I help people get things done. Sometimes I have to say no in order to protect the integrity of the network or because of some policy but every day I help my users be more productive. Most of the time when users make a request where the answer is "No" it's because they don't know the proper way of doing it. I'll outline the alternative and do that for them instead.
Phone messaging services that use a broken dial tone to indicate waiting messages (e.g. BT 1571) are a regular cause of no-dial tone errors on a laptop when the phone line is working perfectly.
And maybe you've sent something to the entire company marked "Important", which isn't important to most people. People learn to associate the "important" marker with some mundane IT stuff that doesn;t affect them. Of course they're surprised when it does affect them. They've been trained to ignore it.
That's really not true. Anything I send to the entire company marked "Important" is...at least it is to most people. I don't send messages that affect a minority to the majority.
Regardless...people should not bitch when they are emailed ahead of time that something that affects them is going to occur. The best part about this is they don't even think to check if the outage was scheduled. Hmm...did I receive an email that this was going to occur...I know the admin sends these things out...naaa...
Delegate. Get a list of support numbers. Forward the request on to the right person.
Sysadmins work on computers...figure out whether the object in question is a computer...forward the request on to the right person.
You're expecting a user to know how the print queue works. They assume that either it prints, or the request gets lost. Most people are not IT experts.
No...I expect the user to know that only one thing can print at a time. If their job is printing or is stuck, or is submitted 20 times, then no one else can print.
I do blame the software developers. You seem to be blaming the users. It's not their fault. Can you check a box that stops windows from warning about a change in extension, or that firefox couldn't find a web page? You use software where errors are actually important. Most people don't.
It's ultimately the users who decide to ignore warnings instead of reading them. Changing an extension is often a problem with users actually...they'll change it and wonder why it won't launch anymore. Not being able to find a web page is a reasonable error as well...it's also fairly predictable. I have little sympathy when someone is told, "Hey, you're doing something that may cause x to happen" and they do it anyway and wonder why X happened.
This is why so many people have such disdain for IT people. They expect the users to know more about computers than they do, and expect people to know the rules, when they just pick them up as they go along, and they refuse to have anything to do with anything outside their job.
If my car doesn't start, I'll try starting it again. I'll try a few more times before calling assistance. If the printer doesn't print, I'll do the same thing. Most people don't know a thing about printer queues. They don't know what magic happens with servers. They don't even know there is another compouter between them and the printer, let alone the fact that the printer has a computer inside it. Why would they even consider that trying to print again might cause problems?
And with error dialogues, people jsut learn what they're for. It's what people do. They try something and it doesn't work. 99% of error boxes are pointless, a waste of time, and interfere with what they're trying to do. If it's something important, then the programmers should add a warning that people are going to notice. If it was one or two people, you might have a point, but when this is a regular occuranbce, then the user interface is clearly broken, and bitching to the users isn't going to change that.
As for marking emails "important", why not just let the user decide what is and isn't important? If you're going to mark it important, when it isn't to a user, why should they expect the next one to one important? They're more likely to think that you're a self-obsessed nerd, who thinks anything he has to say is important. If this causes a problem, it's because you are unable to understand human nature. Human nature is the way it is. You can't change it.
And if peopel asking you to do something that's not in your job description is a regular occurance, then it's up to you to deal with it in as efficient a way as possible. Bitching about the users isn't going to help.
I find the self-righteousness of a lot of IT guys quite tedious. Strangely, the ones I've actually worked with are helpful and professional. There just seem to be so many "jokes" online about how useless their users are, and how life would be so much easier without them, when it's simply a case of users not being experts with a very complicated and fiddly tool.
If my car doesn't start, I'll try starting it again. I'll try a few more times before calling assistance.
Exactly. When my car doesn't start, I may try it a few times. Then I might ask someone to help me jump it. If that doesn't work then I have it towed to my mechanic. What I do not do is leave it in the middle of the street, try and start it for 30 minutes, open up the hood and start yanking out things, and then take it to my local gocart store, tell them I did not yank out a bunch of things and that the problem is I can't get to work, and then expect them to fix it.
If the printer doesn't print, I'll do the same thing. Most people don't know a thing about printer queues. They don't know what magic happens with servers. They don't even know there is another compouter between them and the printer, let alone the fact that the printer has a computer inside it. Why would they even consider that trying to print again might cause problems?
Because they know that if they are trying to print someone else can't. It's as simple as that.
As for marking emails "important", why not just let the user decide what is and isn't important? If you're going to mark it important, when it isn't to a user, why should they expect the next one to one important? They're more likely to think that you're a self-obsessed nerd, who thinks anything he has to say is important. If this causes a problem, it's because you are unable to understand human nature. Human nature is the way it is. You can't change it.
This is a bit out of scope from the original point which was:
"When IT support sends you an email with high-importance, delete it at once. We're just testing."
Typically messages sent to everyone would be considered high-importance. On messages where I do this, I clearly indicate in the subject line what the message is about...either "Scheduled Network Outage", "Email server will be down", etc. This doesn't refer to somehow marking the message as more important than another (that's pretty stupid anyway IMO). The chief gripe is you send everyone an email with a subject of "Scheduled Network Outage - 08/10/04" and have people who simply delete it and then complain on the 10th when the network is down.
And if peopel asking you to do something that's not in your job description is a regular occurance, then it's up to you to deal with it in as efficient a way as possible. Bitching about the users isn't going to help.
How does people venting on slashdot have any bearing on what they do in the real world? Users bitch about admins all the time, why aren't admins entitled to do the same?
I find the self-righteousness of a lot of IT guys quite tedious. Strangely, the ones I've actually worked with are helpful and professional. There just seem to be so many "jokes" online about how useless their users are, and how life would be so much easier without them, when it's simply a case of users not being experts with a very complicated and fiddly tool.
Dude...just about everyone vents about work. Perhaps you don't, but I'd say most do. The reason why your experience with the IT people you work with is that they are helpful and professional, is because many are. I'm sure waitstaff and retail clerks are courteous and nice at their place of employment and then come home and talk about the things customers do that annoy them.
As far as the "jokes" online about users. There are probably just as many "jokes" about admins. After all, we're all smelly ungroomed little trolls who get hard ons by wielding power with an iron fist and terrorizing the user populous as revenge for the repeated beatings we received in high school.
Don't take it so personally.
Yeah I have to agree here. There was no need for this post. And it's got a lot of low blows and some pretty much ignorant stuff in it. I guess I'm ruining some karma here, but it really was a petty thing to throw into the mix. I would have taken it humourously if the tone of it was as a good natured jab, which it obviously wasn't.