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How Do You Deal w/ User Induced Stress?

Posted by Cliff on from the 10-mississippi-9-mississippi-8-mississippi... dept.

Anonymous asks: "I've worked as a Network/System Administrator at a small company for two years now. It's my nature to remain calm and collected while trying to accommodate everyone, even when having a particularly stressful day. After two years though, I've recently found myself being stressed all the time and my calm, cool exterior is starting to show some cracks. How do Slashdot readers cope with the stress induced by a highly demanding job and being stalked by users asking for the same thing over and over (i.e. password resets, login problems, how do you...)?"

5 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. Or your boss, for that matter? by saarbruck · · Score: 5, Funny
    Against my recommendations, my boss just added a slew of new feature requirements to my project, so now I'm spending even more late nights at work trying to make magic happen. He stops by my office a couple times a day all chipper and excited, and it's all I can do not to strangle the dillweed. How does one professionally convey the message, "I don't like you, I don't respect you, you're not qualified for the job you're doing, get the hell out of my office and let me work." ?


    I'd love to know.

    --
    I am the very model of a modern major general!
    1. Re:Or your boss, for that matter? by Creepy+Crawler · · Score: 5, Funny

      You dont speak his language.

      "The cost/benefit ratio increases dramatically, along with exponentially increasing time to deployment, in that our competitors have a much increased chance of overtaking our solutions.

      My suggestion is that we freeze features for a specified version, and branch our software when we feel that our profit margin is maxed. This would guarantee that we would force our customers to upgrade on our cycle, thus guaranteeing future profits."

      I'm a network engineer in the consulting "business". In order to maintain contracts, you have to do the talk, and speak the language. Money and time are all that matter.

      --
    2. Re:Or your boss, for that matter? by Clover_Kicker · · Score: 5, Funny

      A massive head injury should put you in MBA emulation mode.

  2. Wiki by akmolloy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've recently installed a Wiki for our staff, and if I get a question more than once, I add a little How-To for that subject to the Wiki. Now the first question I ask people is if they've checked the Wiki... it's amazing how people have sort of embraced it and are populating it themselves.

  3. Exercise! by krs-one · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Seriously, exercise, to me at least, is one of the best stress relievers.

    I'm an amateur bodybuilder working his way up so I would normally be training in the gym everyday anyway, but its great to go in the gym after a day of dealing with users/customers and slamming some iron around. The weights don't care how you treat them, its great. Plus, when you've got 400lbs on your back, the last thing you're worried about is why Susie Q. can't duplicate an event on her calendar.

    Finally, exercising, even a little amount just 3 days a week (think 20 minutes 3 days a week, 1 friggin hour!) will change your life drastically. You'll sleep better, find you naturally eat better, and are much less stress free.

    Sorry to sound so preachy, but I used to be a fat computer nerd, and I started training, got hooked, and totally changed my life around. Look into it.

    -Vic