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How Do IT Guys Get Respect and Not Become BOFHs?
An anonymous reader writes "I work for a small software company (around 60 people) as the sole IT guy. It's my first time in a position like this and after about 1.5 years I'm starting to get a bit burned out. I try to be friendly, helpful, and responsive and I get no respect whatsoever. Users tend to be flat-out rude when they have a problem, violate our pretty liberal policies constantly, and expect complex projects to be finished immediately upon requesting them. My knee-jerk reaction is to be a bastard, although I've avoided it up to this point. It's getting harder. For those of you who have been doing this a lot longer, how do you get a reasonable level of respect from your users while not being a jerk?"
I've sent a few of the tougher cases to http://lmgtfy.com/ Usually that smartens them up a bit without having to have too many words ;)
finish complex projects immediately upon them requesting.
Take pride in being the BOFH. Lusers need to be kept in check. Blog about how you've made their lives miserable.
If something was working yesterday and it isn't working today, you broke it.
For example, email. Why does email go down? Why? What's so hard about running a mail server? It was working yesterday, I come in this morning, it's not working.. what did you do? Don't say you did nothing, you did. It was working. You stuck your grubby little paws in there and messed with it, didn't you? Fix it.
You can't handle the truth.
How we know is more important than what we know.
middle management.
I found solace in drugs, booze and hookers. This worked out great for a while. After some time (about 10 hours) it started affecting my job and personal life. I have since been fired from job, so the stress is gone. The bad thing is that now I am addicted to drugs and it burns when I piss. Oh yeah, my left me and took our kids to her mothers.
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My parents went to slashdot and all I got was this lousy sig!
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My parents went to Slashdot and all I got was this lousy sig.
What happens when "middle management" applies to everyone from the CEO down to the managers?
Don't answer that. It was sarcastic. They'd fire me for it, but I was already fired. Now I have all the time in the world to work on my BOFH-isms. :)
"Hello BSA? What's the payout on an anonymous tip these days?"
"Hello DHS? What's the payout on an anonymous tip these days?"
"Hello IRS? What's the payout on an anonymous tip these days?"
"Hello FTC? What's the payout on an anonymous tip these days?"
Ahhh, we see a running trend. And one previous employer was worried about direct retaliation, either through DoS attacks, or a sniper posted within a mile of their front door (the sniper being me). I had more fun doing absolutely NOTHING to them. They were so worried about what I *could* do that they drove themselves nuts looking for my back doors, monitoring for my attacks, and watching for me behind every corner. I didn't even know this first hand. Word got back to me from other people over the years. :)
And for the record, I don't believe in back doors, because they could be a security hole while I'm there. A DoS attack just isn't worth my time. They'll always screw something up on their own, I don't have to help it along in the least. I don't believe in jail time either, so physical violence is out unless they provoke it. (i.e., show up to my house with a gun drawn, and see how long you last.)
Sometimes the best revenge is to do absolutely nothing at all. It'll leave them wondering what I'll do for years to come. :)
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
Given your post title is "Fuck em", are you're suggesting I have sex with my users and include some spanking with it, in order to put them in their place as it were?
I'm not sure our corporate policy covers this particular situation.
You were babysit^Wadministrating a Windows 95 machine in 2007?! Yikes!
Be reasonable, and honest - justify and explain.
And then, if they still bother you, shoot them.
That is all.
Heh, I have this image of a man in a white coat with a mouse hanging round his neck, like a doctor with a stethoscope.
Then when people say "my mouse is acting a funny", he take the mouse from around his neck down and plug it in to the machine. "Hmm, seems fine with this mouse, take this". "Oh wow! So quick! You're my hero!"
assuming you mean to store this electronically. because i just don't have that many notepads
Nothing. Capes tend to get sucked into cooling fans.