The Grumpy Admin

I’ve decided to open a hotdog stand on the border to give the illegals a good hearty wiener on a bun before they scramble across the border. I’m going to call it Dog-N-Dash. Good-bye IT world.

I wish. Dog-N-Dash is just another story of a crazy end user. This happened yesterday.

I get an email that reads: “Is there anyway to get someone from Dell here to look at the printer, it sounds like someone is scratching a dog behind his ear and his leg is thumping the floor.”

The Dog.

Now I know that the Dell tech support technician is going to want to troubleshoot the printer. The printer is not in my office. I call the end user to deliver the bad news.

Me: Well, I got your email about the printer, and I’d love to help you, but unfortunately, if you don’t mind, the best thing for you to do is to call Dell directly and go through the process with them. I’d like to help, but I know they will want someone to be in front of the printer trying fixes.

Hillbilly end user: That’s fine. What number do I call?

I pull up the Dell website.

Me: Call one dash eight hundred dash WWW dash DELL.

I say it slow so he can write it down and get it right. What he comes back with I could not have made up if I had all day to make up stuff.

Hillbilly end user: My phone ain’t got no dashes.

Me: You can leave them off.

The Dash.

Perhaps a job in food handling on the border would be more rewarding.

I have an end user who is covering for his boss while the boss is away. Part of that entails checking email. Well, the boss gets a system generated message that his password will expire in a few days. That, of course, makes my phone ring.

End user: "My boss got an email that says his password needs to change. He is on vacation. So I am going to change it and then email him the password so he can still get his email on vacation."

Me: "Well, that won't work, since he needs his password to check his email. You should call him to give it to him."

End user: "Yeah, I don't want him to be locked out, so I'm sending it to him."

Me: "He won't be able to get into his email with his old password to retrieve his new password since he needs his new pasword to even get into email in the first place."

End user: "I KNOW THAT'S WHY I'M SENDING IT!!!"

Me: "OK. That's probably a good idea."

Sometimes, it just easier to give in. Actually, it almost always easier.