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Get off my LAWN! "Grumpy Old Farts"

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#43,941
ahc said:
Adventures in Tech Support Land: Part of my first IT job was on a 24/7 tech support hotline. We supported users worldwide so you could get calls at any time that could be in several different languages. That made for some interesting conversations trying to diagnose a technical problem with a remote user who didn't speak much or any English. The Korean calls were the most "fun".

Back in the days of dumb terminals on a timeshared network (what used to be Tymshare for you old IT GOFs) and 2400 baud communications, a user called to say his screen was moving very slow. A screen moving very slowly with a max baud rate of 2400 is VERY SLOW. I told him to shut down and make sure that his cables were not kinked up so the data could move freely and call me back. After he unkinked his cables he called back fat dumb and happy that I had fixed his problem.

One Sunday afternoon a woman working at the Pentagon called the hotline crying that she couldn't print a report for a colonel (Klink perhaps?) who needed it immediately. After a couple hours and many calls back and forth trying this that and the other thing with no success she sobbed that the printer hadn't worked properly since it was moved to a new location. Me: "Is it plugged in to the wall socket?". Her, after checking: "No".

After our company was awarded the contract for another multiyear term, the GOV had a contractor from another company call the hotline every hour for 24 hours to check that we were indeed providing 24 hour support. He did and we did.

At one time there was evidence that a user in Germany had their account hacked. I played a small part in the investigation by compiling usage statistics and some other info. It turns out the account was hacked and the culprit was eventually found out. There was a PBS documentary about this incident (mid to late 80's-ish). Some of the folks I worked with and for made it on screen. I remained an unsung background player.

Another user used to call every time they needed to produce a periodic report seeking help on how to generate the report. Your tax dollars at work.
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A conspiracist might hold these work experiences are engineered to sell Pepto-Bismol. If a kid hasn't already done this on Tik-Tok, that is.
 
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#43,942
Charlie Tango said:
Two tips for a happy marriage:
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GwenOnBass said:
is this what you guys figure out when you're popping Schlitz beers by the pool?
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No, I was at a comedy show. The smartest thing I've ever heard by way of relationship advice was delivered by Craig Ferguson, who says that when having anything remotely close to a serious conversation with his wife, he runs all of his reactions through this three-part filter:

1) Does this have to be said?
2) Does this have to be said by me?
3) Does this have to be said by me, right now?

Massive wisdom in that. Works for pretty much any interpersonal relationship, really.
 
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#43,945
Winslow said:
No, I was at a comedy show. The smartest thing I've ever heard by way of relationship advice was delivered by Craig Ferguson, who says that when having anything remotely close to a serious conversation with his wife, he runs all of his reactions through this three-part filter:

1) Does this have to be said?
2) Does this have to be said by me?
3) Does this have to be said by me, right now?

Massive wisdom in that. Works for pretty much any interpersonal relationship, really.
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Telepathy not required.

A friend from school is at work at one of those Recognizable Name newspapers. She looks up from her desk to see one of my colleagues. (He's on the phone with our boss — I'm a couple thousand miles away.) Oh! it's Mr. ---! She's excited to see him but she can also read body language from across the room. Think I'll talk to him tomorrow. Worked out well. Her newspaper paid for her dinner on his per deim.

 
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#43,946
ahc said:
And Sominex too so one could get some sleep after their shift.

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Night shift work can "impact" on you gastrointestinal health. Wise man once said, never take a sleeping pill with a treatment for constipation.

These days, a lot of help desk workers can do their job from home. Or even while shopping at the hardware store like I witnessed today.
 
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#43,949
beans-on-toast said:
Night shift work can "impact" on you gastrointestinal health. Wise man once said, never take a sleeping pill with a treatment for constipation.

These days, a lot of help desk workers can do their job from home. Or even while shopping at the hardware store like I witnessed today.
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We actually did the overnight (about once a week) and weekend support from home. On a printer/modem with the cups for the phone's mouth and ear piece. Not even a dumb terminal. This was the Middle Bronze Age of IT so what happened was the hotline was transferred from the office at 5 PM to your home phone until 9AM the next morning. Weekend home duty was from 5 PM Friday until 9 AM Monday about once a month. You were essentially in jail for the weekend. Couldn't leave the house. This made playing music tough. We used to get reasonably generous comp time for the shifts until a new regime took over at work and cut it severely. I changed jobs soon after.
 
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#43,950
upload_2021-4-17_20-6-35.jpeg
 
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#43,951
ahc said:
We actually did the overnight (about once a week) and weekend support from home. On a printer/modem with the cups for the phone's mouth and ear piece. Not even a dumb terminal. This was the Middle Bronze Age of IT so what happened was the hotline was transferred from the office at 5 PM to your home phone until 9AM the next morning. Weekend home duty was from 5 PM Friday until 9 AM Monday about once a month. You were essentially in jail for the weekend. Couldn't leave the house. This made playing music tough. We used to get reasonably generous comp time for the shifts until a new regime took over at work and cut it severely. I changed jobs soon after.
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This timeline predates the beeper (pager), that in turn predates the Blackberry.

In the field I'm my own help desk. Access to anyone for any question. Which means nobody wants to hear from me. It's the help desk who calls me :oops: more often than I ring them :unsure: I do ring colleagues. When we actually meet — went years with friendships with colleagues I'd never seen in person — we tend have a few. Or something. First time I actually meet our classified ad guru in person is at a Dead show
 
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#43,953
We use a new program called Splashtop for remote access from City Hall. It's excellent because even though we join all computers to our domain, the user can be home off the domain and I can still Splashtop in to provide support. With LANDesk the user had to be on the domain. That means less travel between the six buildings because most errors are ID-10-T generated.

It's been known for years by all staff that I do no provide tech support after hours or weekends. Or take cell calls. From anyone. When I'm home, Carey considers it her time and insists on the phone being off. If I obsess on the computer too long (usually on TB) she reminds me she's here and dammit gimme some attention! :laugh:
 
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#43,957
ahc said:
We actually did the overnight (about once a week) and weekend support from home. On a printer/modem with the cups for the phone's mouth and ear piece. Not even a dumb terminal. This was the Middle Bronze Age of IT so what happened was the hotline was transferred from the office at 5 PM to your home phone until 9AM the next morning. Weekend home duty was from 5 PM Friday until 9 AM Monday about once a month. You were essentially in jail for the weekend. Couldn't leave the house. This made playing music tough. We used to get reasonably generous comp time for the shifts until a new regime took over at work and cut it severely. I changed jobs soon after.
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In our mob, we each got after-hours pager duty once every five weeks for seven days at a stretch. The comp time rules were sweet. We raked, especially if someone actually called the thing, and really cashed in if we had to go to a site, even for fifteen minutes. But we got comp time just for carrying it, too. Then, same thing. New suit at the top dumped all that, but we still had to do the pager thing. We said nope. Hey, we were county employees, tougher to get rid of than mold in a shower stall. So no more pager duty. It was great for the maybe ten years it lasted.
 
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#43,960
alaskaleftybass said:
We use a new program called Splashtop for remote access from City Hall. It's excellent because even though we join all computers to our domain, the user can be home off the domain and I can still Splashtop in to provide support. With LANDesk the user had to be on the domain. That means less travel between the six buildings because most errors are ID-10-T generated.

It's been known for years by all staff that I do no provide tech support after hours or weekends. Or take cell calls. From anyone. When I'm home, Carey considers it her time and insists on the phone being off. If I obsess on the computer too long (usually on TB) she reminds me she's here and dammit gimme some attention! :laugh:
Click to expand...
If I had one of those, I wouldn't be reading this.
 
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