• Leigh (unregistered)

    I've unfortunately been in a similar situation.

    Database goes down. NOC calls me. I'm no longer responsible for said database and point them towards IT and their ops team. (It was a situation that just needed a reboot, but I was told 'don't do it, call IT for it') NOC pages IT ops team. And calls me. And pages IT ops team. And calls me. And pages IT ops team. And calls me in a panic (and rather angry, the DB was rather important). I call someone in data center and get system rebooted. DB comes back up.

    I, however, am... peeved.
    I step out of my office to explain to co-worker why I am so peeved and IT VP happens to walk by. He wants to know what happened and I tell him. Explicitly.

    The WTF in all this? The IT VP actually went and raised havoc with the IT ops team, explaining them in no uncertain terms what 24/7 meant and to RESPOND TO THEIR BLEEPING PAGES.

    I was then happy... until the next time... when the DB group refused to respond to pages because they were in a meeting discussing why they were so hard to work with. The manager wouldn't let them handle the problem until the meeting was over.

  • MoffDub (unregistered)

    The real problem here is Lotus Notes, which pops up a series of several obscure modal error boxes at me every week when I try to view my calendar and it won't stop until I delete bookmarks.nsf and reboot Notes.

  • (cs)

    Yeah, similar situation here but one I'm bending to my advantage.

    Territorial manager, ex-military, very .. curt. Has a nasty habit of including three layers of management in e-mails where he thinks someone outside his team has screwed up.

    Well, fine. He wants to be territorial. I have no problem with that. I'll exactly follow procedure.

    That being ...

    Any requests for my help outside of emergencies go through my manager for approval and prioritization. That takes a few days. Then I require all the paperwork they want from us - project requirements, scope docs, etc. Another few days. Finally I do some work. Then it goes into technical documentation. Another couple of days since that's not high on my list. His project team review. Add a few more days to a couple of weeks. Business owner signoff. Same thing - a few more days to a couple of weeks. Then the change management request and approvals. At least a week if not more. Finally getting the DBAs to find time to push out the change. No estimate there.

    All for something I would have done in two days, tops, if he wasn't a complete asshat.

    Yeah. And he can't call me difficult since I can blandly point to his own procedures as to why things take so long.

    Even better, he uses a problem tracking system that he won't grant access to outside of his team. And won't use the centralized one. So there's no way for me to update the requests from his team. Gotta love that.

  • Andy (unregistered) in reply to stEvil
    stEvil:
    Though, not sure an Indian call centre was a good idea. An "engineer" from my ISP argued with me for quarter of an hour that there was no such thing as a 'key' in wireless networks, insisting that I meant my Windows logon password. Sometime I wonder if they can tie their own shoelaces.

    Nope. The ones that know how to tie shoelaces are working programming jobs in a much higher pay bracket.

    Just like here in USA.

    Someone remind me to add "Can you tie your shoes?" to my list of interview questions.

  • (cs) in reply to stEvil
    stEvil:
    What kind of retard doesnt figure out that after contacting Internal IT, and a member of IT contacting you about the same thing, there is likely to be a communication problem? Good thing for Ivan he got rid of them.
    The way it's worded in the story, it's an easy mistake to make, since Martin sounds like he just noticed the server being down on his own.
  • dox (unregistered) in reply to AlleyGator
    AlleyGator:
    Am I the only one who uses Email to solve these problems, and CC's everybody involved?

    While Martin might be the "root cause" of this, note that at no point did Tore ever attempt to add value or suggest that usually the server just needs a reboot.

    So this is kind of a double WTF.

    If Notes was down, he might not have been able to email. Kinda like the systems monitors that don't page you when they go down :)

  • Jim (unregistered) in reply to AlleyGator

    "While Martin might be the "root cause" of this, note that at no point did Tore ever attempt to add value or suggest that usually the server just needs a reboot. "

    Often times, the person in charge of a server doesn't appreciate interference or suggestions from other departments.

    Besides, who would he have suggested it to? Martin himself? The boss? The IT Support group? Only the people in charge of the server should be rebooting it.

    Also, email only works if everyone is emailing, not calling, and the email isn't running on the Lotus Notes server. Hard to email people to tell them to reboot a server if the email server is down.

    Martin could have told Tore that he needed him to go in and fix the server because he couldn't make it, but he was too vague. How was Tore supposed to know what Martin really wanted?

  • JimBob (unregistered) in reply to Addison
    Addison:
    Yeah this was much funnier on the second read-through once you understood what was going on. With all that back and forth you forget 90% of it by the time the punchline rolls along.

    You get confused /that/ easily? THat's rather disturbing...

  • lastoftherealmen (unregistered) in reply to KKKoder
    KKKoder:
    savar:
    stEvil:
    Though, not sure an Indian call centre was a good idea. An "engineer" from my ISP argued with me for quarter of an hour that there was no such thing as a 'key' in wireless networks, insisting that I meant my Windows logon password. Sometime I wonder if they can tie their own shoelaces.

    No, they can't. They're 100% worthless.

    I agree with you completely that those sand niggers are just as worthless as the jews and gypsies. I'm glad I have so many pure white brothers on this website.

    Not gonna matter much with a nigger president - it's the end of the world as we know it (ever see a country with a nigger in charge that was worth a shit? Canada is looking better all the time.)

  • mos (unregistered) in reply to KKKoder
    KKKoder:
    I agree with you completely that those sand...

    Excuse me, /b/ is that way, now GTFO my TDWTF ->

  • Ashish (unregistered) in reply to JD

    Why don't you try to communicate with Indians in Indian language? May be you are better in speaking Foreign Languages.

  • Ashish (unregistered) in reply to JD
    JD:
    The Article:
    Tore's job was eventually replaced by an Indian service desk... their poor staff...
    Poor staff indeed. Poor at their jobs, poor at communication, the list goes on...

    Why don't you try to communicate with Indians in Indian language? May be you are better in speaking Foreign Languages.

  • Andrew Ponting (unregistered) in reply to Ashish
    Ashish:
    JD:
    The Article:
    Tore's job was eventually replaced by an Indian service desk... their poor staff...
    Poor staff indeed. Poor at their jobs, poor at communication, the list goes on...

    Why don't you try to communicate with Indians in Indian language? May be you are better in speaking Foreign Languages.

    I suggest you drop it, Ashish. Don't fall for the bait. It is not worth the trouble. There are other Indian readers on this forum like myself , but as you can see they are all keeping quiet.

  • Casey (unregistered) in reply to Ashish

    I'v heard funny stories of having an Indian developer swear in Hindi at the outsorced to India help desks.

  • mauhiz (unregistered)

    ah, Lotus Notes is great! it is even better than having blind monkeys deliver handwritten messages.

  • Martin (unregistered) in reply to Johhny Awkward
    Johhny Awkward:
    Why no comments about the new Irish Girl? She's got breasts and everything.

    Please send pics :-) Is it an ad? I never see her. Perhaps the ads are distributed by country or ip range?

    Thanks, Martin from Germany

  • The Orc (unregistered) in reply to Johhny Awkward
    Johhny Awkward:
    Why no comments about the new Irish Girl? She's got breasts and everything.

    Most girls do...

  • (cs) in reply to P
    P:
    Ebs2002:
    No adblock, no irish girl. What gives? Where is she?!?
    [image]
    OMG. WTF? Why couldn't I find her myself?
  • Man (unregistered) in reply to Martin
    Martin:
    Johhny Awkward:
    Why no comments about the new Irish Girl? She's got breasts and everything.

    Please send pics :-) Is it an ad? I never see her. Perhaps the ads are distributed by country or ip range?

    Thanks, Martin from Germany

    Please read earlier posts :-)

    Thanks, Man from Internet

  • IByte (unregistered)

    Oh look, Google Ads noticed Irish Girl too:

    Ads by Google:
    Get Girls Phone Number: Proven Tips To Get Any Girls Phone Number In 3 Minutes
    (by the way, may I suggest using a phone book for that purpose?)
  • (cs) in reply to Mark V Shaney
    Mark V Shaney:
    Poor reading.

    Every time we have some story with more than 2 person, the poor writing confuses the hell out of readers named "Mark V Shaney". I generally stop caring about who's who at roughly the middle of the story because my reading comprehension is so low I can't follow along.

    As the reader is evidently incapable of following the protagonists of the writer, the writer should just list them at the start of the story. That would be easier for everybody who has the poor reading skills of Mark V Shaney.

    FTFY.

    I had absolutely no trouble keeping track of the story, even with the minor name confusion at the end. I guess my reasoning and logic skills must be considerably better than yours; I could figure out what the writer meant.

  • (cs) in reply to ebenblues
    ebenblues:
    Karl von L.:
    I've never seen this "Irish girl" myself, but my guess is that she shows up on the site if you turn off Adblock. Though why anyone would do that in the first place escapes me.
    Maybe to support the people who go through the trouble of providing this site with new content everyday? Just a wild guess...

    How does having the ads there and ignoring them support the site more than blocking them?

  • Mark V Shaney (unregistered) in reply to KenW
    KenW:
    Mark V Shaney:
    Poor reading.

    Every time we have some story with more than 2 person, the poor writing confuses the hell out of readers named "Mark V Shaney". I generally stop caring about who's who at roughly the middle of the story because my reading comprehension is so low I can't follow along.

    As the reader is evidently incapable of following the protagonists of the writer, the writer should just list them at the start of the story. That would be easier for everybody who has the poor reading skills of Mark V Shaney.

    FTFY.

    I had absolutely no trouble keeping track of the story, even with the minor name confusion at the end. I guess my reasoning and logic skills must be considerably better than yours; I could figure out what the writer meant.

    Congratulations, Ken. You're the man.

    For your information:

    Mikkel (unregistered) "You got the names mixed up in the end, or Ivan and Tore is the same person calling himself..."

    gabba "I'd fire the whole bunch, especially for getting the names mixed up at the end."

    againjj (unregistered) "The story was a bit confusing, until I realized the names got screwed up: "

    Editor: "Fixed!"

    I just guess that your arrogance is key to that feeling of "considerably better reasoning and logic skills". But, at the end, you are just another random asshole in some shitty IT job, pretending he is better than everybody else.

    "Heureux les simples d'esprits..."

  • (cs) in reply to AlleyGator
    AlleyGator:
    Am I the only one who uses Email to solve these problems, and CC's everybody involved?

    While Martin might be the "root cause" of this, note that at no point did Tore ever attempt to add value or suggest that usually the server just needs a reboot.

    So this is kind of a double WTF.

    Because Tore's boss said to follow the procedure. Which is what Tore did.

    "Volunteering" additional information is not part of the procedure. Martin fscked up. Why should Tore have to worry about a system that isn't his to support?

    See, it's people like this that make it impossible to follow procedures. "Sure, the procedure is in place so that Area X is responsible for System Y. But I'm going to butt in and give my opinion on what should be done."

    <sarcasm>Yeah, that's adding value.</sarcasm>

  • Dirk Diggler (unregistered) in reply to Mark V Shaney
    Mark V Shaney:
    "...just another random asshole in some shitty IT job, pretending he is better than everybody else."

    I submit that 'random asshole in shitty IT job' and 'pretending he is better than everybody else' is a tautology.

  • Me (unregistered) in reply to Andrew Ponting
    Andrew Ponting:
    Ashish:
    JD:
    The Article:
    Tore's job was eventually replaced by an Indian service desk... their poor staff...
    Poor staff indeed. Poor at their jobs, poor at communication, the list goes on...

    Why don't you try to communicate with Indians in Indian language? May be you are better in speaking Foreign Languages.

    I suggest you drop it, Ashish. Don't fall for the bait. It is not worth the trouble. There are other Indian readers on this forum like myself , but as you can see they are all keeping quiet.

    Well, I have to say this, and I also agree that at best this is flamebait. I also am not racist. I choose my friends independent of race, sex, or any other issues. My dream vacation would be to tour the world on foot, and Indian ranks 3 on my preferred eating list behind Thai and Vietnamese.

    That said, "poor communication" is a valid point, and "lets see you speak <insert language>" is a bad response. Of course, I agree that I'd be totally screwed in most countries. If I ever do go on my vacation, I'm going to learn the basics such as "please", "hello", "thank you", "goodbye", and then lean on a English-X dictionary. There is a crucial difference here. The outsourced workers are in the case being hired to replace English speakers who once had the same job of helping English speaking co-workers and customers, so it's very reasonable to expect that they be able to do so. As a customer calling <insert vendor> it's a little unreasonable to expect that I should have to speak an unlimited number of languages just so that <vendor> can get the cheapest possible help.

    Again, not saying there is anything wrong with other languages, cultures, etc. Diversity makes the world interesting.

  • (cs) in reply to KKKoder
    KKKoder:
    savar:
    stEvil:
    Though, not sure an Indian call centre was a good idea. An "engineer" from my ISP argued with me for quarter of an hour that there was no such thing as a 'key' in wireless networks, insisting that I meant my Windows logon password. Sometime I wonder if they can tie their own shoelaces.

    No, they can't. They're 100% worthless.

    I agree with you completely that those sand niggers are just as worthless as the jews and gypsies. I'm glad I have so many pure white brothers on this website.

    not for nothing, but I think that epithet refers to persons from the Near East (you might call it "mideast").

    this might help clarify things:

    The Major: And the strange thing was... throughout the morning she kept referring to the Indians as niggers. "No no no," I said, "the niggers are the West Indians. These people are wogs."

  • Tore (unregistered)

    Oh, and i have no problem with an indian helpdesk either, the company were bought by an Australian venture capital company, and they tried to move the entire company to india, only then finding out that it was economical unfeasible..

    I had to train the helpdesk that replaced me, and they really good guys, except for disregading policies about having MP3s on their computer, they are up to the task, although with 2-3 power blackouts in that area of bangalore a day, i dont understand why anyone would want system critical servers there.

    But do like we did in my new company.. get an indian to call the indian servicedesk, and guess what.. he is just as confused as we are.. :)

  • Mark V Shaney (unregistered) in reply to Dirk Diggler
    Dirk Diggler:
    I submit that 'random asshole in shitty IT job' and 'pretending he is better than everybody else' is a tautology.

    Spot on. But you have to remember who my audience was: he needs to get things explained to him at least twice...

  • Cyberwizzard (unregistered)

    Actually, we had a bloke like Martin working for us... his name was also Martin... and he pulled that freaking joke on me as well... Say, you don't happen to work at my company right? ^^

    Actually, although I was at home when the whole mess started, I was at the office after a solid 4 hours of sleep to figure the whole mess out. That was also the last time we handed out my cell number to other people than my boss.

    Martin was fired 2 months later when he made me come in again - by playing stupid or deaf - to reboot a server that hung in a rack down the hall from his desk (I live 2 hours from work, making a 60 second reboot a 4 hour drive...)

  • foo (unregistered) in reply to jaykay
    The Major: And the strange thing was... throughout the morning she kept referring to the Indians as niggers. "No no no," I said, "the niggers are the West Indians. These people are wogs."

    Umm, no. Not "niggers" nor wogs. They are Indo-Europeans people (Indo means India), they speak Indo-European languages, their holiest symbol is the Swastika/Laltika, the holiest syllable is Om, and their religion is based on the Aryan holy books: the 4 Vedas.

  • Anonymous (unregistered) in reply to Me
    Me:
    Andrew Ponting:
    Ashish:
    JD:
    The Article:
    Tore's job was eventually replaced by an Indian service desk... their poor staff...
    Poor staff indeed. Poor at their jobs, poor at communication, the list goes on...

    Why don't you try to communicate with Indians in Indian language? May be you are better in speaking Foreign Languages.

    I suggest you drop it, Ashish. Don't fall for the bait. It is not worth the trouble. There are other Indian readers on this forum like myself , but as you can see they are all keeping quiet.

    Well, I have to say this, and I also agree that at best this is flamebait. I also am not racist. I choose my friends independent of race, sex, or any other issues. My dream vacation would be to tour the world on foot, and Indian ranks 3 on my preferred eating list behind Thai and Vietnamese.

    That said, "poor communication" is a valid point, and "lets see you speak <insert language>" is a bad response. Of course, I agree that I'd be totally screwed in most countries. If I ever do go on my vacation, I'm going to learn the basics such as "please", "hello", "thank you", "goodbye", and then lean on a English-X dictionary. There is a crucial difference here. The outsourced workers are in the case being hired to replace English speakers who once had the same job of helping English speaking co-workers and customers, so it's very reasonable to expect that they be able to do so. As a customer calling <insert vendor> it's a little unreasonable to expect that I should have to speak an unlimited number of languages just so that <vendor> can get the cheapest possible help.

    Again, not saying there is anything wrong with other languages, cultures, etc. Diversity makes the world interesting.

    Right. So, the point is, take it out on shitty management at home rather than mocking an entire country's people for a few of their countrymen having shitty jobs speaking a language they're not good at.

  • (cs) in reply to JD
    JD:
    Poor staff indeed. Poor at their jobs, poor at communication, the list goes on...

    I find they're generally very good at their jobs and their communication is fine so long as you do it by e-mail. It's when you try and talk to them on the phone that it all goes to heck.

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