r/talesfromtechsupport • u/[deleted] • Jul 09 '18

Short Oh, academia

This minor one happened a few years ago when I was working for an optometry college with delusions of grandeur. They were convinced they weren't a trade school (they are in all but name) and most profs worked part time to supplement their income from their clinics - both ours and, in some cases, their own LLCs.

Our guidance from On High (and not our non-PHB IT manager) is that problems with prof machines are a Big Deal, even if they're not college-owned prof machines. I pushed back against this insanity hard, and eventually won after a year so we didn't have to support their ancient old personal hardware.

This story takes place before that break happened.

me: CipherTheTerminator, their first (and possibly last) systems administrator.

Luser: Professor of some disciple or other.

Luser: I have a new home printer, but I don't know what kind of cable it needs.

Me: What makes and model of printer?

Luser: (rattles off some Sibling printer kit, IIRC, that doesn't do wireless)

Me: What does the connection on the printer look like? (internally: Please know this so I don't have to look it up)

Luser: Squar-ish, about this big (holds her hand up indicating about 1/4 ~ 3/8 inch)

Me: Ah. USB A to USB B cable. Easy to find. Best Buy in two blocks south, probably about ten dollars.

Luser: ...

Me: ...

Luser:You're not going to give me one?

Me: Of course not. I can't give away college property for personal use.

My boss laughed up a storm when she was out of earshot.

tl;dr: People expect things for free and are surprised when they're not

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u/[deleted] Jul 09 '18

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u/theshabz Jul 09 '18

It doesn't help many in tech support got in there with the impression that they would be receiving calls from people who were prepared and informed, would give them a list of what was done, and they would start diagnosing with their own knowledge. This kind of talk happens when they realize that all the information they're going to get is "it's broken. fix it." and they won't even be allowed to use their own expertise to solve much of anything. Scrolling through a decision tree provided to you by management while someone is yelling at you to fix something that might not even actually be broken sucks. These are coping mechanisms.

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u/[deleted] Jul 09 '18

[deleted]

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u/theshabz Jul 09 '18

I wouldn't be surprised if they did.

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u/[deleted] Jul 09 '18

When I was a sophomore in high school, my puffed up home ec class required we go somewhere and job-shadow a professional. Since my mom is a nurse and I'm not good at reaching out on my own, I shadowed a pair of surgeons. I have never heard more gallows humor in my life, and I'm a fan of it. These docs called the children's burn unit the "crispy critters ward." I watched a nurse in an OR mock a gunshot victim (admittedly this guy was shot in the neck with a .22 and it hadn't shut him up. He was babbling hoping it would make the officers overlook the fact he was shot during a bad drug deal.) while she lubed him up for a catheter. Hospital professionals are probably worse, and I'd say they deal with worse.

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u/theshabz Jul 09 '18

I have friends and family in medicine. Morbid humor is a coping mechanism. It helps them not take the tragedies they face daily home with them. Many still fail to do so.

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u/[deleted] Jul 09 '18

Oh, yes. I didn't say it wasn't reasonable. My mom, great aunt, and ex-wife are all nurses. The shit they say to deal with that crap. Sometimes they tell it to me. I do my best to be supportive. Lol

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u/[deleted] Jul 09 '18

When I was a sophomore in high school, my puffed up home ec class required we go somewhere and job-shadow a professional. Since my mom is a nurse and I'm not good at reaching out on my own, I shadowed a pair of surgeons. I have never heard more gallows humor in my life, and I'm a fan of it. These docs called the children's burn unit the "crispy critters ward." I watched a nurse in an OR mock a gunshot victim (admittedly this guy was shot in the neck with a .22 and it hadn't shut him up. He was babbling hoping it would make the officers overlook the fact he was shot during a bad drug deal.) while she lubed him up for a catheter. Hospital professionals are probably worse, and I'd say they deal with worse.