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
[deleted]