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Tech Stories Archives - July 2007
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1.
exzyle2k ROCKS
Dude...
wow
That program you suggested is unbelievable. It took 18 hours to scan the drive, but once it finished, I was able to see the entire directory tree of the XP installation I erased, and it's in the process of recovering important files as I type this. I tested its recovery abilities on a single JPG image, and damn if it didn't allow me to save the owner's original desktop wallpaper to my hard drive.
Not only did it see the original NTFS partition I had accidentally formatted and reinstalled over, it pulled up about a dozen FAT32 partitions prior to that one. I thought only the government and companies like OnTrack had the technology to pull off this kind of recovery. Wow.
This software is worth every penny of the $30 registration fee.
exzyle2k, dinner is on me if we ever end up in the same city. Thanks a million!
[By: RiffRaff / 2007-07-01]
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My pleasure to help you Riff... I haven't had too much experience with it, but Data Forensics is what I want to ultimately pursue, so when I saw your post yesterday I was eager to get someone else's opinion on it. Glad to be of assistance! -exzyle2k
I'll give you a definite opinion once I get the databases back on the drive and see if they pull up properly, but by all indications it's recovering everything from the client's drive and copying them to mine. Then I'll burn a CD of them and go from there. Might take a couple of days, but I'll let you know. - RiffRaff
Ahem, what's the name of the software? When I first saw this post I thought it was about Enzyte... no wonder Riff is smiling. :) -Mushroom
I have to take sides with Mushroom -- this sounds like a utility that many of us could use. What is it? -Captain Trips
Restorer2000 according to the comments in Riff's tech rule. -ShiftedBeef
No! My secret path to fame is no longer secret! But yes, it's Restorer2000. http://www.restorer2000.com/ -exzyle2k
Customer's database restored with no data loss. Absolutely amazing. Will post details in the forums. -RiffRaff
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2.
rant
why does every moron think they need a wireless network i talk to a guy today i ask " is you modem on or off" he says " i'm not a technical person i don't understand those terms" you don't understand on and off please take your wireless router back to the geek squad and see if they will give you a gun [By: bradleyshaz / 2007-07-01]
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I like it even more when they "don't have a modem". -Seamus
A "favorite" of mine, is the companies that handout wireless Router/modem combos.
Had a guy log into his, and completely fubar it, then call me to try to fix it. sheesh refered him to his ISP. -SimianMilitant
SM, the ISP will not be able to support in any way, shape, or form that piece of hardware, nor any piece of equipment that didn't originally come from them. The proper referral would be either the manufacturer or the person's IT support department/person who supplied it. -BayouTech
BT, when SM said "companies that handout wireless Router/modem combos", I'm under the impression that "companies" was a reference to the ISPs that provide equipment. This is common practice here in the UK. -lineswine
I've seen Sprint do this for their DSL here in the US, too, hand out the modem-router combos, that is. -NightSteel
AT&T does, that's what they sent us a few months ago. It does wired and wireless, and has 8 ports on the wired. -ManyHats
We have a number of ATT DSL customers who have been issued modem/router combos by ATT. PITA they are b/c we end up having to put the co lappy in the router's DMZ in order to get our VPN to work. -purplelinguist
rant - Why do people post without using punctuation? -JTSBrown
I support a certain brand of router/modem combos. Its not bad. Limited scope of support. -adarklite
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3.
how not to use a cryo cooled laser drive
i was working for a company as a repair and service tech. we had a call out to a business in the central part of texas to repair a mainframe. upon arriving i noticed that the cryo pump was running full tilt. i asked why and was told that due to the heat in the area that it was felt by their own i.t. person not tech. it would be better to keep the system as cold a possible. seeing no harm i went about my work. there i.t. person turned out to be a 65 year old very nice lady. she was the only one at the company that had any knowledge of computers she had worked on the old eniac systems. i was very impressed i asked her what was the problem with the computer system and she told me that it had gotten slower and semed to no longer want to hold anymore data. i checked the hard drives and the onboard system storage and found they were all full. i asked her when was the last time they had backed up to the laser drives. she looked at me very puzzled and asked what laser drives? i walked over to a very old looking but large laserdrive or optical storage drive unit. i showed her the name on it and explained that this was what i was talkng about. she proceed to open it and remove 6 cases of soda some packages of meat and a loaf of bread. i nearly fell over i asked very nicely what was that stuff doing in there. she said in a very nice tone. well they gave us everything we need for the company and they even threw what i thought was this fancy fridge. needless to say she need a new optical drive and a new fridge.
(post script) i found out a few years ago that this lady had passed away. Going to her service her coworkers had rememered what had happened that day and still laughed at both they way i looked and her horror that her fancy fridge was not for food storage.[By: bk1knight / 2007-07-01]
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Ok, I don;t know how to do it other than say..... 8-O -ShujinTribble
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4.
Remembering the ads [ot]
Do you remember those ads for different computers and periferials? http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=printArticleBasic&articleId=9023960 How about 80MB for $12000, minimum quantity 40pcs (if i understood it right)? or http://www.tecnorantes.com/wp-content/sega1.jpg ... BTW which one of you were into THIS commercial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ApypJw-JAI (youtube) <eg>? [By: Dr Jerkyl / 2007-07-02]
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I was helping a friend move about 5 yrs ago and some of his stuff was wrapped in old Fry's electronics ads from the early 80's. We had a good laugh looking at what 10k would get you then and now. -Starfury
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6.
Leave 'em hanging
Let me preface this with the disclosure that I'm not ranting about all onsite techs. If you work for an ISP, please feel free to clarify for me.
Our customer calls in needing help getting our system to connect to his DSL. He has a tech onsite from $ISP and they've just replaced the router. I get on with the tech and he tells me they've set everything back up the way it was, but our equipment won't communicate. I checked and could communicate to everything except the router and a Windows machine connected to it instead of our switch. He gives me an IP address that's a COMPLETELY different scheme from what we use and I pointed out that's not the same scheme they were using before. Tech assures me it was and confirms the Windows system connects fine with it. Therefore the problem is on my server.
I ask for the LAN IP on the router and he gives me a 192 scheme which is what we needed. He then gives me another address as the "static IP" and when I asked if that was the external address he said YES. Lather, rinse, repeat.
The tech then tells me that their equipment works and since its working they are leaving. Keep in mind, the only reason our customer has DSL is because of OUR equipment. I know my equipment works and the only thing that has changed is their router. He'll have none of it though and walked out. In the end, I found that there was a Linksys connected between our switch and the Netopia that just required a quick power cycle. Everything kicked back on after that.
What really gets me is that the ISP tech left the customer down. He basically told me to shove off its not their problem. In this case, it really wasn't, nor was it ours. The customer put that equipment in place, but the tech never once mentioned it being there just talked about our switch and it not working on his Netopia. I also found despite his claim, the Netopia IP was a 72 scheme, way off from what he kept claiming it was. Still though, why leave your customer like that? The whole point of having your service is to help run his business. If part of that is not working and you have someone helping with that, why bail on them? [By: CelticSkyhawk / 2007-07-02]
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Ok.. Maybe it's just me... but when I get a caller on a $Hardware issue, I start making an ascii diagram in the call note so I know RIGHT where everything is. [WALL]---cable---[MODEM]---cat5---[4PortRouter]===[comp1]===[comp2]===[comp3]---[comp4] You get the idea. Once you have THAT in place, you can Terminal LART to your heart's content. Have fun, next time. -ShujinTribble
I get calls from onsite techs who have never *seen* the guts of our computers. It gets disasterously amusing when they decide to admit this in front of customers. -56Kdaytrader
Not an onsite tech but at $BigISP our techs are told not to touch anything that isn't our equipment. If they break it it comes out of their paycheck. -adarklite
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7.
Asset management
So despite some of the nonsense and circus that has been my life for the past couple of years, one of the things that has made the waiting easier has been my current job. I'm still with the same helpdesk and contract, now off the phones (except in the busiest of queues, no big deal) doing service order entry. I'm pretty damn fortunate to have this, as I can work from home and will likely start doing so almost full time in a month or so when I'm done setting up my place to work remotely.
While not quite as technical as the helpdesk aspect, the technical background definitely helps with special cases. The new role also puts me in contact with some of the more interesting names around.
In tracking orders we move items between inventory and the user setup locations. If there's a problem we have to return the ticket to another queue to correct (e.g. user name not found, 10-digit asset number incorrect, etc). One such item had me blinking today:
Added by the agent originally rejecting it:
"Jon Holmes is not in the database yet"
Added by the asset management team:
"Jon Holmes is now in the physical database"
O.o
He wouldn't be the first person to make a minor change in name for some reason. - And I think that may qualify for a '10-digit asset'...
[By: teivrann / 2007-07-02]
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Jon Holmes added by the "asset management" team. (snicker) -FixitWench
"Jon Holmes is an asset." ... wait, what did you call him?! ;-) -TheGhost
Asset - is that what you call a pygmy donkey? -dogmu
Bow-chicka-wowwow -56Kdaytrader
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8.
Self-LART= burning cheeks
So...remember me bitching about having to set up people last thing on Friday? Generally I don't copy accounts in AD, but I was In A Hurry. So I copied an account for three new people..forgetting that the old account was being forwarded to the CFO. Fast forward to today, and the CFO is getting three newbies emails delivered to his inbox :D *slinks away*[By: Elfling / 2007-07-02]
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I wonder how many of the newbs are subscribed to the daily bondage pron newsletter... -Learyban
Do you want it correct, or do you want it NOW? Pick one. -evolvedstarfish
That's my sig! "Good, Fast, Cheap: Pick any two" (RFC 1925 - 7(a) ) -CTYankee
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9.
Month End Close... again... damn... pt2
Going on hour 12... my brain has melted... I can feel it oozing out of my right ear; I have blisters on the fingertips of my left hand from the keyboard; I started seeing things about an hour ago... envisioning myself throttling the clients who call in wanting me to literally do their job for them, (me: "print these two reports and compare them, they will show you which patient is making your report a few days off" client:"I'm not doing that, it'll take too long an I need to get out of here, you guys can do it for us, right?") my shift is over in 8 minutes... there's large bottle of 90 proof with my name on it in my freezer... I keep thinking that I'm dreaming about it, then I realize that I'm wide awake... oh $diety... I can't feel my kjh;aoiuaw894t-0-------............................................[By: TechnoTherapist / 2007-07-02]
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"I need to get out of here, you guys can do it for us, right?" "Sure, but based on all of the other people also looking to slough off their work on us, your end-of-month reports should be done in about 78 days. Your choice, when your bosses ask us about them, and we explain that you decided you didn't have time for your work..." -Voz
They'd better let you go when your shift is over. I've been where you are. I know whereof I speak. -56Kdaytrader
Why certainly I'll do your job for you... and F*x*r it up royally in the process. Wonder what your boss is gonna make of that?
-LeopardMadcat
Of course I will do your job for you, starting as soon as your pay cheque clears in MY bank account. -Zoomer
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11.
I've felt like this often, but..
...this is the first time I've seen a LOLcat act it! We has HeadDesk! [ http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/headdesk.jpg ]. [ http://icanhascheezburger.com ] for the cheeseburger-almost-costing-the-job link... YKWIM? And sorry for the (lack of) formatting, no star yet...[By: ZorglubZ / 2007-07-02]
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Is it just me or did that look suspiciously like a rabbit doing the head/desk? Ether? One of your relatives who couldn't contact an ether supplier? -Grembo
Well, if you want lol cats try www.macrocats, live journal has a lolcats communitye and dropline.net has a few hundred or so. Ok, so I don't spend all day reading tech manuals, lolcats are da bestest!! -frprinterwiz
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12.
Cartoon for the day
http://www.comics.com/creators/othercoast/archive/othercoast-20070703.html A tech support cartoon with a twist.[By: ecoli / 2007-07-03]
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its a conspiracy they do it to stop us calling -r3tude
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13.
Hang on, we already discussed this
Background story:Luser gets replacement mobo/CPU and RAM Sept 06. New story: Luser drops off desktop with failed HDD, We ring them back to advise the problem and cost to install new HDD/Windows install . Forensic recovery extra. Luser complains that they had a new "Hard Drive" last year. Luser politely advised that Hard Drive does not mean entire fucking computer and that the previous invoice was for Mb/CPU and RAM
Luser says OK just get it running which we did. Luser collects it and takes it home and calls to say none of their data is there... No shit Dick Tracey, failed HDD means your data has gone to god no matter how many ways we describe it. Yes.. AGAIN... We can recover it but it will cost you this amount & no it is not open to discussion. The really annoying part of this whole episode is that they bought 80gb notebook HDD in an external chassis for backing up, as well as installing DriveImageXML and instructing them in it's use, which they ignored entirely and draged/dropped mostly useless files to. Fuqem, if they can't help themselves then I WILL consider it money in the bank to recover. Forensic has been performed successfully and if they don't want their data then I will happily watch it delete.[By: Bloke / 2007-07-03]
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14.
those poms
Whilst I freely admit that we Aussies often have a bit of a laugh at our British friends ... well, who wouldn't when their best cricketer is Monty Sanger and their best tennis player is Tim Henman ... but anyway, just like to say how much I admire their "pluck" in the bad times, and I hope this car-bombing Glasgow shit is sorted and a evrrything settles down we are thinking of you .. that is all, resume normal programming now ...[By: macbeth / 2007-07-03]
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Oh Duh, I got that wrong ... Monty Panasar!!! Monty Sanger is a local radio person here in Perth , I think I need another drink! -macbeth
yeah that shit shocked me, i was away in York when it hit and went home the Newcastle-under-lyme then heard 2 people had been arrested from there as i was driving back. its disgusting, they rent out houses in really nice areas not what you expect at all, rather clever of them aswell to use medical system. it will get where you can't trust anyone soon and the people that will suffer are the british Muslims. -r3tude
I had the same thought recently. Britons seem to bear great trouble with great grace - a combination, I think, of lessons learned in WWII and from the fecking weather. -Learyban
agreed. my family and I have you in our prayers, although they seem to be to two different gods but that's another story entirely. -AdmiralLaurie
Thanks, Macbeth - it's not exactly a bundle of laughs over here right now, what with the terrorist car-bombs, a fair slice of northern England flooded, Wimbledon rained off YET again, and Donny Osmond over here. :-) <wanders off, whistling "Always look on the bright side of life..." > -Gromit
Was rather spooky for myself, cos I'd been to London for the first time ever on Thrusday night, and had dinner in the steak house on the corner about 20 yards from where the first bomb was found. That kinda threw me when I looked at the news the next morning! -ElPolloDiablo
every time I hear somthing about a bombing there I cant help but get this image in my head: Two high class men sitting at a cafe sipping tea, a flaming car goes by explodes a few feet away. debris everywhere, one guy puts his tea down, and says " Dear me I think we have just been bombed" The other says "Yes, quite" 1st guy again "Shall we alert the constable?" 2nd "Let us finish our tea first" All jokes aside I hope everyone is ok -neuman1812
There is a certain level of maturity that you guys have over there that a number of Americans seem to be missing (*cough* president). If a flaming car had rolled through La Guardia following a car bomb discovery we'd be increasing troop numbers in Iraq and herding Arab-Americans into prison camps. If you guys are scared, I'm glad you not acting stupid because of it. -YourLastHope
Hope they get all of those bastards. -56Kdaytrader
They strike me as doing a damn fine kickass job of rounding up those responsible. -MadJack
From my perspective, if we start to panic, the terrorists/criminals have "won". After all that is their goal. Oh & being thought of as a martyr, humping 67 virgins, being able to get rat-arsed drunk etc, etc. -lineswine
One advantage Brits have over us is that you've been through this before, and you tend to remember your history lessons a little better. A few car bombs are beer farts compared to Hitler's Blitzkrieg. The only enemy bombing on American soil prior to the first WTC attack in '93 was Pearl Harbor. You've had the opportunity to put things in perspective long before now, and the rationality coming from it serves you well. Too bad we don't have more of that over here. -MadJack
It's unfortunately second time around for some of us. I think a lot of us got too used to it first time round to get too panicked now. -Loon
Quote: From my perspective, if we start to panic, the terrorists/criminals have "won". After all that is their goal. Oh & being thought of as a martyr, humping 67 virgins, being able to get rat-arsed drunk etc, etc. –lineswine Unquote:
As a member of a “western civilization”, maybe lineswines comments above are the reason that we are so hated by these bastards. We don’t have to die and go to heaven to do all of the above! Love my beer, enjoy making a spectacle of myself, and wish I had the virgins!
-fargle
I don't reckon we have anything to really worry about anyway. The attacks so far have been indescribably incompetent - the first two were painfully obvious and were discovered before they could be let off, and the third which *did* get let off injured only the driver and caused some comparatively minor fire damage. They don't even seem to know how to make a viable bomb. -Chromatix
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15.
So I'm connecting our net to our new T1-
and take our router out, connect to the console port, and proceed to configure router. Doesn't go well. Call $ISP tech support who tell me router is preconfigured and pw locked.
Long story short, they say I screwed up the configuration so we need to pay to have a tech come out, they cannot tell me the config settings because they pw lock the router so only their techs can change the settings.
Apparently I inadvertently IGNORED THEIR BANNER HACKED THEIR PASSWORD AND SCREWED UP THE DAMNED ROUTER. </rant> [By: Learyban / 2007-07-03]
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WRONG! I *will* know and configure the equipment that is in my office. OR you will set that router to be a bridge to MY router, that *I* configured the way *I* want it. -Divinar
reset switch? -evolvedstarfish
"Ok fine, Im getting a new router that I have control over, if that doesnt work then Im going with a different service." -Belunar
That's gotta say something about their security if you were able to guess their password though. -YourLastHope
if it's a cisco router, it's possible to reset the local pw -McSmiley
I'm with Divinar on this. If I don't have full access and control over the equipment in my office, it won't BE in my office.
-LeopardMadcat
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16.
Sexism Rant No1
I've just realised that before I submit this story I should point out that I'm female. I work part-time as an IT tech and part-time as a parts fitter at a national company that sells various car and bike things, whilst I train to be a properly qualified tech. (I got the tech job at $company because I was the only member of staff with enough computer knowledge and enough insanity to do it.) This is the kind of thing that I experience on a day-to-day basis, both when I'm sysadmining and when I'm parts fitting.
Sample conversation heard today:
"Hello, $company $location Parts Desk. This is katinahat speaking. How may I help you?"
Customer: Are you sure this is the parts desk?
(No, not really. There's only a massive fscking sign above my head that says "Parts Desk", and my badge only says "katinahat, Parts Fitter"
Me: Yes, sir. How may I help you today?
Customer: Oh. OK. Can I talk to a fitter please?
Me: Sure, I'll handle your call. What would you like me to help you with?
Customer: No, I'd like to talk to a fitter, please.
Me: I am a fitter, and I'm perfectly qualified to handle your call.
Customer: Well, I'd like to talk to the Supervisor on the Parts Desk please.
Me: I'm sorry sir, that's me. Would you like to speak to Sam? He's my deputy fitter.
(He's male, and I'm sure that even though he's less qualifed and less experienced than me he could do a better job, simply because he has a penis.)
Him: No, that's OK, I'll go to a store where they have competent staff.
I hung up on him at that point. I had a similar call last week from the boss of another store in the area wanting to talk to the sysadmin and wondering why he kept getting put through to my office. (I say office. I mean cupboard.) It's just the rudeness that gets me. And the refusal to treat me like an intelligent human being who does, in fact, know what she is talking about. Even though it's a stereotypically male career area. I know that this story isn't about IT, but it well could be. [By: katinahat / 2007-07-03]
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Don't worry, your story's related enough. If you're getting that condescending attitude from your own company, then try making some waves. Go to the bosses of people who denigrate you. Make complaints to HR. -NightSteel
if he's too small minded to see past his train of though that if your a girl, your not competent, (which i know full well you are more than) then its ultimately his loss and you shouldn't let it get you down -psp159
so what guy posted this story for you? <is there a male only lart shelter?> -neuman1812
I get the same thing on a daily basis and I HATE it -tixarah
http://www.queenofwands.net/d/20051109.html -NightSteel
Unfortunatly, I cant think of anything to help on the customer side, thats a bit harder to control. The coworker/boss side though, definatly document and bring to HR. Thats a big nono regardless of gender, etc., etc. In the meentime, have a big plate of mood enhancing virtual chocolate. Id send real, unfortunatly teleporter tech doesnt exist yet though. -Belunar
Hoo Boy! Been there, done that! Among other things, I'm the supervisor for the help desk and I answer overflow when they're busy. Took a call from a customer having issues connecting to his reports via our web-based service (corrupt digital certificate). He refused to talk to me and specifically said he wanted to talk to a man. I put one of my male employees on the phone, who listened to the customer's problem and promptly said - I'll need to have you talk to my boss who is the only one who can help you with that specific issue (little white lie), and then he handed the phone back to me! Got lots of stammering from the customer, but, gee, I was able to put my "female-ness" aside long enough to resolve his problem! ;) -CathyV
Welcome to having tatas in the tech field. Chin up- the good people don't care, and the ones who do aren't worth your time. -Elfling
You should've strangled him on principle for that. I know quite a lot of female techs, and dated a few as well, and like you, they know their stuff. -elcapitane
Men like that are to stuped and don't want to be shown up by a woman. they think that if someone found out they would get the "you were beat up by a girl" attitude from their male shovinistic friends. and yes i am a guy and don't mind haveing to be put in my place by a girl. -compbrat
Hmm... Tech knowledge and boobies... Fantastic combo... Remember, for every nutstain and asswipe that you deal with who thinks you can't do your job because of your gender, there's a dozen or more people who actually seek out female techs because they just seem easier to talk to. -exzyle2k
*hugs* I've gotten that a couple of times when I was still doing computer help desk... But you're among friends here, and I can truthfully say that "our" TSC guys are not sexist pigs, though they appreciate a fine mind in a fine body... ;) But they appreciate the mind, which is what counts! :) -taieena
I'm second-level support, and female. There have been a couple of calls where the female first-level tech was *so* glad to get me as her escalation with some chauvanist pig on her phone. -56Kdaytrader
Sometimes I read stories like this and wonder if I'm really in 2007 or if I dreamed the last 35 years. How long does will it take these lunkheads to get with the program, and why do the rest of us have to wait around for them to catch up? -thx1138
OK, I've got to comment on this. I am a Network Admin; I have had several techs working under me through the years. All of the guy techs I have had working for me no one has ever had a problem with, but the one female tech I hired the male upper management had a problem with. I couldn't understand what the problem was until the manger involved made his comment that woman doesn’t know how to do that job. I was pissed but couldn't say anything at the time, she was actually the best worker/Tech I had ever hired. That manager had her laid off just because she was female in my opinion, but I can't prove it. I still miss her and we continue to stay in contact. -Gunpe
Oh, by the way, I helped her get the job she now has by giving her a very good review. She deserved that. -Gunpe
Gender? Hell, I happy if I can just get someone with a pulse. Wait, maybe that didn't come out right. -Stryker One
I'll second the in the good sence stryker -compbrat
I've worked with a lot of male and female techs and have to say that the female techs are better than the male techs on average. And I have encountered the other side of the bias as a nursery worker for church. "You're a guy you don't know how to take care of children." Never mind that I'd been doing that since I was 12. -adarklite
If you are an intelligent woman and you want to get those patronising bastards back here is what you do. Learn how to play poker. Then they will try to treat you like an idiot, and you will take their money. The ones who don't think you are an idiot and who you can't beat might make good friends. (Think about it). -Gerund
Just found this site, but I gotta say that I know the feeling on this one. I have had a few different helpdesk contract that I have worked on, and have gotten my share of "OK, Honey, Can you get me to a real tech now?" (actual quote from one caller when I was working on a second level/critical support). Umm last I checked, this wasn't the 19th Century and women can be as qualified in the tech field as men; not barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen cooking up dinner for a housefull of curtain-climbers. -TechieCin
OK, it works like this for me - I don't care what is in your underwear, as long as you can do the job. IF, however, you happen to be female & therefore possess a fine pair of Boobies, I'm not likely to complain! (BFEG) Welcome to TSC. -lineswine
Thanks for all the comments :)
I'm planning to go to my boss today and ask him exactly what the hell he's letting the rest of the staff play at (in politer terms, of course). Oh, and if I were to play poker with the guys I work with they'd insist it was strip poker. Not going there. -katinahat
"those that mind don't matter and those that matter don't mind" can;t remember who said it but its the best saying in the world. around my area it is very sexist in IT, there is just no women in I.T round here well and the companies i've seen. all i can say is i respect all you girls working in I.T for continuing into the career through all the sexist bullshit and stereotypes. keep up the LARTing -r3tude
r3tude, I believe that quote is from Dr. Seuss. -ThinTheHerd
here's a good story for you: http://notalwaysright.com/the-estrogen-empire-strikes-back/489 -Erictheblue
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17.
It's never good when...
3 Team leads and an HR drone are sitting there pouring over our company handout on policy and procedure (we call it a parachute). You just know that someone higher up ticked them off and they need something to use that's written in stone to get rid of them. I'm thinking either the Quality Lead or one of our Operations Managers..could be another Team Lead but I doubt it. I keep hearing snatches of convo over the amount of time at the coffee shop and how they are never around, always off doing something non work related. Unfortunately they just walked by complaining they couldn't find anything written about whatever they were researching. Could be an interesting few days here![By: frprinterwiz / 2007-07-03]
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ehhhh-huhuhuhu... eeeeehhh---- huhuhuhu.. You said, "snatched". (Ok, fine.. I got nuthin'.) -ShujinTribble
Coffee shop? You have a coffee shop? I'd settle for a descant lunch counter but that is not happening. LOL (We are really in the sticks if you know what I mean.) -Gunpe
Everyday seems like a new revelation there. Im spending my next two days off making sure my resume is up to date lol. -LassTech
parachute??? Sitel by any chance? -THETECHFROMHELL
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18.
Why (H)elstra Hell
Downunder there is giant near monopoly that controls telecommunications. For reasons of liability, we will refer to them as (H)elstra. I get my phone service through (H)elstra, and my ADSL through iiNet. Last night at 10pm my ADSL service was cut off. I called iiNet to see if there was a service outage or any other known problem. The bill was paid the day before and there are no arrears. The service checked out as far as the DSLAM at the local exchange. (H)elstra's territory. When checking, I plugged the phone into the phone socket by-passing the inline filter. Something is missing. There is NO ADSL signal on the line. (H)elstra has cut off the signal at the exchange. I called iiNet to report the issue. A fault log has been arranged with (H)elstra, who with infinite wisdom has been cutting service tech numbers while giving senior management massive bonuses. Not only will this take up to a week to fix, but I've been allowed the privilege of having to pay $105 for (H)elstra to fix the problem they caused in the first place. In this time, I'm paying for an internet service I cannot use. Is there any better reason why (H)elstra should not control infrastructure?[By: Wraith556 / 2007-07-03]
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Ask iiNet for a rate cut since its a reported issue that you cannot control? Sure they can't either, but as you said, you are paying for a service you can't access. -evolvedstarfish
"iiNet"? What, one "i" just isn't good enough? -Stryker One
Isn't there some law down there against a company charging you for their mistake? -Captain Trips
(H)elstra is above the law. They routinely ignore the communications ombudsman, who is the highest authority. They will make certain it is my mistake. -Wraith556
I used to be connected through their ADSL. Always (every week) there was at least one day of downtime. Their authentication computer crashed all the time and their help line always blamed your settings, even when it was obviously their fault. I stopped using them several years ago and now am connected via cable to the Singapore owned company. In 3 years they have been down twice. Once from 11:00 PM to 3:00 AM and once during the afternoon when they had a total cable failure and had to replace some major equipment locally. So (A) every week or (B) twice in 3 years. Choose one. Option (B) is less money too. -Gerund
Telstra might own the network but at least when you call iinet you get a knowledgeable tech who can answer the questions and either resolve the problem or escalate with limited fucking around. I must follow up on making a buck out of reselling their services but for the last 3 years they have only proved their worth. Simple maths from historic billing: Telstra ADSL+line rental+calls+512/256 ADSL = $350.00-$400.00/month. iinet ADSL2+ + line rental+VoIP call costs+PSTN call costs+ 7mb/s avg $125.00/month.
Don't buy Telstra shares any time soon
-Bloke
Gerund, I've had a few outages with iiNet, but their techs will admit there's a problem, unlike other ISPs who will step through the flowchart like a drone. An ex-employer used "Floptus" and we would have service dropouts 4-5 times per week of 2-5 hours each. No explanation was ever given. And this was the CORPORATE level of service. When their Bangalore Script Monkeys would call in the evening, I would use this against them asking if that was their corporate level of service, what must their domestic one be like. They stopped calling after that. -Wraith556
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19.
Grocery store id10T
Not too long ago, I was in queue at the local grocery store. Got to the checkout lane. I normally use the self-checkout registers, simply because the cashiers at that store are slower than Christmas and due to my prior experience in my pre-techie days as a cashier, I am much faster. Anyway, was standing behind this lady who just didn't have a clue....she followed the on screen directions to enter a code number for a certain item and fat-fingered it (but the code is printed on the item in pretty large type), of course, the wrong code got entered and she was charged for the wrong item. She did this 4 or 5 times before asking for help. I looked at it, figured out what she had done, and we managed to get a supervisor over there to straighten the whole mess out. Her comment to me after that was "And I thought computers were supposed to make things so much easier..." Yes they do. ID10Ts like her (who could have either gone to one of the other registers where cashiers were, or actaully PUNCHED IN THE RIGHT CODE) have always and will always over-complicate the situation.[By: tech4alltrades / 2007-07-03]
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NO SOUP FOR YOU!! -unrenowned
You should have said: "No, Ma'am: computers don't make things easier; only faster. Why, single person with a computer can make as many mistakes as it used to take a whole OFFICE full of people to make before computers!" -LoTech
Garbage in, garbage out. -lineswine
i love those self service chackouts in my local tescos or argos in the UK. Garranteed xmas comes theres ques out of the door, BUT the self service where you have to actually press buttons are completely empty -r3tude
Pray tell, Mr. Babbit... -linuxmatt
What I can't stand is when the Wal-Marts in my area decide to shrot-staff the regular checkouts, and then ALL of the Self-checks are either shutdown for the night, or down due to computer problems. The only option you have is going through the regular checkouts with 10 people with buggies full of all kinds of things when you only need to checkout with 5 items. -ThatDevilTech
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20.
Happy Birthday, USA (OTNT)
..and a special "thank you" to the people from my home state of New York (formally New Amsterdam) for standing up with the courage of their convictions:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
Happy 231st... and thank you.
[By: ShujinTribble / 2007-07-04]
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Here's a site that goes over what happened to some of those who signed the Declaration of Independence: It is humbling. http://www.exit109.com/~gosta/signers.sht -adarklite
(With regard to the posted link) "We hold these truths to be self-evident:
That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights". But of course, slaves weren't considered to be human & therefore the above fine words didn't apply to them.
As to "What kind of men were [the signers]? Mainly the ones with most to benefit from having their own govt. Even now the sort of people who become politicians tend to be lawyers/prosperous merchants/wealthy.
Happy 4th July. -lineswine
uh-huh. I just literally fell out of bed. so in my mind it's still not the fourth until I've had my morning cup of tea and mug of coffee. -AdmiralLaurie
that site is quite informative, me being British aswell god we were twats :-) -r3tude
oh and happy birthday USA!!! -r3tude
<da> Many of the signers from the north were fervent believers in freedom for slaves, and felt Independence would not be taken seriously until we did away with it; among them one very intelligent statesman by the name of Benjamin Franklin. (Side historical note: one very solid reason, among many, why the Confederacy could never lay claim to serious legitimacy, because of their backward desire to maintain said institution.) </da>
-MadJack
Happy Birthday, America! Nothing like a neighborhood parade and carnival to celebrate it, too. America gave a lot of the kids I grew up with a childhood, and a chance to end up successful doctors and lawyers, rather than starved to death in some "re-education" camp. I love this place. -56Kdaytrader
I love the link...I've started my first chain email in regards to it, but I think I can let myself live, given the nature of said email. And in closing, AMERICA, FUCK YEAH!!!! -beerman
RedFaery and I celebrated by going to a water park, getting badly sunburned, and now turning in early while the neighbors set off a couple hundred dollars of fireworks. Only in America! -ActingUpAgain
According to Snopes, the story is partially true, partially embelished. http://www.snopes.com/history/american/pricepaid.asp -BayouTech
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