Dear Users… (A thread for Sysadmin, Technical Support, and Help Desk people) Part 10 - Page 47

arthwollipot · 2nd February 2023, 05:10 PM

Originally Posted by TragicMonkey

It can't just be sex and crossbow hunting wild boar in the forest.

To be fair, that covers a lot of ground.

Wudang · 2nd February 2023, 05:14 PM

Originally Posted by arthwollipot

To be fair, that covers a lot of ground.

For sure, wild boar have quite big ranges.

TragicMonkey · 2nd February 2023, 05:23 PM

Originally Posted by Wudang

For sure, wild boar have quite big ranges.

I say! You shouldn't be looking at their *blushes* ranges!

novaphile · 2nd February 2023, 06:25 PM

Originally Posted by arthwollipot

Sharepoint very much depends on how it's set up. It can be set up so that it works excellently, if the engineers setting it up know what they're doing. If they don't, it can be a pile of dog's breakfast after it's come out of the dog's other end.

My favouritest thing, is that new admins seem to like deleting all the existing content, and don't seem to understand why that's a bad idea.

Thank us that we had Confluence on site to fall back on every time that happened.

Screeetch! All documentation has to be on Sharepoint!!! Screeeeeeetch!

Yes, we keep putting it there, and dickhead admins keep deleting it.

"Oh those projects are finished so we deleted all the documentation."

"Derp. Derp. Derp. Derp."

(Let's not talk about all the different instances of Sharepoint because of 'special' managers, all of which become instantly inaccessible to anyone at a drop of a hat.)

arthwollipot · 2nd February 2023, 08:04 PM

*recorded message*: Thank you for calling the job followup line. Please have your User ID and your job number ready.

*five minute wait during which the recorded message repeats four more times*

*me*: Good afternoon, job followup line, can I have your User ID please?

*them*: Uh, yeah, hang on... wait a minute...

*me*: ...

*me*: ...

*them*: Okay, is it... uh... no, wait, is it BLBLBBRT?

*me*: Your user ID consists of your first and surname initials followed by a 4-digit number.

*them*: Oh, uh... I'm not sure... wait, hang on...

*me*: ...

*me*: ...

*them*: Uh, okay, is it BLBLBBRT?

*me*: Your user ID consists of...

*them* No, wait, not that, it's, um, hang on... uh... is it AB1234?

*me*: Thank you. Can I get the job number that you'd like me to look up?

*them*: ...uh, wait, is it... uh, hang on.

*me*: ...

*me*: ...

*them*: Let me see... uh, wait, uh, I don't think I have one of those.

*me*: Thank you, I just palmed my face inside out. Have a nice afternoon.

*click*

The preceding transcript may be slightly exaggerated for comedic effect. But not by much.

TragicMonkey · 2nd February 2023, 09:00 PM

Originally Posted by arthwollipot

*recorded message*: Thank you for calling the job followup line. Please have your User ID and your job number ready.

*five minute wait during which the recorded message repeats four more times*

*me*: Good afternoon, job followup line, can I have your User ID please?

*them*: Uh, yeah, hang on... wait a minute...

Those are the people who wait in line at the fast food place for twenty minutes then haven't thought of what they want to order when they finally get to the front of the line.

arthwollipot · 2nd February 2023, 09:25 PM

Originally Posted by TragicMonkey

Those are the people who wait in line at the fast food place for twenty minutes then haven't thought of what they want to order when they finally get to the front of the line.

You know exactly what I'm talking about.

a_unique_person · 2nd February 2023, 10:18 PM

Originally Posted by novaphile

My favouritest thing, is that new admins seem to like deleting all the existing content, and don't seem to understand why that's a bad idea.

Thank us that we had Confluence on site to fall back on every time that happened.

Screeetch! All documentation has to be on Sharepoint!!! Screeeeeeetch!

Yes, we keep putting it there, and dickhead admins keep deleting it.

"Oh those projects are finished so we deleted all the documentation."

"Derp. Derp. Derp. Derp."

(Let's not talk about all the different instances of Sharepoint because of 'special' managers, all of which become instantly inaccessible to anyone at a drop of a hat.)

So it's content management procedures that are the problem, not the product.

arthwollipot · 2nd February 2023, 11:43 PM

Originally Posted by a_unique_person

So it's content management procedures that are the problem, not the product.

The fact that it's possible to set Sharepoint up so that it works well should indicate that pretty clearly.

catsmate · 3rd February 2023, 05:42 AM

Originally Posted by TragicMonkey

Never trust Outlook. According to Outlook my job title is the one I had four years ago, my desk is located on a floor that doesn't exist in the building I worked in five years ago, and my phone number is a landline to the building I worked in ten years ago.

And that's the way you like it?

TragicMonkey · 3rd February 2023, 06:34 PM

Sigh. "I don't understand why the Apples report doesn't exactly match the Oranges report! Please explainnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!"

Gord_in_Toronto · 3rd February 2023, 07:09 PM

Originally Posted by TragicMonkey

Sigh. "I don't understand why the Apples report doesn't exactly match the Oranges report! Please explainnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!"

I was once responsible for IT for a major insurance system. We produced two monthly summary reports. First, the total value of all claims paid as of the date of the claim and, second, the total dollars paid in a given month. I swear half my time was explaining why the two numbers differed. (The second half was spent on why the number is the first report was bigger than what we had reported in the previous cycle.)

TragicMonkey · 3rd February 2023, 08:19 PM

Originally Posted by Gord_in_Toronto

I was once responsible for IT for a major insurance system. We produced two monthly summary reports. First, the total value of all claims paid as of the date of the claim and, second, the total dollars paid in a given month. I swear half my time was explaining why the two numbers differed. (The second half was spent on why the number is the first report was bigger than what we had reported in the previous cycle.)

I was once called upon to explain discrepancy between two separate runnings of data concerning patient ages. I had to explain, very slowly and carefully, that during the interval between runs all of the patients continued to age and some of them had had birthdays.

JimOfAllTrades · 3rd February 2023, 08:50 PM

Originally Posted by Gord_in_Toronto

I was once responsible for IT for a major insurance system. We produced two monthly summary reports. First, the total value of all claims paid as of the date of the claim and, second, the total dollars paid in a given month. I swear half my time was explaining why the two numbers differed. (The second half was spent on why the number is the first report was bigger than what we had reported in the previous cycle.)

One of my customers had gotten a new bookkeeper and few months later she called me. She said that for the last three months the payments received on accounts was equal to the previous month's billing, but this month the payments received were low.

I tried telling her that while it's good that people had been paying their bills promptly and that over time payments would be expected to average out to pretty much equal billing, there was no guarantee of that in any given time period.

I spent about 20 minutes trying to convince her that those numbers didn't have to match, and in fact it would unusual for them match exactly. (It turned out they hadn't matched exactly, but actually had been pretty close). I walked her through the process of sending monthly statements and late notices, and I think at that point the light dawned.

Norman Alexander · 5th February 2023, 03:41 PM

Originally Posted by JimOfAllTrades

One of my customers had gotten a new bookkeeper and few months later she called me. She said that for the last three months the payments received on accounts was equal to the previous month's billing, but this month the payments received were low.

I tried telling her that while it's good that people had been paying their bills promptly and that over time payments would be expected to average out to pretty much equal billing, there was no guarantee of that in any given time period.

I spent about 20 minutes trying to convince her that those numbers didn't have to match, and in fact it would unusual for them match exactly. (It turned out they hadn't matched exactly, but actually had been pretty close). I walked her through the process of sending monthly statements and late notices, and I think at that point the light dawned.

HOW new was this person in that profession? Where was she educated in this? Surely this is BAU for accounting in practice?

JimOfAllTrades · 5th February 2023, 08:20 PM

Originally Posted by Norman Alexander

HOW new was this person in that profession? Where was she educated in this? Surely this is BAU for accounting in practice?

She was a temp brought in just to cover for a couple of weeks while the regular person was out sick, then kept on when the other person died rather suddenly.

I think it was more a case of she got dropped into a new situation and with software she had never seen before and was working off very incomplete notes. It was "run this report, do that, check those numbers" all without any real explanation of what anything was. She caught up pretty quickly, all things considered, but that was an odd bump in the road.

JoeMorgue · 10th February 2023, 09:01 AM

I'm going to invent time travel just so I can track down the first bored middle management type who said "Yah know what... all these cords look too messy I don't want to look at them" and remove them from the timeline.

You desk has zero cable management features, is mounted against the wall, takes up the whole length of the wall (it's not really even desk but more of a built in counter kinda thing) and you have every possible device known to man plugged into it. You're gonna see some cords.

Yes I can zip tie them and cable sleeve them, but you want everything on your desk rearraigned every 8 seconds.

And of course this desk is a cluttered nightmare of random just... stuff built over years.

Faydra · 13th February 2023, 11:52 AM

Dear User,

I know you are very upset that your file watcher job loses its connection when you have an outage, but truly this is the nature of outages.
I'm assure you I am not conspiring against you in any way though you seem to think so.

TragicMonkey · 13th February 2023, 12:34 PM

Originally Posted by Faydra

Dear User,

I know you are very upset that your file watcher job loses its connection when you have an outage, but truly this is the nature of outages.
I'm assure you I am not conspiring against you in any way though you seem to think so.

You weren't conspiring before, you mean. Now you can write a script that mimics an outage at random intervals, just for that one thing.

a_unique_person · 13th February 2023, 05:26 PM

Tell them it's working fine for everyone else.

Norman Alexander · 13th February 2023, 05:27 PM

Originally Posted by Faydra

Dear User,

I know you are very upset that your file watcher job loses its connection when you have an outage, but truly this is the nature of outages.
I'm assure you I am not conspiring against you in any way though you seem to think so.

You are going to have to send them a schedule of all unplanned outages.

Norman Alexander · 13th February 2023, 05:28 PM

Originally Posted by a_unique_person

Tell them it's working fine for everyone else.

Tell them it's working fine on your computer, so what's wrong with theirs?

arthwollipot · 13th February 2023, 05:36 PM

Dear user: your request is incoherent. Please resubmit when you have a clue.

Hellbound · 13th February 2023, 05:55 PM

I have a generic response that I copy and paste for those kinds of issues:

Dear user:

Please find the nearest fire, and die in it.

Thank you.

IT support.

ETA: On a serious note, I'm level 3 support now, so 90% of those I get to send back to the L1 helpdesk with a note "Improperly transferred to IAM Engineers. Routing to Service Desk for triage."

I love that

arthwollipot · 13th February 2023, 05:57 PM

I don't want them to die in a fire. I want them to have a clue.

Hellbound · 13th February 2023, 05:58 PM

Originally Posted by arthwollipot

I don't want them to die in a fire. I want them to have a clue.

Keep dreaming the impossible dream, arth. I can't help but have respect for a modern-day Don Quixote

We can't even get our Service Desk to have a clue most of the time, I gave up hope on users long ago

arthwollipot · 13th February 2023, 06:01 PM

Originally Posted by Hellbound

Keep dreaming the impossible dream, arth. I can't help but have respect for a modern-day Don Quixote

We can't even get our Service Desk to have a clue most of the time, I gave up hope on users long ago

The problem is that L1 Service Desk is an entry-level, passthrough job. People in that role generally don't last long enough to acquire clues. It really ought to be considered a skilled customer service position.

Yeah, that's another windmill I've been tilting at for years.

Hellbound · 13th February 2023, 06:09 PM

Originally Posted by arthwollipot

The problem is that L1 Service Desk is an entry-level, passthrough job. People in that role generally don't last long enough to acquire clues. It really ought to be considered a skilled customer service position.

Yeah, that's another windmill I've been tilting at for years.

Yeah, agreed. Our "veteran" helpdesk people are the ones that have ~4 to 6 months in position.

arthwollipot · 13th February 2023, 06:13 PM

Originally Posted by Hellbound

Yeah, agreed. Our "veteran" helpdesk people are the ones that have ~4 to 6 months in position.

It took me two years in a L1 position before I was promoted to L2.

TragicMonkey · 13th February 2023, 07:42 PM

Originally Posted by arthwollipot

I don't want them to die in a fire. I want them to have a clue.

The clue is located in the deepest part of the fire, of course!

Also the clue is poisoned.

TragicMonkey · 13th February 2023, 07:43 PM

Originally Posted by arthwollipot

It took me two years in a L1 position before I was promoted to L2.

I hope for your sake your career trajectory slows down a bit: L3 is on the opposite side of the sun!

arthwollipot · 13th February 2023, 07:44 PM

Originally Posted by TragicMonkey

I hope for your sake your career trajectory slows down a bit: L3 is on the opposite side of the sun!

Trust me, I don't have the technical skills or knowledge for an L3 position. My next step is management!

Wudang · 13th February 2023, 11:05 PM

Originally Posted by arthwollipot

Trust me, I don't have the technical skills or knowledge for an L3 position. My next step is management!

And the step after that is building a Death Star?

arthwollipot · 13th February 2023, 11:14 PM

Originally Posted by Wudang

And the step after that is building a Death Star?

It's my cunning plan.

arthwollipot · 14th February 2023, 07:28 PM

Things I Wish More People Understood #220: ZIPping files doesn't do what you think it does.

Most file types these days are already compressed as much as they can be. As a result, ZIPping them cannot compress them further. It is useful for containing a number of separate documents into a single file, but it will not make that file smaller than its components.

arthwollipot · 16th February 2023, 07:31 PM

Not that I'm complaining, because it's a nice easy job and it's a Friday afternoon. But I'm stuck on doing VoIP EANs (Exit Advice Notifications). Essentially, deleting people who have left the department off the phone system.

Problem ("problem") is that because of the mechanics of the way the workflows function, a lot of the tasks in the queue are redundant. Either they're for decommissioned service accounts that never had phone profiles in the first place, or they're the result of an automated garbage-collection system that is gathering up old accounts for people who are long gone and whose phone accounts have already been removed. This means that I have to open a task, check it, then mark it as skipped when it turns out that there's nothing to actually do. Again, and again, and again.

Not complaining. I believe that there are review processes underway that will reduce the amount of redundant work, but for now I'm rather enjoying it.

zooterkin · 17th February 2023, 01:49 AM

Originally Posted by arthwollipot

It took me two years in a L1 position before I was promoted to L2.

I spent my career moving in the opposite direction. I started off writing systems software and OS, and ended up supposedly at L3/L2 but with a manager expecting me to do effectively L1 work. I was not upset when he then decided to make me redundant.

JoeMorgue · 17th February 2023, 06:37 AM

Originally Posted by arthwollipot

Things I Wish More People Understood #220: ZIPping files doesn't do what you think it does.

Most file types these days are already compressed as much as they can be. As a result, ZIPping them cannot compress them further. It is useful for containing a number of separate documents into a single file, but it will not make that file smaller than its components.

Yeah outside a few weird off cases here and there ZIP and other popular archiving programs basically became "Bundle" applications far more than "Compression" applications at sound point in the early-mid 2010s.

And if we're being 100% honest again outside of a weird case here or there raw text files were really the only thing compression applications ever were really as useful as they made them out to be.

JoeMorgue · 17th February 2023, 06:40 AM

Originally Posted by Hellbound

Yeah, agreed. Our "veteran" helpdesk people are the ones that have ~4 to 6 months in position.

Well yeah because working a help desks sucks. You aren't going to find enough people who will want to or mentally/emotionally can do that job long enough to become that kind of good at at.

It's like saying "Yah know if we could just keep a 'Guy Who Gets Kicked in the Balls' position open for longer than a year, I bet more people would get really good at taking kicks to the balls and that would make it so much easier for the ball-kickers."

arthwollipot · 19th February 2023, 10:50 PM

Originally Posted by JoeMorgue

Yeah outside a few weird off cases here and there ZIP and other popular archiving programs basically became "Bundle" applications far more than "Compression" applications at sound point in the early-mid 2010s.

And if we're being 100% honest again outside of a weird case here or there raw text files were really the only thing compression applications ever were really as useful as they made them out to be.

Microsoft apps, particularly Word and Excel, were notorious for file space wastage, and the most compressible. It ended when MS changed to the XML standard, and it was a Good Thing.

What prompted my rant was that someone complained that they couldn't send a PPTX file that was full of JPG images because it was too big for the recipient's mail system (our gateway is huge), and "does our version of zip not work like it's supposed to?"

2nd February 2023, 05:10 PM	#1841
arthwollipot Observer of Phenomena Pronouns: he/him Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Ngunnawal Country Posts: 80,749	Originally Posted by TragicMonkey It can't just be sex and crossbow hunting wild boar in the forest. To be fair, that covers a lot of ground.
	__________________ Слава Україні! Героям Слава! 20220224 - 20230224

2nd February 2023, 05:14 PM	#1842
Wudang BOFH Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: People's Republic of South Yorkshire Posts: 15,310	Originally Posted by arthwollipot To be fair, that covers a lot of ground. For sure, wild boar have quite big ranges.
	__________________ "Your deepest pools, like your deepest politicians and philosophers, often turn out more shallow than expected." Walter Scott.

2nd February 2023, 05:23 PM	#1843
TragicMonkey Poisoned Waffles Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Monkey Posts: 65,259	Originally Posted by Wudang For sure, wild boar have quite big ranges. I say! You shouldn't be looking at their blushes ranges!
	__________________ You added nothing to that conversation, Barbara.

2nd February 2023, 06:25 PM	#1844
novaphile Quester of Doglets Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Sunny South Australia Posts: 4,387	Originally Posted by arthwollipot Sharepoint very much depends on how it's set up. It can be set up so that it works excellently, if the engineers setting it up know what they're doing. If they don't, it can be a pile of dog's breakfast after it's come out of the dog's other end. My favouritest thing, is that new admins seem to like deleting all the existing content, and don't seem to understand why that's a bad idea. Thank us that we had Confluence on site to fall back on every time that happened. Screeetch! All documentation has to be on Sharepoint!!! Screeeeeeetch! Yes, we keep putting it there, and dickhead admins keep deleting it. "Oh those projects are finished so we deleted all the documentation." "Derp. Derp. Derp. Derp." (Let's not talk about all the different instances of Sharepoint because of 'special' managers, all of which become instantly inaccessible to anyone at a drop of a hat.)
	__________________ We would be better, and braver, to engage in enquiry, rather than indulge in the idle fancy, that we already know -- Plato.

2nd February 2023, 08:04 PM	#1845
arthwollipot Observer of Phenomena Pronouns: he/him Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Ngunnawal Country Posts: 80,749	recorded message: Thank you for calling the job followup line. Please have your User ID and your job number ready. five minute wait during which the recorded message repeats four more times me: Good afternoon, job followup line, can I have your User ID please? them: Uh, yeah, hang on... wait a minute... me: ... me: ... them: Okay, is it... uh... no, wait, is it BLBLBBRT? me: Your user ID consists of your first and surname initials followed by a 4-digit number. them: Oh, uh... I'm not sure... wait, hang on... me: ... me: ... them: Uh, okay, is it BLBLBBRT? me: Your user ID consists of... them No, wait, not that, it's, um, hang on... uh... is it AB1234? me: Thank you. Can I get the job number that you'd like me to look up? them: ...uh, wait, is it... uh, hang on. me: ... me: ... them: Let me see... uh, wait, uh, I don't think I have one of those. me: Thank you, I just palmed my face inside out. Have a nice afternoon. click The preceding transcript may be slightly exaggerated for comedic effect. But not by much.
	__________________ Слава Україні! Героям Слава! 20220224 - 20230224

2nd February 2023, 09:00 PM	#1846
TragicMonkey Poisoned Waffles Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Monkey Posts: 65,259	Originally Posted by arthwollipot recorded message: Thank you for calling the job followup line. Please have your User ID and your job number ready. five minute wait during which the recorded message repeats four more times me: Good afternoon, job followup line, can I have your User ID please? them: Uh, yeah, hang on... wait a minute... Those are the people who wait in line at the fast food place for twenty minutes then haven't thought of what they want to order when they finally get to the front of the line.
	__________________ You added nothing to that conversation, Barbara.

2nd February 2023, 09:25 PM	#1847
arthwollipot Observer of Phenomena Pronouns: he/him Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Ngunnawal Country Posts: 80,749	Originally Posted by TragicMonkey Those are the people who wait in line at the fast food place for twenty minutes then haven't thought of what they want to order when they finally get to the front of the line. You know exactly what I'm talking about.
	__________________ Слава Україні! Героям Слава! 20220224 - 20230224

2nd February 2023, 10:18 PM	#1848
a_unique_person Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Waiting for the pod bay door to open. Posts: 45,033	Originally Posted by novaphile My favouritest thing, is that new admins seem to like deleting all the existing content, and don't seem to understand why that's a bad idea. Thank us that we had Confluence on site to fall back on every time that happened. Screeetch! All documentation has to be on Sharepoint!!! Screeeeeeetch! Yes, we keep putting it there, and dickhead admins keep deleting it. "Oh those projects are finished so we deleted all the documentation." "Derp. Derp. Derp. Derp." (Let's not talk about all the different instances of Sharepoint because of 'special' managers, all of which become instantly inaccessible to anyone at a drop of a hat.) So it's content management procedures that are the problem, not the product.
	__________________ *Continually pushing the boundaries of mediocrity.* Everything is possible, but not everything is probable. “Perception is real, but the truth is not.” - Imelda Marcos

2nd February 2023, 11:43 PM	#1849
arthwollipot Observer of Phenomena Pronouns: he/him Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Ngunnawal Country Posts: 80,749	Originally Posted by a_unique_person So it's content management procedures that are the problem, not the product. The fact that it's possible to set Sharepoint up so that it works well should indicate that pretty clearly.
	__________________ Слава Україні! Героям Слава! 20220224 - 20230224

3rd February 2023, 05:42 AM	#1850
catsmate No longer the 1 Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 28,085	Originally Posted by TragicMonkey Never trust Outlook. According to Outlook my job title is the one I had four years ago, my desk is located on a floor that doesn't exist in the building I worked in five years ago, and my phone number is a landline to the building I worked in ten years ago. And that's the way you like it?
	__________________ As human right is always something given, it always in reality reduces to the right which men give, "concede," to each other. If the right to existence is conceded to new-born children, then they have the right; if it is not conceded to them, as was the case among the Spartans and ancient Romans, then they do not have it. For only society can give or concede it to them; they themselves cannot take it, or give it to themselves.

3rd February 2023, 06:34 PM	#1851
TragicMonkey Poisoned Waffles Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Monkey Posts: 65,259	Sigh. "I don't understand why the Apples report doesn't exactly match the Oranges report! Please explainnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!"
	__________________ You added nothing to that conversation, Barbara.

3rd February 2023, 07:09 PM	#1852
Gord_in_Toronto Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 23,491	Originally Posted by TragicMonkey Sigh. "I don't understand why the Apples report doesn't exactly match the Oranges report! Please explainnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!" I was once responsible for IT for a major insurance system. We produced two monthly summary reports. First, the total value of all claims paid as of the date of the claim and, second, the total dollars paid in a given month. I swear half my time was explaining why the two numbers differed. (The second half was spent on why the number is the first report was bigger than what we had reported in the previous cycle.)
	__________________ "Reality is what's left when you cease to believe." Philip K. Dick

3rd February 2023, 08:19 PM	#1853
TragicMonkey Poisoned Waffles Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Monkey Posts: 65,259	Originally Posted by Gord_in_Toronto I was once responsible for IT for a major insurance system. We produced two monthly summary reports. First, the total value of all claims paid as of the date of the claim and, second, the total dollars paid in a given month. I swear half my time was explaining why the two numbers differed. (The second half was spent on why the number is the first report was bigger than what we had reported in the previous cycle.) I was once called upon to explain discrepancy between two separate runnings of data concerning patient ages. I had to explain, very slowly and carefully, that during the interval between runs all of the patients continued to age and some of them had had birthdays.
	__________________ You added nothing to that conversation, Barbara.

3rd February 2023, 08:50 PM	#1854
JimOfAllTrades Graduate Poster Join Date: Aug 2011 Posts: 1,032	Originally Posted by Gord_in_Toronto I was once responsible for IT for a major insurance system. We produced two monthly summary reports. First, the total value of all claims paid as of the date of the claim and, second, the total dollars paid in a given month. I swear half my time was explaining why the two numbers differed. (The second half was spent on why the number is the first report was bigger than what we had reported in the previous cycle.) One of my customers had gotten a new bookkeeper and few months later she called me. She said that for the last three months the payments received on accounts was equal to the previous month's billing, but this month the payments received were low. I tried telling her that while it's good that people had been paying their bills promptly and that over time payments would be expected to average out to pretty much equal billing, there was no guarantee of that in any given time period. I spent about 20 minutes trying to convince her that those numbers didn't have to match, and in fact it would unusual for them match exactly. (It turned out they hadn't matched exactly, but actually had been pretty close). I walked her through the process of sending monthly statements and late notices, and I think at that point the light dawned.

5th February 2023, 03:41 PM	#1855
Norman Alexander Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: Dharug & Gundungurra Posts: 14,193	Originally Posted by JimOfAllTrades One of my customers had gotten a new bookkeeper and few months later she called me. She said that for the last three months the payments received on accounts was equal to the previous month's billing, but this month the payments received were low. I tried telling her that while it's good that people had been paying their bills promptly and that over time payments would be expected to average out to pretty much equal billing, there was no guarantee of that in any given time period. I spent about 20 minutes trying to convince her that those numbers didn't have to match, and in fact it would unusual for them match exactly. (It turned out they hadn't matched exactly, but actually had been pretty close). I walked her through the process of sending monthly statements and late notices, and I think at that point the light dawned. HOW new was this person in that profession? Where was she educated in this? Surely this is BAU for accounting in practice?
	__________________ _{...our governments are just trying to protect us from terror. In the same way that someone banging a hornets’ nest with a stick is trying to protect us from hornets. Frankie Boyle, Guardian, July 2015}

5th February 2023, 08:20 PM	#1856
JimOfAllTrades Graduate Poster Join Date: Aug 2011 Posts: 1,032	Originally Posted by Norman Alexander HOW new was this person in that profession? Where was she educated in this? Surely this is BAU for accounting in practice? She was a temp brought in just to cover for a couple of weeks while the regular person was out sick, then kept on when the other person died rather suddenly. I think it was more a case of she got dropped into a new situation and with software she had never seen before and was working off very incomplete notes. It was "run this report, do that, check those numbers" all without any real explanation of what anything was. She caught up pretty quickly, all things considered, but that was an odd bump in the road.

10th February 2023, 09:01 AM	#1857
JoeMorgue Self Employed Remittance Man Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Florida Posts: 43,031	I'm going to invent time travel just so I can track down the first bored middle management type who said "Yah know what... all these cords look too messy I don't want to look at them" and remove them from the timeline. You desk has zero cable management features, is mounted against the wall, takes up the whole length of the wall (it's not really even desk but more of a built in counter kinda thing) and you have every possible device known to man plugged into it. You're gonna see some cords. Yes I can zip tie them and cable sleeve them, but you want everything on your desk rearraigned every 8 seconds. And of course this desk is a cluttered nightmare of random just... stuff built over years.
	__________________ "If everyone in the room says water is wet and I say it's dry that makes me smart because at least I'm thinking for myself!" - The Proudly Wrong. Last edited by JoeMorgue; 10th February 2023 at 09:07 AM.

13th February 2023, 11:52 AM	#1858
Faydra sinning sybarite Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 7,329	Dear User, I know you are very upset that your file watcher job loses its connection when you have an outage, but truly this is the nature of outages. I'm assure you I am not conspiring against you in any way though you seem to think so.
Faydra sinning sybarite Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 7,329

13th February 2023, 12:34 PM	#1859
TragicMonkey Poisoned Waffles Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Monkey Posts: 65,259	Originally Posted by Faydra Dear User, I know you are very upset that your file watcher job loses its connection when you have an outage, but truly this is the nature of outages. I'm assure you I am not conspiring against you in any way though you seem to think so. You weren't conspiring before, you mean. Now you can write a script that mimics an outage at random intervals, just for that one thing.
	__________________ You added nothing to that conversation, Barbara.

13th February 2023, 05:26 PM	#1860
a_unique_person Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Waiting for the pod bay door to open. Posts: 45,033	Tell them it's working fine for everyone else.
	__________________ *Continually pushing the boundaries of mediocrity.* Everything is possible, but not everything is probable. “Perception is real, but the truth is not.” - Imelda Marcos

13th February 2023, 05:27 PM	#1861
Norman Alexander Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: Dharug & Gundungurra Posts: 14,193	Originally Posted by Faydra Dear User, I know you are very upset that your file watcher job loses its connection when you have an outage, but truly this is the nature of outages. I'm assure you I am not conspiring against you in any way though you seem to think so. You are going to have to send them a schedule of all unplanned outages.
	__________________ _{...our governments are just trying to protect us from terror. In the same way that someone banging a hornets’ nest with a stick is trying to protect us from hornets. Frankie Boyle, Guardian, July 2015}

13th February 2023, 05:28 PM	#1862
Norman Alexander Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: Dharug & Gundungurra Posts: 14,193	Originally Posted by a_unique_person Tell them it's working fine for everyone else. Tell them it's working fine on your computer, so what's wrong with theirs?
	__________________ _{...our governments are just trying to protect us from terror. In the same way that someone banging a hornets’ nest with a stick is trying to protect us from hornets. Frankie Boyle, Guardian, July 2015}

13th February 2023, 05:36 PM	#1863
arthwollipot Observer of Phenomena Pronouns: he/him Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Ngunnawal Country Posts: 80,749	Dear user: your request is incoherent. Please resubmit when you have a clue.
	__________________ Слава Україні! Героям Слава! 20220224 - 20230224

13th February 2023, 05:55 PM	#1864
Hellbound Merchant of Doom Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Not in Hell, but I can see it from here on a clear day... Posts: 15,087	I have a generic response that I copy and paste for those kinds of issues: Dear user: Please find the nearest fire, and die in it. Thank you. IT support. ETA: On a serious note, I'm level 3 support now, so 90% of those I get to send back to the L1 helpdesk with a note "Improperly transferred to IAM Engineers. Routing to Service Desk for triage." I love that
	__________________ History does not always repeat itself. Sometimes it just yells "Can't you remember anything I told you?" and lets fly with a club. - John w. Campbell Last edited by Hellbound; 13th February 2023 at 05:57 PM.

13th February 2023, 05:57 PM	#1865
arthwollipot Observer of Phenomena Pronouns: he/him Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Ngunnawal Country Posts: 80,749	I don't want them to die in a fire. I want them to have a clue.
	__________________ Слава Україні! Героям Слава! 20220224 - 20230224

13th February 2023, 05:58 PM	#1866
Hellbound Merchant of Doom Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Not in Hell, but I can see it from here on a clear day... Posts: 15,087	Originally Posted by arthwollipot I don't want them to die in a fire. I want them to have a clue. Keep dreaming the impossible dream, arth. I can't help but have respect for a modern-day Don Quixote We can't even get our Service Desk to have a clue most of the time, I gave up hope on users long ago
	__________________ History does not always repeat itself. Sometimes it just yells "Can't you remember anything I told you?" and lets fly with a club. - John w. Campbell

13th February 2023, 06:01 PM	#1867
arthwollipot Observer of Phenomena Pronouns: he/him Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Ngunnawal Country Posts: 80,749	Originally Posted by Hellbound Keep dreaming the impossible dream, arth. I can't help but have respect for a modern-day Don Quixote We can't even get our Service Desk to have a clue most of the time, I gave up hope on users long ago The problem is that L1 Service Desk is an entry-level, passthrough job. People in that role generally don't last long enough to acquire clues. It really ought to be considered a skilled customer service position. Yeah, that's another windmill I've been tilting at for years.
	__________________ Слава Україні! Героям Слава! 20220224 - 20230224

13th February 2023, 06:09 PM	#1868
Hellbound Merchant of Doom Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Not in Hell, but I can see it from here on a clear day... Posts: 15,087	Originally Posted by arthwollipot The problem is that L1 Service Desk is an entry-level, passthrough job. People in that role generally don't last long enough to acquire clues. It really ought to be considered a skilled customer service position. Yeah, that's another windmill I've been tilting at for years. Yeah, agreed. Our "veteran" helpdesk people are the ones that have ~4 to 6 months in position.
	__________________ History does not always repeat itself. Sometimes it just yells "Can't you remember anything I told you?" and lets fly with a club. - John w. Campbell

13th February 2023, 06:13 PM	#1869
arthwollipot Observer of Phenomena Pronouns: he/him Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Ngunnawal Country Posts: 80,749	Originally Posted by Hellbound Yeah, agreed. Our "veteran" helpdesk people are the ones that have ~4 to 6 months in position. It took me two years in a L1 position before I was promoted to L2.
	__________________ Слава Україні! Героям Слава! 20220224 - 20230224

13th February 2023, 07:42 PM	#1870
TragicMonkey Poisoned Waffles Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Monkey Posts: 65,259	Originally Posted by arthwollipot I don't want them to die in a fire. I want them to have a clue. The clue is located in the deepest part of the fire, of course! Also the clue is poisoned.
	__________________ You added nothing to that conversation, Barbara.

13th February 2023, 07:43 PM	#1871
TragicMonkey Poisoned Waffles Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Monkey Posts: 65,259	Originally Posted by arthwollipot It took me two years in a L1 position before I was promoted to L2. I hope for your sake your career trajectory slows down a bit: L3 is on the opposite side of the sun!
	__________________ You added nothing to that conversation, Barbara.

13th February 2023, 07:44 PM	#1872
arthwollipot Observer of Phenomena Pronouns: he/him Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Ngunnawal Country Posts: 80,749	Originally Posted by TragicMonkey I hope for your sake your career trajectory slows down a bit: L3 is on the opposite side of the sun! Trust me, I don't have the technical skills or knowledge for an L3 position. My next step is management!
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13th February 2023, 11:05 PM	#1873
Wudang BOFH Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: People's Republic of South Yorkshire Posts: 15,310	Originally Posted by arthwollipot Trust me, I don't have the technical skills or knowledge for an L3 position. My next step is management! And the step after that is building a Death Star?
	__________________ "Your deepest pools, like your deepest politicians and philosophers, often turn out more shallow than expected." Walter Scott.

13th February 2023, 11:14 PM	#1874
arthwollipot Observer of Phenomena Pronouns: he/him Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Ngunnawal Country Posts: 80,749	Originally Posted by Wudang And the step after that is building a Death Star? It's my cunning plan.
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14th February 2023, 07:28 PM	#1875
arthwollipot Observer of Phenomena Pronouns: he/him Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Ngunnawal Country Posts: 80,749	Things I Wish More People Understood #220: ZIPping files doesn't do what you think it does. Most file types these days are already compressed as much as they can be. As a result, ZIPping them cannot compress them further. It is useful for containing a number of separate documents into a single file, but it will not make that file smaller than its components.
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