morning...
Apr. 3rd, 2003 07:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragonlady7My place of work was without Internet from Sunday until yesterday afternoon.
Why?
On Sunday, our DSL modem burned out. I have no idea why. I've never heard of it happening before. The thing was two years old, i guess, but whether that's old or new is beyond my ken.
Of course as soon as we found out what was wrong, Monday midday (quick on the uptake much?) we went to order a new one. It had to be this one kind, I guess. You could get it from one business, a reputable business for $200. But a certain someone said no, no, i can get it cheaper. He then went cruising around and found it for $100 cheaper from a kinda shady place, though how he did this looking beats the hell outta me; we had no internet. Ah well. He happily ordered it, and ordered it shipped Overnight. They assured him it'd be in by ten am Tuesday.
It wasn't.
The boss' poor secretary called up the company that we bought it from, and the underlings on the phone knew nothing, but wouldn't let her talk to the higher-ups that, presumably, did know something. Finally someone from our company got through, after the router failed to arrive Wednesday at 10 am.
They hadn't sent it yet.
They hadn't sent the goddamn router yet.
And the Sales department had a Web demo scheduled with an important potential client, that they had to cancel. Making us look like schmucks. Any surprises there? Sales despairs of ever making a sale.
In the meantime, one of the FORTRAN programmers, hearing the boss' rage, mentions that he has a spare router of exactly this type. The boss flips out. Why didn't you bring it in? The programmer shrugs. I asked the network administrator Monday lunchtime if he wanted it, and he said no, we're handling it. I assured him that I wasn't using it; it's just sitting there in a box. He said no, so I figured I wouldn't bug him anymore. The boss keeps flipping out, and sends the programmer home immediately with our other computer guy, not the networking Geniusboy.
So, just after lunch, the Internet came back up, miraculously, leading to much speculation in all the other departments until various of us went and tracked down the truth (which is hard to come by, even in a tiny company).
Sigh.
I don't want to know how much that fuxored our page rankings on google and the like, having the site down for the end of the month like that. It's probably not important; I'll have to resubmit it when I redesign it anyway.
In other news, in GOOD other news, the bossman actually took the time, finally, to ask me in detail whether I was having trouble with the webpage. I told him, in detail, what I was doing, and what I simply couldn't do with the existing software. He looked thoughtful. What about this? he asked. I gave him a clear and well-thought-out answer. He nodded thoughtfully. How about this? he asked. Again, I responded intelligently. Interesting, he said. I'll see what I can do. (that was monday.) Tuesday he came back with some software he had, but even he could see that it was the wrong one. (He'd been under the impression he owned the software but he owned different software by the same company.) So, yesterday, he came back, pleased with himself, and informed me he was ordering the precise software I wanted, in the newest, latest version. (My case had been helped, I think, by his noticing on Tuesday that I was actually, extensively, using the brand spankin' new Photoshop update he'd just ordered. I use Photoshop all the time. Even the simplest things that could be done in Paint in no time, i do in Photoshop. I love photoshop. I would have Photoshop's baby. But he doesn't have to know that. All he has to know is that I ask only for software I need, that I will really use, and will really use a lot. So I am effective, I am efficient, and I am respectful. Important things in an employee.)
This has gone a long, long way to removing my disgruntlement. It's not such a bad company after all! It's a nice place. Also, I'm in the midst of publicity materials for the latest software we've made, which is well-designed and the programmer is friendly and helpful. I can't see anything wrong with the company from this perspective...
and into the midst of my rosy glow comes the haggard, overworked, underpaid windows support guy, with bitter shots of reality bringing me back down to a reasonable level. Yes, the company is a fundamentally okay one. It's got management problems and doesn't have enough employees for the work it needs done, but also doesn't have enough customers to afford to hire new employees. So. But it's not as bad as the support guy makes it out to be, either. So things are ok, and it's helped by my noticing how full of good good things my resume will be getting, shortly.
Why?
On Sunday, our DSL modem burned out. I have no idea why. I've never heard of it happening before. The thing was two years old, i guess, but whether that's old or new is beyond my ken.
Of course as soon as we found out what was wrong, Monday midday (quick on the uptake much?) we went to order a new one. It had to be this one kind, I guess. You could get it from one business, a reputable business for $200. But a certain someone said no, no, i can get it cheaper. He then went cruising around and found it for $100 cheaper from a kinda shady place, though how he did this looking beats the hell outta me; we had no internet. Ah well. He happily ordered it, and ordered it shipped Overnight. They assured him it'd be in by ten am Tuesday.
It wasn't.
The boss' poor secretary called up the company that we bought it from, and the underlings on the phone knew nothing, but wouldn't let her talk to the higher-ups that, presumably, did know something. Finally someone from our company got through, after the router failed to arrive Wednesday at 10 am.
They hadn't sent it yet.
They hadn't sent the goddamn router yet.
And the Sales department had a Web demo scheduled with an important potential client, that they had to cancel. Making us look like schmucks. Any surprises there? Sales despairs of ever making a sale.
In the meantime, one of the FORTRAN programmers, hearing the boss' rage, mentions that he has a spare router of exactly this type. The boss flips out. Why didn't you bring it in? The programmer shrugs. I asked the network administrator Monday lunchtime if he wanted it, and he said no, we're handling it. I assured him that I wasn't using it; it's just sitting there in a box. He said no, so I figured I wouldn't bug him anymore. The boss keeps flipping out, and sends the programmer home immediately with our other computer guy, not the networking Geniusboy.
So, just after lunch, the Internet came back up, miraculously, leading to much speculation in all the other departments until various of us went and tracked down the truth (which is hard to come by, even in a tiny company).
Sigh.
I don't want to know how much that fuxored our page rankings on google and the like, having the site down for the end of the month like that. It's probably not important; I'll have to resubmit it when I redesign it anyway.
In other news, in GOOD other news, the bossman actually took the time, finally, to ask me in detail whether I was having trouble with the webpage. I told him, in detail, what I was doing, and what I simply couldn't do with the existing software. He looked thoughtful. What about this? he asked. I gave him a clear and well-thought-out answer. He nodded thoughtfully. How about this? he asked. Again, I responded intelligently. Interesting, he said. I'll see what I can do. (that was monday.) Tuesday he came back with some software he had, but even he could see that it was the wrong one. (He'd been under the impression he owned the software but he owned different software by the same company.) So, yesterday, he came back, pleased with himself, and informed me he was ordering the precise software I wanted, in the newest, latest version. (My case had been helped, I think, by his noticing on Tuesday that I was actually, extensively, using the brand spankin' new Photoshop update he'd just ordered. I use Photoshop all the time. Even the simplest things that could be done in Paint in no time, i do in Photoshop. I love photoshop. I would have Photoshop's baby. But he doesn't have to know that. All he has to know is that I ask only for software I need, that I will really use, and will really use a lot. So I am effective, I am efficient, and I am respectful. Important things in an employee.)
This has gone a long, long way to removing my disgruntlement. It's not such a bad company after all! It's a nice place. Also, I'm in the midst of publicity materials for the latest software we've made, which is well-designed and the programmer is friendly and helpful. I can't see anything wrong with the company from this perspective...
and into the midst of my rosy glow comes the haggard, overworked, underpaid windows support guy, with bitter shots of reality bringing me back down to a reasonable level. Yes, the company is a fundamentally okay one. It's got management problems and doesn't have enough employees for the work it needs done, but also doesn't have enough customers to afford to hire new employees. So. But it's not as bad as the support guy makes it out to be, either. So things are ok, and it's helped by my noticing how full of good good things my resume will be getting, shortly.
