How dare you prove me wrong in front of everyone!
Part of a technical job like computer support, is discussion about technical issues. It’s part of the job, it’s how you learn new stuff: question someone on something you think could be wrong or that you don’t understand and they either show you the error of your ways or you learn something new. With computers, as with other high-tech fields, there is no way anyone can know everything. The subject matter is too broad. Part of the fun of the job is working with people that can teach you new tricks and vice versa. This has always worked that way every where I have ever been.
I had been at this particular job just over four months. Long enough to get to know everybody in the department and start to feel comfortable with the (very casual) work environment. One fine day one of the Server Admins sent an email out to all of IT about something that he had run across and what his “fix” was. Standard Operating Procedure, you find a fix and you notify the crew so everyone knows how to deal with it.
In the past at other companies these group emails had always been an open forum to discuss the finer points of problems and their solutions. I had seen nothing to indicate this was not the case here.
This email discussion was going on in between me and the server administrator with the rest of the department carbon copied on all correspondence. I won’t bore you with the details:
Admin: Here is the problem we had, and this is my solution.
Me: I have a question about the details of the problem.
Admin: Here are the details…
Me: Correct me if I am wrong but if that is the symptom wouldn’t “this” be the correct solution instead?
There is a definite pecking order in IT departments. The Help Desk is always at the bottom, Desktop Support is next, Server and Network Administrators are the top dogs of the technical staff. The pecking order is an informal reflection of the depth of your knowledge in your field.
Some people take the hierarchy a little more seriously than others.
At this point in the above email discussion the Help Desk notified me that a user’s PC was completely inoperative and I had to go run and fix it Right Now. OK that’s what I do. So I scamper off to fix the computer, not realizing the bomb that I had just dropped on a very touchy Server Admin:
I proved that his solution was wrong and did it in front of his peers, subordinates and boss!
“HEAVENS TO MURGATROYD!”
A few minutes later I am at the users desk working on the dead PC blissfully unaware that I had just run someone’s dirty laundry up the flagpole and screamed “neeener neener neener” for all to hear.
As I am working on the broken PC I get this abrupt interruption on the one-way radio pager attached to my belt. The Server Admin is literally yelling at me, demanding that I call him “Right Now” or I’d be in Serious Trouble. So juggling keyboard and phone. I call the him back, “I want to meet you in The Bridge immediately” he snarls!
At one time some Star Trek obsessed techie named all the network and server rooms after his favorite Star Trek sets. The Bridge was the main server room and network switching center. It is a cold room buried in the basement. Only a very few had access.
“That’s odd” I think to myself, why would he want me to meet him in The Bridge?
“Oh I know he wants to yell at me with no witnesses!” This flashes thru my mind as he continues to splutter and yell.
I cleverly reply that I am working on a dead computer and (by the department rules) that takes precedence over anything.
Then he gets really mad. The spluttering and yelling reach new peaks
At this point I realize this guy is working up a good head of steam and wants to take his incompetence out on me. Realize that this guy is not my boss. Not being one to back down when I know I am right I cleverly tell him that I am busy. “If you have any problems with me take it up with our (mutual) boss.” I hang up on his continued spluttering and finish resurrecting the PC from it’s untimely Blue Screen Of Death.
After that, I go talk to my boss, literally shaking with anger and not a little bit of fear that I have somehow jeopardized my (rather new) position.
I told my boss what I did, referred him to the emails and hoped for the best.
The boss laughs and said, “Don’t worry about it, he gets like this a little too easily, I’ll calm him down.”
And you know what? From that day on he barely acknowledged my existence. We would pass in the hall and he would stare straight ahead. I would ask a question and he would grunt out the minimum answer. Turns out this was (and continues to be) a common occurrence. He climbs higher and higher in the company and continues to display increasing levels of incompetence. His only real talent is looking good to his immediate boss.
There is some good, late breaking news, his incompetence was finally recognized for what it was doing to the company: he was sacked. Too bad it took them way too long.
Originally posted before I added WordPress to this site. Published date is approximate.