Tales from the East Coast #4: Coffee Error

just before lunchtime on Wednesday, the 2nd of March 2005 by Anarchy

About 11 or 12 years ago (damn, I’m old)… I was doing the LAN Administrator thing for a branch of a large’ish Insurance company. I won’t mention which company, because I’m disgusted with myself for having been so desperate for work that I had allowed myself to congregate with the double-crossing, deceiving betrayers that operated under the title of "management" in that company. (This is not to indicate that all insurance companies are like this… but this one inparticular was being led by a bunch of back-stabbing whores.) I haven’t felt clean since.

Anyway… I was one of three LAN Administrators for this site. To give the technical people a point of reference… we were using a Token Ring environment… and our OS environment was OS/2 v2.1 with Windows for Workgroups v3.11. <shudder>

Now, one of the things that has ALWAYS annoyed me about a person (or group of people) is when they get it into thier head that they "need" something just because someone else has one. Well… one of these groups was our HR department. They found out that a couple other departments had servers that were dedicated to them to use and no one else could access them. Our HR department came to the IT group (which at the time was simply nicknamed the "Computer Department") to get thier own box. They b|tched and moaned for a couple of weeks about needing a box of thier own. They finally pulled the "sensitive data" card out of thier back pocket, and managed to convince our leader that perhaps it was a good idea. So now, I’ve got to house and support yet another server. We got it in… set it up… plugged it into the LAST available power outlet in the room… and migrated all of HR’s valuable data to it.

So for the next few weeks, I made a point of watching the activity on this box very closely. HR knew the box was out there… thier drives were mapped… but it was rarely used. Typically, some files were updated once every two weeks (which I assumed was the payroll processing, etc.)… but otherwise, it was rarely ever touched. Now I’m annoyed…

Now, skip ahead a couple of weeks… and I’m sitting in the Server Room. I’m kicked back… drinking a cup of coffee… and smoking. (Yes… we could get away with that back then.) I’m in the process of babysitting the backup tapes and pouring myself a 3rd cup… when the phone rings.

Me: Hello?

HR Person: Hi… this is Millie… from HR.

Me: Yes. How can I help you.

HR: I can’t access the HR drive.

Me: Can you access anything?

HR: No, but I only access the HR drive, so I don’t know what else to check.

Me: Try rebooting your computer. Then call me back if the problem persists.

HR: OK. Thank you.

About 15 minutes go by, and I’m finishing my 4th cup of coffee… my ashtray is in need of being emptied… and my phone is ringing again.

Me: Hello?

HR: Hi. It’s Millie again. I still can’t access the HR data.

Me: Hmmm… and you did reboot, correct?

HR: Yes.

Me: Can you hold on a second? I’d like to go check something…

HR: Sure. I’ll hold.

Punching the crimson [Hold] button on my phone, I toss the receiver on the desk. Pushing off, my wheeled chair skims across the Server Room floor as I pivot into position at the table across the room. I pour the last remains from the coffee pot into my cup. It’s contents are dark and gritty due to a pour filtering system… but I don’t mind.

I yank the coffee pot’s plug from the wall outlet, and replace it with the power cord to the HR server. After a couple minutes and some non-dairy creamer later… it comes online. Spinning my chair across the room, I snatch up the phone and…

Me: Millie?

HR: Yes.

Me: Try it now.

HR: It’s working! You’re wonderful!

Me: Thanks! Let me know if you need anything else.

Millie was a happy camper. She got immediate service from the IT staff… got her problem resolved… and was able to get her work done. It’s true what they say… perception is reality.