Why are IT Techs so up their own bottoms?

MagicBoy said:
Pee IT off at your peril. I had some "user" who accidentally got the wrong type of laptop delivered due to some temp being sloppy. We admitted the error and asked him nicely to return it within a few days. He declined and was super arrogant and condescending to boot.

He's now had to phone the helpdesk at least twice a day for the last week to keep getting his password reset. He's also unfortunately getting connection problems with Citrix due to one of our lads terminating his session every 10-15 minutes while he's out of the office on a boring MCSE course.

My heart bleeds for him. Not.
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so because you and your colleagues didnt like his attitude you resorted to childish practices that at the end of the day only damage the business and the reputation of your department, nice
 
MagicBoy said:
He's now had to phone the helpdesk at least twice a day for the last week to keep getting his password reset. He's also unfortunately getting connection problems with Citrix due to one of our lads terminating his session every 10-15 minutes while he's out of the office on a boring MCSE course.
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That's pathetic. I can just imagine a bunch of little men in an IT cave cultivating that mentality.
 
JBuk said:
so because you and your colleagues didnt like his attitude you resorted to childish practices that at the end of the day only damage the business and the reputation of your department, nice
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Well, yeah of course. Wouldn't you do it if you could?

Go on, admit it - there have been people who have annoyed you enough that you wish you could have done the same... welcome brother!

:D
 
I learnt a very valuable lesson around 1994 with one bloke.
I fixed his PC and when he came round I took pleasure (being a geek) in explaining every little detail so that he might learn something.
After 5 mins he turned round and said "Dave, I don't give a ****, I want to turn it on an do what I need to do. If I have to go through this crap I might as well get rid of it".
And thats how most people feel about PC's.
I do have empathy with IT support when they've been on the phone for over an hour explaining changing a password but if you don't like it get out and don't be an arse.
 
Visage said:
And you wonder why people thing you're a bunch of socially inept weapons....
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This guy deserved it. As I said - treat IT as a colleague with common courtesy and manners rather than a god given right and you'll be fine.

People seem to forget IT is part of the infrastructure that makes a business tick. Same as phones, building maintenance, catering etc. My lot don't provide any sort of customer facing service,we just provide systems to allow the other divisions to function. Maybe if the systems fall over then you won't get a council tax bill, but that's not our problem - it's council tax's!
 
Quite a few people are obviously only nice to us as they want something, you can see this in the way they treat the people they dont need... I just feel happy because Im nice to them even though I dont need them. Fortunately thought there are only a couple of people like this, dont think I could stick it if all of them were like that!
 
dmpoole said:
I learnt a very valuable lesson around 1994 with one bloke.
I fixed his PC and when he came round I took pleasure (being a geek) in explaining every little detail so that he might learn something.
After 5 mins he turned round and said "Dave, I don't give a ****, I want to turn it on an do what I need to do. If I have to go through this crap I might as well get rid of it".
And thats how most people feel about PC's.
I do have empathy with IT support when they've been on the phone for over an hour explaining changing a password but if you don't like it get out and don't be an arse.
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I had a similar experience... I wouldnt say I was being geeky, I was just being enthusiastic about my new job... This killed my enthusiasm :(

Ignorance creates arrogance.
 
jamiemoles said:
Well, yeah of course. Wouldn't you do it if you could?

Go on, admit it - there have been people who have annoyed you enough that you wish you could have done the same... welcome brother!

:D
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thats just it i have "wished" my revenge but i would never actually do anything especially if it disrupted someones work
 
jamiemoles said:
Having worked in IT for 20 years and in the past been a nerdy, techie, geeky virgin type arrogant tosspot, I can confidently say that a lot of IT people are like that simply because they don't like you.

I mean come on, how hard is it to:

a) Remember your own password
b) Learn how to use a Word Processor
c) Clean your mouse/keyboard/screen
d) Ask for new user accounts in advance of them starting
e) Learn to change a toner cartridge

Also why is it that users (or Computer Users No Technical Skills as we like to call them) screw something up and then expect you to fix it for them at the drop of a hat?

They come up to you, tell you THEIR problem and then all of a sudden it's become YOUR problem and the most important issue the world has ever seen.

You want to know why IT people are so far up their own bums?

Cause we have to deal with you lot!

Note: This is not aimed at those of you who have actually made an effort to learn a thing or two about your computers - respect.
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I work on 1st line support for a NHS trust and i can say the above is 100% correct! Now it does happen everywhere you go so its not just to the NHS.

It really does make my day when i get someone on the phone who i can ask a question and they give me the answer first time without having to dumb it down to a 5 year olds understanding.
I wouldn't care but they get taught how to find their IP address and pc name etc. on the network training before they are setup with a network account and its mandatory so there is no excuse for not knowing.

Also another reason is when you have got a lot of work to do, in our department we have just had to cope with being a member of staff down while, implementing and developing new service desk software, new phone system, changes to our shift patterns, a new patient information system and merging two domains to one. When you get someone who for the 3rd time this week, day whatever can remember their password gets you a bit ****** off to be honest.

I do like to think that i am a very approachable person and would be considered one of the nice guys of our team, i know i'm not the worst any way. You can surely understand though if you have had to explain the same things over and over again to the same people your patience soon does start to ware a bit thin. PC support for your mates and relatives is one thing but doing it day in day out with the same questions for years on end is the reason why most "tech guys" come across this way.

Also we don't accept work experience due to the nature of the data that we have access to etc. as has already been said by someone else working for another trust.
 
kip02 said:
Also we don't accept work experience due to the nature of the data that we have access to etc. as has already been said by someone else working for another trust.
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The Work Experience excuse doesn't wash with me because theres data all over the hospital that work experience could get their hands on.
I was told off the other day because I'd left the key in a cabinet full of really juicy data even though I was 3 foot from it.
Personally I would have thought IT was an easy one for keeping data away from work experience.
eg In our office the other day we had 6 women who moved in from another area and needed their PC's, Photocopier, printers etc setup.
What could have been easier for a 15 year old?
Other depts manage to keep data away from work experience.
 
lol this thread kinda reminds me of this email that me and the other IT techies at our school got sent

1. When you call us to have your computer moved, be sure to leave it buried under half a ton of postcards, baby pictures, stuffed animals, dried flowers, bowling trophies and children's art. We don't have a life,and we find it deeply moving to catch a fleeting glimpse of yours.

2. Don't write anything down. Ever. We can play back the error messages from here.

3. When an I.T. person says he's coming right over, go for coffee. That way you won't be there when we need your password. It's nothing for us to remember 300 screen saver passwords.

4. When you call the I.T. Support, state what you want, not what's keeping you from getting it. We don't need to know that you can't get into your mail because your computer won't power on at all.

6. When I.T. support sends you an Email with high importance, delete it at once. We're just testing.

7. When an I.T. person is eating lunch at his desk, walk right in and spill your guts right out. We exist only to serve.

8. Send urgent email all in uppercase. The mail server picks it up and flags it as a rush delivery.

9. When the photocopier doesn't work, call computer support. There's electronics in it.

10. When you're getting a NO DIAL TONE message at home, call computer support. We can fix your telephone line from here.

11. When something's wrong with your home PC, dump it on an I.T. person's chair with no name, no phone number and no description of the problem. We love a puzzle.

12. When an I.T. person tells you that computer screens don't have cartridges in them, argue. We love a good argument.

13. When an I.T. person tells you that he'll be there shortly, reply in a scathing tone of voice: "And just how many weeks do you mean by shortly?" That motivates us.

14. When the printer won't print, re-send the job at least 20 times. Print jobs frequently get sucked into black holes.

15. When the printer still won't print after 20 tries, send the job to all 68 printers in the company. One of them is bound to work.

16. Don't learn the proper name for anything technical. We know exactly what you mean by "my thingy blew up".

17. Don't use on-line help. On-line help is for wimps.

18. If the mouse cable keeps knocking down the framed picture of your dog, lift the computer and stuff the cable under it. Mouse cables were designed to have 20kg of computer sitting on top of them.

19. If the space bar on your keyboard doesn't work, blame it on the mail/NT/ network upgrade. Keyboards are actually very happy with half a pound of muffin crumbs and nail clippings in them.

20. When you get a message saying "Are you sure?" click on that Yes button as fast as you can. Hell, if you weren't sure, you wouldn't be doing it, would you?

21. When you find an I.T. person on the phone, sit uninvited on the corner of his desk and stare at him until he hangs up.

22. Feel perfectly free to say things like "I don't know nothing about that computer crap". We don't mind at all hearing our area of professional expertise referred to as crap.

23. When you need to change the toner cartridge in a printer, call I.T. support. Changing a toner cartridge is an extremely complex task, and Hewlett-Packard recommends that it be performed only by a professional engineer with a master's degree in nuclear physics.

24. When you have a lock to pick on an old file cabinet, call I.T. Support. We love to hack.

25. When something's the matter with your computer, ask your secretary to call the help desk. We enjoy the challenge of having to deal with a third party who doesn't know anything about the problem.

26. When you receive a 30mb movie file, send it to everyone as a mail attachment. We've got lots of disk space on that mail server.

27. When an I.T. person gets in the lift pushing $100,000 worth of computer equipment on a trolley, ask in a very loud voice: "Good grief, you take the lift to go DOWN one floor?!?" That's another one that cracks us up no end.

28. When you lose your car keys, send an email to the entire company. People out 200 miles away like to keep abreast of what's going on.

29. When you bump into an I.T. person at the supermarket on a Saturday, ask a computer question. We do weekends.
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dmpoole said:
The Work Experience excuse doesn't wash with me because theres data all over the hospital that work experience could get their hands on.
I was told off the other day because I'd left the key in a cabinet full of really juicy data even though I was 3 foot from it.
Personally I would have thought IT was an easy one for keeping data away from work experience.
eg In our office the other day we had 6 women who moved in from another area and needed their PC's, Photocopier, printers etc setup.
What could have been easier for a 15 year old?
Other depts manage to keep data away from work experience.
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You could in theory but it would be more work than its worth.

To get someone in for IT work experience you need to give them the same, or similar access to what you have so that they fully experience the job or its pointless because they might as well just shadow you which is no fun for anyone. They have not signed the same contract of employment as you have and are not employed by the trust which means that they should not have access to this data.

The fact that it doesn't wash with you is your opinion, it is about keeping patient information secure in the IT department and having someone for work exp. is not keeping it secure.

If you have problems with your IT department then it is their way of doing things accept that, i'm sure they wouldn't tell you how to do your job so don't do it to them.
 
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Deskside support techs are, IMO, the worst. The think they are knowledgeable engineers, when in fact there are merely semi trained, easily replaced, 10 a penny, technicians. You can also pretty much guarantee that the IT dept will be full of people abusing the company's facilities downloading and passing round music, videos, games etc.
I'm just grateful that my team has the autonomy and expertise to handle our own requirements.
 
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