IT guys are surly.
They’re gruff, and often have a wall up.
But when you understand what they go through (the 24/7 on call nature of their jobs, and the frustrating things they put up with), you start to understand why.
This is a story of the internal IT on-goings, and it’s so good.
Your tickets need more detail.
Back in the day, I was a field tech for an IT company. My teammates and I were contracted to an aluminum mill in the upper left-hand corner of America.
The place was huge. It’s the only place that I’ve worked as an IT guy where I had to put on a hot suit to go in certain areas as a part of my job.
Imagine IT golf cart storage. This guy had it.
So, one day, I get this ticket for a computer that wouldn’t turn on out at the other end of the plant.
So, I grab a power supply and head off in the golf cart. No joke, this place was so big, we had golf carts to get around.
Important later is the fact that we used paper tickets, with all the information for the call out printed on the ticket, with space for use to write what was done, etc.
We’d bring the resolved tickets back to the manager, and he’d put the data in to a wacky Access database for tracking.
So he arrives on scene. Paper ticket in hand like a noir detective in the 40s.
I get out there, and sure enough, the power supply is deader than mashed potatoes.
I even tested with a multimeter to verify. I swap the power supply, machine powers up, I update my ticket, and off I go back to HQ.
End of day comes eventually, and I hand off my fistful of tickets.
The next day around lunch time, I get some of my tickets back from the manager with a note: “Needs more detail”.
I point out to the guy that there is not much more detail to be had, using the power supply ticket as an example.
He then goes through his detail.
- test power supply (tests bad)
- replace power supply
- PC powers on as normal
Not good enough for manager.
He wasn’t having it, though.
He accepted the tickets back, but made sure that I understood that I needed more detail on my tickets.
Ok. Fine. Later in the afternoon, I get a call for a bad floppy drive. Perfecto.
Go time = GOLF CART TIME!
I grab a floppy drive off the shelf, and race out in the golf cart.
Upon arrival, I do my normal test/diagnose/replace/update process, with the exception of adding excruciating details to the ticket.
Here’s your massive ticket, manager man.
Read it and weep.
- Attempt read of two known good floppy disks.
- insert floppy #1 in drive, attempt dir command, unable to read disk
- remove floppy #1 from drive
- insert floppy #2 in drive, attempt dir command, unable to read disk
- remove floppy #2 from drive
- Power down system by pressing the power button on the front-right corner.
- Disconnect and remove monitor
- disconnect VGA cable from PC
- disconnect power cable from monitor
- remove monitor to safe location next to desk
- Remove top case from PC
- remove left-hand case screw with 14 counter-clockwise rotations, using prescribed torx-bit screwdriver
- remove left-hand case screw with 16 counter-clockwise rotations, using prescribed torx-bit screwdriver
- after securing screws in safe location, remove top case by sliding forward.
- secure top case to safe location, next to desk.
- Remove failed floppy drive from PC
- disconnect power cable from 3.5″ floppy drive
- disconnect data cable from 3.5″ floppy drive
- remove front-left screw from floppy drive with 12 counter-clockwise rotations, using prescribed torx-bit screwdriver
- remove back-left screw from floppy drive with 11 counter-clockwise rotations, using prescribed torx-bit screwdriver
- remove front-right screw from floppy drive with 13 counter-clockwise rotations, using prescribed torx-bit screwdriver
- remove back-right screw from floppy drive with 12 counter-clockwise rotations, using prescribed torx-bit screwdriver
- slide failed floppy drive forward to remove from drive cage.
- etc. etc. etc
I mean he went all out.
The process documentation went on like this, filling the entire front of the ticket, and continuing on to fill the back of the page.
It was a thing of beauty.
It took me about twenty minutes to write this all out, describing the replacement of a floppy drive in excruciating detail.
At the end of the day, I turned in my stack of completed tickets to the manager with a smile and a wave.
How do we think that went over?
Next morning, as we do every morning, we have a quick team pow-wow to discuss any special items that need attention for the day, things to watch out for, things we missed previously, etc.
Kind of like a scrum before there was such a word as scrum. During this meeting, the manager begins talking about proper documentation of tickets.
He holds up my masterpiece, and plainly states that this is a bit much.
“Just note on your tickets, in a quick and concise manner, what the problem was, and what you did to fix it.”
Nobody ever got the business again for not being detailed enough on their tickets.
Let’s see what folks had to say.
One person saw this whole exchange as very similar.
Another person knows all about the verbal…mess….
While one Redditor likened it all to school papers.
Fitting.
One person has seen way too many managers like this before.
Good for this guy! Epic revenge!
If you liked that story, check out this one about a delivery driver who gave two weeks notice… so his employer disabled his truck when he was 300 miles from home!