Overheard at the Office #7

A client called in and explained that the phone system was down. They had an Asterisk based PBX box on site. We attempted to access it remotely, but it was not responding at all. A coworker was getting his stuff together to head out and take a look at it. Suddenly, the client called back in.

Client: You can cancel the trip out, we're good.
Coworker: What do you mean you're good?
Client: It's working again. I fixed it.
Coworker: What did you do?
Client: I kicked it really hard and it booted right up after that.
Coworker: You literally kicked the server?

The client didn't have any trouble with that box again after that, though they did eventually replace it with a Cisco UC500 solution 6 months later.

My Number One Requested Feature

On all of these printer/scanner/fax combo units, there is a web page to manage the settings. In it, among other things, you can set it up to scan and send to an email address. They give you somewhere to enter all of the settings to send it along to an smtp server of your choosing, but there is never a test button.

I work for an MSP, and 99% of the time, I am doing work like this remotely. It's unreasonable to drive out every time a client gets a new printer if they didn't buy it through us, so I'm just going to remote into a machine there and go at it.. But this requires me to call in, and have someone on the phone with me hitting send.  It often times takes a few tries to get all the settings right, requiring you to keep telling them to try again over and over again.  So my number one feature request is a test button which will allow me to test the settings (by myself) from the configuration web page.  Is that too much to ask?

Overheard at the Office #6

Mgmt: Do you know how to make an activity?
Minion: Yes
Mgmt: So make a drive wiping activity.....
Minion: How do you make a drive wiping activity?
Mgmt: You just said you know how to make an activity.....
Minion: Yes
Mgmt: Seriously?

Overheard in My Livingroom #1

Me: Yea, I'm having a little trouble with my connection.  It appears that my router isn't pulling an IP address.
Comcast: Could you please try rebooting your cable modem?
Me: I've rebooted the modem and router twice.
Comcast: Could you please try rebooting your computer?
Me: Which one?
Comcast: silence

Ever notice how the problem always goes away within 10 minutes of calling in, even though they swear its nothing on their end?

Overheard at the Office #5

Well, you know what they say.
What do they say?
Something ridiculous, I forget what.
Who says that?
Larry the Cable Guy.
You take life advise from Larry the Cable Guy?

Overheard at the Office #4

A colleague was installing Axys3 on a clients machine.  This is (or was, we're down to our last financial client, and they don't use it. So I'm not sure anymore) a fairly standard application with our financial clients.  The installer would proceed through, but then throw an error right at the end.  He tried a couple times, same results, then asked me to help.  I told him that he should start by disabling UAC on the machine, because this was a common source of grief with this application.  He turned to me and asked what is UAC?

What is UAC?  I've just watched you acknowledge a UAC dialog box 3 times since you called me over. Do you even look at what you're saying yes to?

Overheard in the Classroom #1

I can't remember what the piece of software was that I was giving the guy a copy of, but this is true recap of how the conversation went.  Keep in mind that this guy was a senior in the IA program.  The program was given to him in a .rar archive.

Him: So how do I install this?
Me: Unpack the archive and run setup.exe
Him: How do I do that? Windows can't open the file.
Me: Download 7zip
Him: Winzip7?
Me: No, 7zip.
Him: Winzip7?

Lets just skip over how long this back and forth went on.

Finally he opens up a browser and Googles Winzip7.  Interestingly enough, 7zip was one of the first couple hits.  I pointed to it and screamed "That one!"  At this point, class started so I don't know how much more pain and suffering was involved in the installation of the program.  But after class, he said he got it installed.

Overheard at the Office #3

Me: ...so we'll probably get them a /29 from Comcast, that's pretty standard.
Him: So here's what confuses me.  What is the slash?  That's some kind of grouping, right?
Me: You've been in IT how long now?  You can't subnet?

Overheard at the Office #2

Did you just warn a client about the dangers of an application that we install on their workstations?

-Me, to an obviously confused junior technician

D-Link Emulators

Have you ever been on the phone trying to walk someone through the setup of their router or trying to troubleshoot their connection?  Wouldn't it be nice if there were somewhere you could go online and see what the GUI that they were seeing looked like?  Well, if that someone is using a D-Link product, then maybe you're in luck.  D-Link has web based emulators for a number of their products online in their support section.  I had a link to a menu of all available emulators, but it doesn't work now and I can't find a new link, but Google has your back. Too bad more manufacturers don't do this.

Overheard at the Office #1

Hoes on the bed, money on the table!

-- A coworker looking at a list of lost files we were trying to retrieve for a client.  The file names were all in Korean. In his mind, a couple of the characters in the first file name looked like a bed and a night stand.

First Post

I used to work for an MSP. The pace is fast, at times the stress is high and you just never know what you're walking into each morning. But for the most part, I loved it. In fact, I loved it to the point where I stayed on in a part time capacity after leaving for greener pastures.  You can't get comfortable because there will always be a new client with an application that you've never seen before.  There will be a firewall that you've never seen before, but now you're supporting it or replicating it's configuration into one of your offerings.  There will be a new application you've never seen before and the entire company uses, and they're looking for help because the server just crashed and backups are for weenies.  There will always be a new marketing buzzword and half of your client base wants you to host it for them starting yesterday.

Before an infamous batch of turnover, we had a very close team.  We laughed, we joked, we talked a lot of trash back and forth. We also all struggled with mouth filtering. That part about not knowing what you were walking into every morning wasn't just computer and network issues, it was also the "interesting" conversations that would be going on when you came in.

A couple of us would often joke that someone needed to write a book about things overheard in our office. I don't know if I could come up with enough material for a book (though I'm sure I can eventually), but what I do have is a lot of stories from over the years that need telling.  These are my tales from the front lines of an MSP.  While most of the stories come from my time at the MSP, there are occasional others as well.  The names have been changed to protect the innocent, but the stories are all 100% embarrassingly true.