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.