Azure Jane Lunatic (Azz) 🌺 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
azurelunatic) wrote2014-11-14 03:59 am
azurelunatic) wrote2014-11-14 03:59 am
"The bathroom is haunted?" and other things we don't tell the helpdesk
My sleep schedule was unfortunate.
Left for work at 7am, rather than 6:30. This was not my best decision. I arrived at 8:30 rather than 7:15-8. Researcher Carmageddon said that traffic was ass for him too, so apparently it was more ass than usual.
Meeting happened, no notable disasters. Though we really do have to get internal people to label themselves better. (Ordinarily Researcher Carmageddon wouldn't have asked an internal person to introduce themselves, but it wasn't a familiar name.)
Desk shenanigans followed. The Hipster Researcher had engaged in desk-moving shenanigans; the chatter about the sudden appearance of a corner desk in the team table area attracted the attention of the Stage Manager and then my manager. While I had been aware that it was at least an unspoken no-no, apparently removing the second desk from a two-person office is in fact an actual no-no upon which managers will Frown. Also, facilities is supposed to do the heavy lifting. I filed a ticket.
Today was yet another instance of helpdesk "fun". My feelings are that the helpdesk software should go away entirely, the helpdesk staff should be re-educated, and the responsible developers should perhaps find another line of work.
I explained to the Hipster Researcher how to find a ticket in the system given the ticket number. My explanation is approximately as follows: "Okay, so you searched for that in the terrible green and black UI?" "...I guess?" "Right, so the [specific link details] throws you into the terrible blue and white UI..." "I SAW THAT ONCE AND PROMPTLY LEFT." "Right. So you go to the terrible blue and white UI, you hit the cancel button because the default page takes about 20-30 seconds to load, and then you paste the ticket number into the nearly invisible search box at the top right, and go."
It is, in fact, necessary for me to specify "terrible" when describing these user interfaces. Merely mentioning the colors is not sufficient.
Earlier in the week, I had been in the upstairs ladies room, the one near my end of the building. There had been an unpleasant mechanical or electrical noise audible from within. Since I was in a hurry on my way to a meeting, I sent a very hasty email without a subject line to the helpdesk intake address. Wednesday, I found that someone from the helpdesk intake crew had given it a subject line.
I askedsithjawa to attempt a summary of "something by the 2nd floor ladies bathroom by elevator is high pitched whining loudly".
sithjawa: The bathroom is haunted?
sithjawa: Sonic attack in 2nd floor ladies room?
ajlunatic: Strong B+ and A
ajlunatic: Let me show you an F answer
ajlunatic: "elevator is high pitched whining loudly"
I had, upon seeing this on Wednesday, asked (in the ticket) the person responsible to change the summary as that summary was BAD AND WRONG AND MISLEADING. I can kind of see how they got it from my hasty and grammatically dubious sentence. The summary, of course, remained as it stood. The ticket wasn't actually taken in on Wednesday night, so (due to dubious design choices) my comments would probably vanish into the aether.
Today, I encounter the guy who has to troubleshoot these things. I said that it had nothing to do with the elevator, it was just that there are two ladies' rooms on the 2nd floor. (Also the 1st floor; it's a big building.) Unfortunately, he spent what was probably half an hour trying to troubleshoot the elevator. RAGE. After I provided textual clarification in a venue which was not the very noisy cafeteria, he looked at the HVAC maintenance on the roof directly above, involving the communicating air vents. Which was entirely likely the cause.
I got a good chunk of transcription in. And then there was the team meeting. Unfortunately, they seem to have turned down the a/c, either on account of the repairs or the season. The room was hot, although my sleep-deprived state possibly contributed more to my nearly dozing off while the Grandmanager went through some stuff.
Mr. Zune and I decided that the guy on his team who I nearly accidentally clobbered with my cane that time, the one who is organizationally his eccentric bachelor uncle, should be henceforth known as his Overlord, as the guy gets to boss him around in time-honored Overlord fashion. When passing through Mr. Zune's department, I saw to my delight that Mr. Zune had indeed ordered a Caution: Bees sign for his teammate the beekeeper on the occasion of his wedding. It is now proudly posted on the beekeeper's office door. (And now I can actually ask "And your wife? And your bees?" in the same tone of voice for both when we get coffee at the same time.)
lb was still out sick, and Purple and R were still at the hackathon; radius and phone were either working from home or working from Australia or maybe in a meeting, so it was just Mr. Zune and me who went on the trek for ice cream. We compared scar stories and I introduced him to both the game prime/not-prime (by way of introduction) and the game lube/not-lube. He mentioned a very bad and perhaps apocryphal piece of sex advice as found on Reddit: "double bag it with Tabasco between the layers so you'll know if it breaks." So that's a thing that has been said on the internet. We saw R going thattaway on our way back. We said hi. Purple was at the next table over from her, so she promised to relay our greetings.
I managed to knock over a glass of soda. Fortunately, it was carpet-cleaning night anyway.
Eventually I decided it was time to go home. I figured the hackathon was probably still going on. I pinged R and asked her if she wanted some chocolate-covered espresso beans. She did not, but told me to ask Purple. Purple being notoriously hard to get ahold of via text, and this not being a world-shaking emergency that warranted calling, I didn't bother to check. I came by with my vat of the confection, and grabbed a couple paper bowls on my way down. Purple seemed happy to see me (when he registered my presence), and "This is probably a bad idea, but what the hell" accepted a few. I put them on the table, and added a warning label (as it's not immediately obvious what they are if you don't know, and accidental caffeine poisoning often offends). I hung out at R's table for a bit, then bade Purple goodnight. (I did not get any more caffeine tonight. I will probably want it tomorrow. I had sufficient caffeine today already. I did not have sufficient sleep. I did not have even half sufficient sleep. Purple winced.) (My weekdays feel oddly incomplete without saying goodnight to Purple.) One does not hug goodnight at this hackathon, and we did not.
I calledzarhooie on the way home, yay!
Once I got home, I basically stripped, brushed my teeth, and hopped into bed. I may have made sure that nothing blew up in IRC, and emailed Purple to advise him that I had arrived home safely, but that was about it. I chatted withsithjawa, who had pinged me just as I was getting home, for a few minutes while horizontal, but conked out with alacrity for four hours before waking up hungry (as I had not bothered with a meal). Soon I will sleep again.
Tomorrow's big plans: door sign party with the Dean! I can't wait! Plus more transcription.
Left for work at 7am, rather than 6:30. This was not my best decision. I arrived at 8:30 rather than 7:15-8. Researcher Carmageddon said that traffic was ass for him too, so apparently it was more ass than usual.
Meeting happened, no notable disasters. Though we really do have to get internal people to label themselves better. (Ordinarily Researcher Carmageddon wouldn't have asked an internal person to introduce themselves, but it wasn't a familiar name.)
Desk shenanigans followed. The Hipster Researcher had engaged in desk-moving shenanigans; the chatter about the sudden appearance of a corner desk in the team table area attracted the attention of the Stage Manager and then my manager. While I had been aware that it was at least an unspoken no-no, apparently removing the second desk from a two-person office is in fact an actual no-no upon which managers will Frown. Also, facilities is supposed to do the heavy lifting. I filed a ticket.
Today was yet another instance of helpdesk "fun". My feelings are that the helpdesk software should go away entirely, the helpdesk staff should be re-educated, and the responsible developers should perhaps find another line of work.
I explained to the Hipster Researcher how to find a ticket in the system given the ticket number. My explanation is approximately as follows: "Okay, so you searched for that in the terrible green and black UI?" "...I guess?" "Right, so the [specific link details] throws you into the terrible blue and white UI..." "I SAW THAT ONCE AND PROMPTLY LEFT." "Right. So you go to the terrible blue and white UI, you hit the cancel button because the default page takes about 20-30 seconds to load, and then you paste the ticket number into the nearly invisible search box at the top right, and go."
It is, in fact, necessary for me to specify "terrible" when describing these user interfaces. Merely mentioning the colors is not sufficient.
Earlier in the week, I had been in the upstairs ladies room, the one near my end of the building. There had been an unpleasant mechanical or electrical noise audible from within. Since I was in a hurry on my way to a meeting, I sent a very hasty email without a subject line to the helpdesk intake address. Wednesday, I found that someone from the helpdesk intake crew had given it a subject line.
I asked
sithjawa to attempt a summary of "something by the 2nd floor ladies bathroom by elevator is high pitched whining loudly". sithjawa: The bathroom is haunted? sithjawa: Sonic attack in 2nd floor ladies room? ajlunatic: Strong B+ and A
ajlunatic: Let me show you an F answer
ajlunatic: "elevator is high pitched whining loudly"
I had, upon seeing this on Wednesday, asked (in the ticket) the person responsible to change the summary as that summary was BAD AND WRONG AND MISLEADING. I can kind of see how they got it from my hasty and grammatically dubious sentence. The summary, of course, remained as it stood. The ticket wasn't actually taken in on Wednesday night, so (due to dubious design choices) my comments would probably vanish into the aether.
Today, I encounter the guy who has to troubleshoot these things. I said that it had nothing to do with the elevator, it was just that there are two ladies' rooms on the 2nd floor. (Also the 1st floor; it's a big building.) Unfortunately, he spent what was probably half an hour trying to troubleshoot the elevator. RAGE. After I provided textual clarification in a venue which was not the very noisy cafeteria, he looked at the HVAC maintenance on the roof directly above, involving the communicating air vents. Which was entirely likely the cause.
I got a good chunk of transcription in. And then there was the team meeting. Unfortunately, they seem to have turned down the a/c, either on account of the repairs or the season. The room was hot, although my sleep-deprived state possibly contributed more to my nearly dozing off while the Grandmanager went through some stuff.
Mr. Zune and I decided that the guy on his team who I nearly accidentally clobbered with my cane that time, the one who is organizationally his eccentric bachelor uncle, should be henceforth known as his Overlord, as the guy gets to boss him around in time-honored Overlord fashion. When passing through Mr. Zune's department, I saw to my delight that Mr. Zune had indeed ordered a Caution: Bees sign for his teammate the beekeeper on the occasion of his wedding. It is now proudly posted on the beekeeper's office door. (And now I can actually ask "And your wife? And your bees?" in the same tone of voice for both when we get coffee at the same time.)
lb was still out sick, and Purple and R were still at the hackathon; radius and phone were either working from home or working from Australia or maybe in a meeting, so it was just Mr. Zune and me who went on the trek for ice cream. We compared scar stories and I introduced him to both the game prime/not-prime (by way of introduction) and the game lube/not-lube. He mentioned a very bad and perhaps apocryphal piece of sex advice as found on Reddit: "double bag it with Tabasco between the layers so you'll know if it breaks." So that's a thing that has been said on the internet. We saw R going thattaway on our way back. We said hi. Purple was at the next table over from her, so she promised to relay our greetings.
I managed to knock over a glass of soda. Fortunately, it was carpet-cleaning night anyway.
Eventually I decided it was time to go home. I figured the hackathon was probably still going on. I pinged R and asked her if she wanted some chocolate-covered espresso beans. She did not, but told me to ask Purple. Purple being notoriously hard to get ahold of via text, and this not being a world-shaking emergency that warranted calling, I didn't bother to check. I came by with my vat of the confection, and grabbed a couple paper bowls on my way down. Purple seemed happy to see me (when he registered my presence), and "This is probably a bad idea, but what the hell" accepted a few. I put them on the table, and added a warning label (as it's not immediately obvious what they are if you don't know, and accidental caffeine poisoning often offends). I hung out at R's table for a bit, then bade Purple goodnight. (I did not get any more caffeine tonight. I will probably want it tomorrow. I had sufficient caffeine today already. I did not have sufficient sleep. I did not have even half sufficient sleep. Purple winced.) (My weekdays feel oddly incomplete without saying goodnight to Purple.) One does not hug goodnight at this hackathon, and we did not.
I called
zarhooie on the way home, yay! Once I got home, I basically stripped, brushed my teeth, and hopped into bed. I may have made sure that nothing blew up in IRC, and emailed Purple to advise him that I had arrived home safely, but that was about it. I chatted with
sithjawa, who had pinged me just as I was getting home, for a few minutes while horizontal, but conked out with alacrity for four hours before waking up hungry (as I had not bothered with a meal). Soon I will sleep again. Tomorrow's big plans: door sign party with the Dean! I can't wait! Plus more transcription.
no subject
....ow. And also no.
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Purple went home after the hackathon was over, due to general exhaustion.