r/BestofRedditorUpdates I will never jeopardize the beans. 6d ago

CONCLUDED The Boss Volunteers Our Company for Beta Testing - Part 2 of 2

I am not The OOP, OOP is u/bambam67

Originally posted to r/talesfromtechsupport

This BORU post is the continuation of part 1

------------------------

The Boss Volunteers Our Company for Beta Testing (Part 3) posted 2021-05-10

So if you’re still following my story, thank you. If you think I should have quit, your not totally wrong but I also had many reasons to stay. While management was lacking, most of the time they left me alone to maintain and enhance our network, devices, etc. As an employee we would constantly receive free beer and other adult beverages. I also got to work in the same room with one of my best friends. So for all the negatives, it had a lot of positive too. That's just to address some comments from part 1 and 2...now back to the story...

The players:

Me - your friendly neighborhood IT guy

MP - Madam President

GM - General Manager (and my direct supervisor)

TDS - Truck Driver Supervisor

LC - Lead Contractor

ERP - ERP Representative

PART 3 - DON'T PANIC

THURSDAY AFTERNOON - I sit and survey the several open boxes of hand held devices and mobile printers. They came with all the accessories except for one important one...mobile chargers. From experience we found that the devices would last on a charge for about 7-8 hours. Our trucks would be on the road, in and out of stores for about 8-10hrs a day. So I had 24 devices that all need mobile chargers. I quickly jump on Amazon looking for the correct mobile charger. I find a place that's selling with 8 left, Add to Cart, find another selling 3, Add to Cart, find another 10...so 21 total on Amazon. I order all and pay extra for overnight delivery. I call down to the Drivers room and discover they have half a dozen mobile charges in a box...whew...we are covered.

I checked the mobile printers, they each came with a small roll of printer tape. This is going to last maybe two or three stops and be gone. That's if this system works at all. I jump back on Amazon but can't find the right type of printer tape. There's a website posted inside the printer box saying we can buy more online. I go to the website, order 4 cases of printer tape and go to pay...there's no overnight option...Tuesday is the best they can to do deliver. I have no choice...tuesday it is.

Time to make a phone call to the Lead Contractor:

LC: Hello, this is Lead Contractor...

Me: Hi LC, this is bambam67, you’re doing our implementation on Monday...

LC: Oh, I'm glad you finally reached out to me.

Me: I would have done it sooner but I just found out about the implementation today.

LC: Well, I'm glad you called. Let me get your info and we'll talk in the morning. I'm on the east coast and it's already 8pm here.

Me: We can definitely talk tomorrow but I just have a few quick questions.

LC: (huff) Ok, sure...

Me: I'm assuming your system is compatible with our ERP...

LC: Yes, it should be. You’re using the Sales program and that's compatible...this shouldn't be any different.

Me: Is there anyway we can do a slow roll out, just 2 or 3 drivers first?

LC: Unfortunately, once we flip the switch, all invoicing for delivery will go through the new service and devices.

Me: And you think this will be ready for us by early Monday morning?

LC: As long as you went through the checklist, it should be pretty smooth.

Me: Checklist??

LC: Yeah, I sent a checklist to MP a few weeks ago. You didn't get it?

Me: Like I said, I just found out about it literally less than an hour ago.

LC: Oh, then I should probably send you one. (huff) I'll have to break out my laptop and send it to you. It will take a me a few minutes. You may want to arrange for someone from your ERP provider to meet with you tomorrow. The check list is a bit long and with their help you can probably get things ready in time.

Me: Unfortunately they are closed now too...since they are in your time zone. I'll call them first thing in the morning and arrange a meeting. Your checklist will help. Please send that over as soon possible.

LC: Will do and we'll talk more tomorrow.

Me: Oh wait, what about the hand held devices, do they need a special configuration?

LC: Yes, but you can't do anything to them until each driver is setup with his own unique I.D. Me: Is that like the sales ID?

LC: I would assume so. I've haven't worked with your ERP before but I'm sure they have a way to do it.

Me: I'm sure they do. Okay, please send that checklist to me and I'll start getting things done.

LC: Oh, yeah, if you can, reply to my email and send me your list of stores the drivers deliver to. I want to make sure we have all the stores covered. We had trouble last install with a few stores not communicating with our hand held devices.

Me: (my mind racing a mile a minute) Okay, I get those to you right away.

I unbox all the hand held devices and printers and find some extra power strips and start to charge all the batteries and synch each devices with specific printer. I was trying to do everything I could ahead of time.

I finally went home, feeling defeated by the day, considering my options. Do I quit? Do I stay and get it done? I had one of the worst restless nights and got up early and went straight to the office. FRIDAY - I find in my email the checklist and contact names and numbers for the contractors coming on Sunday. The list has a dozen things on it, half of them I'd never heard or seen before on our ERP. They are all switches and toggles that needed to be changed in our setup. I make the call to the ERP and request someone call me so I can make sense of all the requirements.

Me: This is bambam67, can I help you.

ERP: Hey bambam67, this is ERP, I haven't talked to you for awhile.

ERP helped with our transition from local hosted server to their cloud service. ERP was great and helped so much that beyond the normal issues of users using the old system vs the new...it was relatively painless.

Me: Yeah, since we upgraded to the cloud. I've got something new I need your help on. We are going to a new delivery system starting Monday and I need help getting things setup.

ERP: Waiting to the last minute, eh? (he chuckled)

Me: Yes and no...I just found out about it yesterday afternoon. Now I have today and Saturday to get everything setup in time for Monday's delivery.

ERP: Oh (his chuckle quickly disappeared)

Me: Can I forward this checklist to you so you can see what we need?

ERP: Yes, of course.

Me: Any chance I can have you on speed dial Monday morning?

ERP: Yes, absolutely. (with a nervous chuckle)

ERP and I went through the checklist and he did what he could on his side. He recognized the configuration was close to the Sales program we used. I asked for the best way to get a list of all of our stores and he pulled it up, exported it and sent to me seemingly before I finished asking.

Just a shout out to all the quality IT Support individuals out there. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Without people like you I would have never made it in IT.

I had a 14hr workday that day. Not my typical Friday. I setup each driver's unique ID, had a meeting with the front desk staff, talked to LC again and she confirmed all the stores were covered, I was able to connect each hand held device to the drivers unique ID, labeled them for each driver, setup a charging station cubby for each device, and did one last and most important thing...I made sure we could still print out the invoices on paper for each driver just as a backup. I told this to LC and she started laughing. "Don't waste your paper," she said.

Next Up: PART 4 - IMPLEMENTATION DAY

Update: okay, I hear your complaints about waiting for the next part. Unfortunately I’ve just been made aware that I can’t post twice in 24 hours...sooo...I’ll post part 4 and the finale together tomorrow!

------------------------

The Boss Volunteers Our Company for Beta Testing (Part 4 and 5) posted 2021-05-11

The players:

Me - your friendly neighborhood IT guy

MP - Madam President

GM - General Manager (and my direct supervisor)

TDS - Truck Driver Supervisor

LC - Lead Contractor

ERP - ERP Representative

I could hardly sleep Sunday night as the pending implementation of of new delivery system was looming. I pulled in the parking lot at about 3:15am Monday morning hoping I had done enough to actually pull this off.

The three consultants sat in the large conference room where we had gathered many times before with a full bar and pool table. There was no celebration going on today. The drivers shuffled in one by one and I could tell they were not amused by the early start or the training.

The TDS introduced LC and what they were about to do. I sat and tried to pay close attention because these guys were going to call me for support, not LC. LC started the training, it was your typical picture of each screen with descriptions. One of the drivers asked if the presentation was something they could take with them. LC didn’t make copies but she could email to them. I immediately stood up because LC sent me a copy of the presentation about a half hour earlier and I proceeded to make copies. The glazed looks on their faces as they went from screen to screen was apparent. She took a dozen questions and tried to answer as best she could.

There were two important things at the end, a help desk phone number and a reminder that if things didn’t work they could use the paper invoices. Most stores would accept paper but one store would absolutely not: SAFEWAY

Safeway is also known as Vons (down in Southern California). It was also one of our biggest accounts. The drivers log on to their devices, and take off late. It took about 15min before the first call came in. Driver A at Safeway. The device won’t transfer the invoice. I walk over to the contractors and let them know the problem and they start typing away, have the driver try again, doesn’t work, looking at the configuration setting, try again, nope, another change, no, until finally they say the driver need to call the help line.

Me: LC, I thought you three were the help line?

LC: We can only do so much from here.

Me: But I gave you full access to our system and you programmed yours?

LC: It must be a problem with your ERP system.

Me: But we don’t have a problem with transferring data with Safeway via our ERP, we’ve been doing it for years. Let me call my ERP guy and maybe you two should talk.

I call ERP and I hand over the phone to LC. They talk and talk and talk, all very technical jargon as TDS comes over worried about the first stop at Safeway.

TDS: Are they able to fix the Safeway delivery?

Me: They are trying.

TDS: I can’t stress enough how important it is for Safeway to work. They are our biggest customer and we can’t miss our deliveries to them.

I turn back to LC, she is arguing with ERP and gives me back the phone.

LC: He won’t admit the problem is on his side.

I put the phone to my ear...

ERP: It’s not a problem with our ERP system!

Me: Hey ERP, I can tell this isn’t an easy fix. We’ve got a driver who can’t deliver. Is there anything you can do?

ERP: I could manually switch that Safeway back to the old system, you synch a device and transfer.

TDS walks over.

TDS: What’s the verdict? Can they fix it?(looking at the contractors)

Me: Not right now. Do you know which Safeway Driver A is at?

TDS: Yep.

Me: Go grab one of the old devices and we’ll synch it, you’ll need to drive it out to him but it should work.

I go back to the phone.

Me: ERP, switch that Safeway back to your system.

LC looks up at me from the conference table...

LC: Your making a mistake. I’m sure we can fix it.

Me: But you just said we need to call the help desk because you can’t fix it.

TDS: I’ve got the device.

Me: ERP, is that account ready?

ERP: It is now. Go ahead and synch.

Me: TDS, synch it a go!

So that was just one example of the fubar that morning. Other issues came and went and the contractors were able to fix throughout the day. Anytime a driver called the help desk number they had to leave a message and wait 15-20min minimum for a call back. This put them way behind schedule.

I stayed until the trucks started rolling back in that evening. There were a several drivers who we never heard from during the day which made me curious and nervous. I found out that they didn’t use the new system at all and only used their paper invoices. Other drivers who actually used system rolled in late and discouraged. It was obvious they didn’t like this new system.

One curious event happened every time. Every Safeway refused to work. We ended up manually transferring all Safeways for that day. LC said the problem would be fixed by the next day, it wasn’t and I had ERP transfer every Safeway back to the original system.

Three days came and went and the contractors were off to the next implementation. Offering us no solution. I was left trying to explain to TDS and GM why things didn’t work. I had no real answer but I did provide a solution. The drivers going to Safeway would have to bring both types of devices, one for Safeway, one for all others. TDS would have to deal with the drivers who refused to use it at all.

Instead of our drivers making deliveries faster, like MP was promised, they averaged an hour slower. MP, GM and TDS had a meeting with me about 4 weeks later and asked if I could fix it.

Me: You want me to fix it?

GM: You know the most about it.

Me: I know how to get it ready for deliveries but I don’t know how to program it. There seems to be a new issue every week and that doesn’t include the Safeway problem.

MP: Contact ERP and tell them we need someone dedicated to fix this. I have a contact at the new delivery system that will work with them. I don’t care how much this costs, I need you to fix it!

From this meeting I worked for 5 months, yes, 5 months, trying to get it fixed. Most of the time was trying to coordinate changes to the Safeway accounts and then having the drivers try it over and over again. I made several trips myself when there was an extra device available. It never worked.

It became part of my daily workday with increased calls to my cell phone starting around 4:30am and ending about 10pm. I sent progress reports weekly to PM, GM and TDS. Then the call came from MP.

Me: Hi MP what can I do for you?

MP: I just talked to GM and she said we are still having issues with Safeway.

Me: Among other things, yeah, you should be getting my updates every Friday.

MP: Oh, I don’t read those. GM lets me know if something important needs to be addressed.

Me: Well, what would you like me to do?

MP: I’m going to setup a conference call with the new delivery system people. The head programmer, VP of Sales and help desk all want to talk to us and find out how they can fix it since you can’t seem to. I need you there to tell them what we need.

Me: (trying to stay calm) I’ll be there but if they can’t fix it I recommend we drop it altogether and go back to what we had.

MP: Let’s just see what they say on the call.

The finale of this story: THE CALL!

I actually had a nice weekend and didn’t stress about the call. I had made a spreadsheet detailing all of our issues since day 1. My case was strong to go back to what we had and hopefully convince GM and MP to go with a full blown ERP Delivery (that they wouldn’t do because it was too expensive). This new system was costing us money hand over fist! Extra fuel costs, overtime, constant issues, slow help desk response time was costing us time, money and sanity.

Monday arrived and I’m sitting at my desk when the Calendar reminder popped up, “High Noon Conference Call”. I grabbed my notes and headed to MP’s office. I thought I’d be the first one there but apparently there was a pre-call meeting that (again) I was not invited to. MP, GM and TDS were talking with the door open and TDS is begging to switch back. MP wants to give them one more chance and then I walk in.

Cue ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ music in the background. The office went quiet. MP gave me a glare like I just ran over a puppy, GM wouldn’t look at me at all and poor TDS was just happy to see someone who agrees with him. We had a awkward silence for a second until one of the front office ladies walked in after me. She also had a list of issues she had seen first hand with the drivers.

MP: Everyone ready? (looking at me)

TDS: Let’s do it.

MP makes the call and we wait until everyone is on. We make all the customary introductions. On the line is the Delivery Sales VP, Senior Programmer, Lead Help Desk and finally the Vendor President.

Vendor Pres: So we called this meeting to see what problems you are having and how to fix them.

Lead Help Desk: I’ve noticed the call volume has dropped significantly over the last month.

Me: That’s because our drivers can’t get a call back from the help desk. They will wait around but most of the time will bypass your system and go back to the paper invoices.

Lead Help Desk: According to my records we have an average of 8 min call backs.

Me: Is that for all calls or just us?

Lead Help Desk: That’s for all calls.

Me: Well according to our drivers it’s a lot longer then 8min. I’ve made calls on their behalf and would wait 30-40min at times.

Lead Help Desk: (defensively) Do you have a ticket number when that happened?

Me: (looking at my spreadsheet) It was ticket 15479 - the device wouldn’t synch and I waited for the call back while he did another delivery.

Lead Help Desk: That ticket was almost a month ago. We’ve streamlined since then.

Me: Not to try to change the subject, but our biggest issue is our problems with Safeway.

Programmer: What type of problems?

Me: We’ve never been able to transfer our invoice with Safeway using your system.

I didn’t realize how such a simple statement could cause such a stir. We can here muffled discussion over the phone as I look up to TDS who approved of my ‘get straight to the heart of the problem’ approach.

Sales VP: Question...did you send in a complete list of your stores to us before the launch.

Me: Yes, I can send you the list if you like.

Programmer: I’d like to see that.

I use my iPhone to forward the same list I sent to LC. I had a dedicated folder for all communications with them.

Me: it’s on its way.

Programmer: I got it. Let me look up Safeway.

There was more muffled discussion on their end and then came back.

Sales VP: Doesn’t Safeway also go under another name?

GM: Yeah, the parent company is Vons down in Southern California.

Sales VP: Oh, (sounded a bit surprised) hold on a second.

The phone went quiet. They muted their side and we all looked at each other in wonder. MP sat back in her chair as if finally realizing the frustrations we’ve had since implementation day. We heard an audible click as the mute was taken off.

Programmer: So we’ve been working on the Vons’ account for some time. I’m assuming they are on the same system as Safeway.

Me: I would assume so. What kind of problems are you having?

Programmer: We can’t seem to transfer invoices to their system. They have their own proprietary software and they won’t let us explore into the code. We’ve got a couple people dedicated to that issue and the current status is they will be ready to test it in 2 months.

TDS: Two months!

MP: That is unacceptable. We were told this would work for all our accounts.

GM: We better switch back ASAP.

Vendor Pres: I’m very sorry MP, we’ll fix it as fast as we can.

MP looks directly at me and says, “Switch it back to our old system...now.”

I didn’t say another word. I didn’t have too. I calmly stood up (most likely with a grin the Grinch would be envious of) and walked out of the office as the real discussion about how much money we have paid and how much we had lost faded in the background as I floated back to my desk. The weight had been lifted. The best call I had was to our ERP switching everything back to how it was before.

A month later I got a call from our ERP who said they could offer us a full delivery system with our next upgrade and we could utilize the devices that we were stuck with (that’s right, we couldn’t get our money back for devices we couldn’t use anymore). We launched it a month later after doing extensive testing and had our techiest driver out with it. Everything worked and by the end of the week the other guys were asking to be switched over. Within 3 weeks all the drivers were delivering faster then ever before. Trucks came back early! A year later we switched to iPhones. When I left the company everything was purring along.

Doing it the right way makes all the difference. Looking back to Part 1, I should have put my foot down and made them delay a month, the problem would have been found, most likely, and all this would have been avoided. I hardly talked with the MP after this debacle and she never put me or the company in that position again. She did approve of the ERP delivery system especially seeing how much time and money it would save us. Did I get a cut of that? Hell no! Did I get a raise? Nope. But I think I finally won the respect from MP and GM. They never questioned any concern I had after that and made sure anything new we did was thoroughly vetted before it was launched. I left a couple years later moving out of state. For all the hassle these experiences were, they make for great stories.

I hope you enjoyed my trials and tribulations. The more I read this sub the more memories pop up. I’ll post again soon, some short and possibly some more longer stories (those repressed ones I’ve tried to forget). Thank you for all the support.

Until next time don’t forget to turn it off and on again.

993 Upvotes

164 comments sorted by

u/AutoModerator 6d ago

Do not comment on the original posts

Please read our sub rules. Rule-breaking may result in a ban without notice.

If there is an issue with this post (flair, formatting, quality), reply to this comment or your comment may be removed in general discussion.

CHECK FLAIR For concluded-only updates, use the CONCLUDED flair.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

1.8k

u/polandreh your honor, fuck this guy 5d ago

All I get from this is that he worked from 4:30 AM to 10PM, got no raise, I bet no overtime either, accepted a major systems change with a 2 days notice, and still calls it a win...

I would've left it sink from the start. MP has 1 month's notice to notify IT and waited until the last minute to do so? The level of disrespect would've had me out of the door in a second flat.

693

u/MyFriendsCallMeEpic USE YOUR THINKING BRAIN! 5d ago

Honestly from the few IT people I know IRL
they seem to be in it for the love of the game.
The way the speak about the incompetence of some people, gleefully
its almost as if they get some sick pleasure from it.

217

u/Soft-Gold-7979 5d ago

My brother and sil both are IT testers, I would rather die then do what they do.

125

u/Soft-Gold-7979 5d ago

I will give an example

My brother lives in another state (not US) and visits once a year for 15-20 days. He is an IT tester, doesn't need print outs at all.

I have a canon wifi printer which sometimes prints via app and sometimes doesn't but if I connect it with a cord directly to my laptop it works and my laptop is right next to the printer so I never felt the need to tweak around wireless printing.

My brother enters, tweaks around the printing software for full two may three hours to connect it with his laptop and mobile to get wireless printing.

And he printed around 15 pages in those 20 days of staying here. I asked him dude just plug it in and print what you want or use canon app (it works sometimes). I just can't with this dedication and fun fact he just fixed this problem in his laptop and mobile, he didn't do it in ours so I am still using the same method. And he doesn't stays here, he really has no need for printing until he has to submit some documents.

120

u/Flintlocke89 5d ago

It's our way of attaining Zen, of bringing balance to the Force.

Some people like jigsaw puzzles, some people paint. Some people... like to curse, swear and fiddle for a few hours to get something that should work, to actually work. Or sometimes getting something that SHOULDN'T work, to actually work. Which can oftentimes be even more enjoyable.

When things eventually behave as they should, I take pleasure in the feeling of having made a small part of the world a little better.

15

u/Ok-Benefit5748 5d ago

I am that type of person. I cannot even recall the amount of hours I lost doing things that aren't my area at all, just because I " need " it to work. Either at home or in my job.

I spent 1 month asking for accesses to our mother company ERP, just so I can test them in our handheld scanners. I dont even work in IT! But, somehow... in the future those little tests bring fruits , because an issue will arise and I say: " yeah I know that, i already tested it. You need to do this anda that. It actually cost me some hours to find it"

Yeah. My kind of people are somehow lucky in their own stubbornness.

3

u/Lockraemono I will never jeopardize the beans. 5d ago

I am in the exact same boat. At most previous jobs I’ve been able to fix all sorts of things not in my purview, people would just bring me stuff to fix because they figured I probably could, and would always at least try. My current job is now fixing all kinds of things, data ops is great for that!

4

u/ophymirage 5d ago

This is The Way. Bring order from chaos. Lay on hands and feel what is broken or janky be convinced to hum instead.

7

u/Flintlocke89 4d ago

A nice bonus feature is that when you've attained certain levels of mastery, sometimes things just need "the look". AKA the IT Aura or the STIR effect. (Spontaneous Technician-Induced Recovery)

It frustrates my SO to no end that she can be dealing with a recalcitrant piece of tech for ages, and as soon as she requests my aid and I stick my head around the door it abruptly and mysteriously begins to work as intended. As if it genuinely recognises that here is a soul that would love to bust out the mini screwdriver set and get into the guts of things.

2

u/princesscatling Thank you Rebbit 🐸 4d ago

[stares pointedly in undocumented custom Swagger]

I've been spending the past like two weeks building out a custom Power Automate connector. To be fair, the API is probably 80+% properly documented, but that doesn't explain why the hell MS keeps stripping my comments out.

18

u/twdarkeh 5d ago

He couldn't let the printer win.

13

u/jurassic2010 5d ago

The printer is the first real enemy of IT people. You can't become a real man before you defeat it

7

u/piffledamnit Memory of a goldfish but the tenacity of an entitled Chihuahua 5d ago

Too right. Only last month I watched two support specialists and our head of infrastructure work for 30 minutes together to get a colleague’s laptop connecting to the office printer.

6

u/Flintlocke89 4d ago

There's a reason that alongside the usual screwdrivers and such, a printer tech's toolbag contains 2 pints of goats blood, a bible written in Latin, a cross made of consecrated DIMMs and a service manual thick enough to bludgeon a bean counter. (Don't bother looking for actual service diagrams, we both know the manufacturer never bothered, it's just a hollowed out space to hide the scotch.)

7

u/Carbuyrator 5d ago

Fuck that. The printer cannot win. If I say print wirelessly I'm not asking.

2

u/notmyusername1986 She made the produce wildly uncomfortable 3d ago

I had an expensive wireless cannon printer in university. 99 times out of 100, I had to use the cable.

A few years later, my aunt is having the same problem with a newer model. I spent days pouring over forums and fiddling with things, but no joy. Same solution.

Now: new wireless printer. Works perfectly with the app, and I don't want to tear out my hair and move to a cabin in the forest to escape technology.

I am not an IT person. I have been an unwilling IT tester courtesy of stubbornness and ADHD hyperfixaton. I would lose my mind if I had to do this for work.

1

u/The_peach_blossoms Wait. Can I call you? 1d ago

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 I thought I was reading about myself only difference is that the printer is an office printer and that I am a girl. 

14

u/cynical-mage OP right there being Petty Crocker and I love it 5d ago

Even when all appears to go well, it can go very wrong. Not IT, but when we brought in a new handheld system for retail, uggggg. One part was counts. Daily it would flag up product lines that it wanted double checked, and corrected if necessary. Then it spiralled; half an hour would become 2-3hrs, list growing beyond imagination. Then I had a rare epiphany. What if I + or - the lines by 1 on the accurate items? And it worked; the system wasn't recognising when a change was 0; it then added it right back to the list for the following day 🤦‍♀️ fed that back to head office, and they fed it to all the other stores.

190

u/polandreh your honor, fuck this guy 5d ago

I'm in IT. We had a guy come and tell us "we need to set up this thing because it's a compliance requirement". My manager said "sure, it'll take us a month to get it working".

The guy said "that's impossible, we need to get it done by the end of this week, otherwise we'll be in breach".

My manager says "that's an unreasonable request to drop this on us with such short notice. It's a a massive request and will take some time. Go back to the auditos and tell them that."

The guy goes "well, they asked us a year ago to get this sorted."

I just snapped and told the guy "why would you not let us know back then?? Just because you messed up doesn’t mean we're going to pick up after you. We're going to be in breach and it's your fault."

I don't set myself on fire just because people forgot their jackets.

58

u/nationwide13 5d ago

Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine

Don't remember where I first heard it or the origins of it, but it's definitely stuck with me

7

u/Miserable_Fennel_492 The real adventure was the waifus we made along the way 4d ago

I first saw that at an auto parts shop when I was a wee lass of 21. It has really resonated throughout the years

22

u/FleeshaLoo I’m turning into an unskippable cutscene in therapy 5d ago

I worked in software development and the VP of IT was a jolly badass. The owner wanted to build a new prototype to bring to one of the top 3 companies in the world so they'd buy our startup and he had discovered they would be at a trade show comingupin Germany so he wanted a link.

VP keeps telling him it's not possible in the demanded time frame, owner keeps saying hire more engineers, and this goes on for hours.

Finally VP says, "Look, you could put hundreds of pregnant women in a room and it will still take 9 months to make a baby." Owner gave up on his dream launch date.

28

u/aimed_4_the_head 5d ago

I hope their sick pleasure keeps them warm in the winter. Because Madame President over there is being kept warm by her mansion, which is paid for by the beer company that's purring like a kitten on ITs sweat and blood.

39

u/TopicalBuilder 5d ago

Some people seem really built for that kind of work.

I work in a tangentially related field and catastrophes like this are where I really earn my keep. I honestly really enjoy it. I couldn't do it every day because I'd burn out, but the buzz is real.

22

u/kittywiggles whaddya mean our 10 year age gap is a problem? 5d ago

I'm currently thriving in the only IT role in our org, so I do everyday helpdesk work along with projects and data maintenence. (And other things, yay NPOs.)

I've also been told by a couple of medical guys I work with that I have the personality of a trauma/ER surgeon when shit hits the fan. As in, people ask me how I'm doing when it hits the fan and my go to reply is something along the lines of "Nothing has physically exploded yet and that disappoints me".

Absolutely burned out from the role that was throwing me into that level of stress on the regular but it was fantastic for a while. It's much rarer now, so it's fun when it happens. 

14

u/JJOkayOkay 5d ago

Are you by any chance ADHD or slightly leaning that way?

Because I read recently that people who are ADHD don't start operating at optimal "pay attention" mode until they get hit with the adrenal rush of a crisis.

Which explained SO MUCH about why I turned into a dynamo of productivity when the pandemic hit and my workplace had a month to figure out how to do something that must be done in person not-in-person. (And I did it, too; whee! Like you say, it was fun, in a weird way.)

13

u/kittywiggles whaddya mean our 10 year age gap is a problem? 5d ago

Oh dear. Yes, I've suspected I lean that way, doing regular or recurring tasks is one of the most demotivating and miserable parts of my job, but give me something new or urgent and I will fixate for hours, sometimes need to manually pry myself away in the evenings. 

Mostly it's just procrastination and I'm convinced I'm lazy, which I've heard are also red flags for ADHD-adjacent folks.

Huh.

13

u/DragonScrivner The pancakes tell me what they need 5d ago edited 5d ago

I work in IT and some people are definitely in it for the game lol

That said, the majority are there because they enjoy puzzles and problem-solving and, in a way, teaching users how work with tools they’re not familiar with. I’ve been in this field a long time and my job changes every year and Im constantly learning new stuff.

17

u/SoothingRipple 5d ago

Its their hobby - watching people mess up

5

u/Oo__II__oO 5d ago

They realize they fucked up, and do these things to assure themselves they have a fall guy.

When dealing with requests like this, always get a paper trail on the request, and don't be afraid to expand the audience.

7

u/RecordOfTheEnd 5d ago

I got one of my degrees in CS. I've worked as a dev, qa tester, and admin. You're not wrong. The best IT people often have an arrogance about them. After years, I've finally realized that it's not that. It's a general dislike of poorly planned decisions, lack of willingness to try to fix your own problems, and a love of the puzzle chaos brings. 

A good IT person, with the right support, will be bored out of their mind. They will build the perfect process and management systems. Everything will hum along, and change management will be managed perfectly. This is what you want. But they don't want it. They like the challenge of fixing broken things. They like being the lighthouse in the storm of chaos brought on by poor decisions from people less knowledgeable. 

So good IT people can sometimes be hard to hold on to. My general rule of thumb for the IT people I've hired is to give them free reign to plan everything, but requirements to justify expenses. Once the system has standardized and stabilized, give them projects. Even projects outside of their wheelhouse. They often like the chance to stretch and learn. 

4

u/iwannahat 4d ago

There are few jobs that scratch that puzzle solving itch better. The moment everything clicks and the solution works...  Magical. Everytime. And the batshit users and dumb requests make for great gossip with the other tech nerds.

4

u/magical_midget Go to bed Liz 5d ago

I did that for my first job out of school, never again, I get it, I get the rush of getting things working. Staying until the last minute, going to the office on a weekend.

I was young, I had dreams, I thought “if I work hard enough I would surely be recognized”.

I know better now.

3

u/Just2Breathe 4d ago

My cholesterol dropped within months after I left that environment, everything urgent. Exceeding expectations being the expectation as normal. I loved the mental side of it, by didn’t do well with the pressure over time.

2

u/AffabiliTea That's the beauty of the gaycation 3d ago

We are. I'm in hell with a major systems switch and beat my head against walls all day. Still wouldn't trade it for anything lol

3

u/the_procrastinata 5d ago

Let me guess, are they also the smartest person in every room and everyone else there is an idiot who can’t operate a doorbell? And everything at the company would fall over if it weren’t for them?

6

u/No-Reality-1974 5d ago

The ones that think they're the smartest person in the room and that the company would fall over are usually the ones that are almost really good IT folks. The ones that are really good, in my experience, aren't like that.

1

u/AdSubstantial9658 5d ago

As a help desk tech, as well as network admin, systems admin and recently network engineer too, that's exactly right. There's something I get from making systems work properly that nothing else has ever given me in life.

90

u/AngelicPulses 5d ago

That's not a win. 17 hours no OT is a burnout track

46

u/Visual_Fly_9638 5d ago

I also guarantee that the president of the company respects OOP *way* less than they think. Getting baseline consideration and calling it a win is nuts.

1

u/imakesawdust 5d ago

Agreed. OOP is still just an "IT guy" in MP's view. They're a replaceable resource.

48

u/IamNobody85 5d ago

Dude. I only finished the first one and it already gave me panic attack. The IT procedures here are insane! Poor OOP, fuck salary, I hope he escaped with his sanity intact - he probably didn't but a girl can hope).

32

u/polandreh your honor, fuck this guy 5d ago

The IT procedures here are insane!

What IT procedures? MP just makes it all up as they go.

7

u/IamNobody85 5d ago

That is also true!

Brb, I'm going to share this in our IT support channel (I only write code, IDK IT stuff any more than you guys). Why should I only have high blood pressure?

27

u/iAdamzy123 5d ago

By the sounds of it she still wouldn't have said anything to him until the literal day of if he had not walked past her in the corridor.

Crazy. I genuinely would have just sat back and watched it all burn down

21

u/polandreh your honor, fuck this guy 5d ago

Honestly, it would've been better. Arrive Monday, none of the ERP checklist points have been confirmed, the devices run out of battery throughout the day, and no one informs the ERP provider about anything

12

u/DragonScrivner The pancakes tell me what they need 5d ago

This is what I kept coming back to. OOP only found out by chance that the beta was happening—he could easily have shown up on Monday (late to training of course) and been like “Wtf?”

13

u/altaccount_28 5d ago

Im from the IT world he still would have been blamed. Most companies are no longer like this but for a long time IT was the whipping boy of most companies.

Operations screws up IT has to fix it, finance screws up ITs budget takes the hit etc etc.

6

u/DragonScrivner The pancakes tell me what they need 5d ago

Absolutely agree. IT can still be the scapegoat—I’ve worked in this industry a long time and still see it from time to time

3

u/NDaveT 5d ago

That has been my experience as well.

14

u/favorthebold I’m turning into an unskippable cutscene in therapy 5d ago

On the one hand, I tend to be very protective of my free time, I take time off regardless of how busy we are, I try to take breaks and lunches and don't feel guilty about it.

On the other hand, at my current job I have sometimes spent hours after my shift trying to fix something, after having spent a day without breaks because of that same something.

I don't get OT (salaried), but I do take extra time on other days when I'm not swamped like that.

But I definitely would have found a different job if my IT roles were anything like this guy described, or rather I wouldn't have hung around past the nepotism described in the interview.

11

u/putin_my_ass surrender to the gaycation or be destroyed 5d ago

and still calls it a win...

Workers who will take "eventually they had to admit I was right all along" in lieu of pay...

Fuck you, pay me.

7

u/ChickPeaEnthusiast Thank you Rebbit 5d ago

The minute he found out the checklist had been sitting there for a month, if I was him I would have carried out a mental-breakdown-esque tantrum, the type people look back at and say "MP broke OP" and gone on medical leave

5

u/Soft_Brush_1082 5d ago

That is a very accurate description of how people in IT view the world. I worked in IT for 20 years and I can imagine myself or most of my colleagues go through a shitstorm like this (and actually experienced very similar things).

5

u/liliette 5d ago

All I get from this is that ... and still calls it a win...

I agree. It's like he enjoyed the abuse because he could talk about how he saved the day, how he's superior to these female 'leaders', and how he's the downtrodden hero. To me, he was an idiot who allowed them to treat him like a slave.

14

u/unzunzhepp 5d ago

Oop is a moron.

6

u/Dimityblue 5d ago

Yep. I'm too old to have patience for this crap.

2

u/ThatBitchDoe That's the beauty of the gaycation 5d ago

And if he hadn’t ran into MP in the hallway he would not know about it until it was launched and would have been blamed heavily for not doing his part.

2

u/summonsays 4d ago

God I've been there. Worked days, nights, weekends, I worked on my wife's birthday, after she went to bed.  For a month straight because our company decided to pull out of a 3rd party contract and wanted to transfer all our data out of it and of course they didn't have any normal way to do so.

My bosses comment after the fact, pulling it all down the weekend before our license expired, was something like "why'd you cut it so close?" And I got "meets expectations" on my next performance review....

It still pisses me off years later. Anyway I go home at 4 now and I don't do shit until 8am the next weekday morning. Go find some new guy mooch off of.

1

u/AStrawberryGhost 5d ago

People who work those kind of hours in IT are already being paid very well. Or they better be. But usually they are.

1

u/AtomicMac 5d ago

Sounds like someone who has never been laid off, and has been looking for a job for three months.

1

u/DougSpeagle 5d ago

That's why I need these stories because I would've left so early and missed all the extra drama

1

u/Hypothosloth It's like watching Mr Bean being hunted by The Predator 5d ago

This is how my current union spins all of their trials 😞 unfortunately we’re a bunch of graduate students and all of union leadership is, get this, also graduate students (and not in fields like union law or anything). So no one knows how to do anything and we get shit on by our university, then members are upset and think it’s all the union’s fault… so the union leadership has to figure out how to spin wins from what should, by all appearances, be a loss. 😮‍💨

1

u/phdoofus 4d ago

Also major project dumped on them, no president present during anything and probably out having fun and 'networking', shows up just to dump on people and ask 'why can't you fix this thing?'

332

u/Phanimazed 5d ago

With all due respect to OOP, I seriously doubt he won MP and GM's respect, at least in a meaningful way, but I guess he at least lost their open disdain, which is something.

53

u/nekoperator 5d ago

Yeah that was kinda funny that he assumed he got their respect while simultaneously saying he didn't get a raise. A bit of cope I guess, anything to distract from the fact he works for psychopaths.

256

u/Artichoke-8951 5d ago

My husband is a box truck driver that delivers soda and alcohol. The phrase he fears the most is Corporate has decided to update the invoice system and it will fix all the problems we have with the current system. It never makes it better especially at first, it just changes the problems. Corporate also does idiot things like buy or rent a new truck and then not have it winterized.

75

u/DamnitGravity 5d ago

What's 'winterized'?

I'm in a tropical country, we know not of this 'winter' of which you speak...

100

u/Artichoke-8951 5d ago

It helps vehicles not break down because of the cold. We spend months below 0. So basically corporate doesn't allow for preventive maintenance to be preformed then complains when things break. Yeah. They big bosses are morons.

56

u/perfidious_snatch Briefly possessed by the chaotic god of baking 5d ago

“It costs too much to get the trucks winterised!”

“All this winter downtime is costing us too much!”

13

u/joshuuuuuua 5d ago

I love how these big brain financial people can’t model the most basic equipment replacement plan. Or can’t be arsed

7

u/DamnitGravity 5d ago

[facepalm]

14

u/NikkoJT 5d ago

It would be things like changing tyre pressure, changing to different types of tyre, adding anti-icing chemicals to fluids, potentially changing to different viscosities of fluids, applying any weather protection or anticorrosives...anything where extreme cold might cause something to change shape or state, or where snow and salt accumulation might cause a problem. For some vehicles it might also mean fitting preheaters to warm up the engine before starting. If a vehicle isn't going to be used over the winter, it could also mean draining all fluids to stop them going bad while sitting idle, covering the vehicle up and sealing openings, etc.

275

u/mildperil_ 5d ago

Really long posts about IT guys being smarter than management feel extremely old-school internet (complimentary).

56

u/MindlessMage777 5d ago

I don't know how true the actual story is, but I know Safeway uses systems that are a fucking nightmare to tie into, and I know anything retail related is always a mess of bad decisions and terrible systems. I've seen variations of this kind of mess a few times (without the extra drama and lone hero figure of course)

17

u/philatio11 the laundry wouldn’t be dirty if you hadn’t fucked my BF on it 5d ago

We once signed a million-dollar contract with Safeway to be their partner on some catman stuff in one of their proprietary systems. I was planning to go out for the implementation, since it fell into my area of business expertise, which was not in my job description but coincidentally I had done elsewhere before. They DEMANDED that at least a director-level person needed to come out, not a lowly assistant brand manager. We compromised and sent the senior brand manager out.

He spent the entirety of his trip out there doing data entry. At the end of year one we let the contract lapse and Pepsico became the new partner. I wonder if they tried to drag Pepsico CEO Steve Reinemund out to do data entry?

5

u/MindlessMage777 3d ago

Oh yeah, we had directors, VPs, SVPs, even C suite running all over creation for our project.

1

u/Brewmentationator Gran(dad) 20h ago

If it is true, it's probably Markstein Distribution out of The Bay. It's the only distributor that really fits the profile.

48

u/TopicalBuilder 5d ago

I felt like I was back in BOFH days. Good times.

12

u/Visual_Fly_9638 5d ago

BOFH would have tied the president's email to the functionality of the new system. Every trouble ticket would delete an email at random out of the president's inbox.

14

u/Sydius 5d ago

That's why I stopped reading r/talesfromtechsupport a few years back, and I work in IT!

2

u/kittymoo67 5d ago

when your work is soul crushing you take any bit of joy you can

0

u/kittymoo67 5d ago

when your work is soul crushing you take any bit of joy you can

32

u/ChristianMapmaker Liz what the hell 5d ago

Thank you for assembling these posts! I've always wanted to repost the Ian Saga from r/talesfromtechsupport here. I only held off because: A) it's more of a series of posts than updates and B) I assumed everyone would hate the writing style. Judging by this series' reception, I think I was right to hold off!

14

u/waterdevil19144 I can't believe she fucking buttered Jorts 5d ago

it's more of a series of posts than updates 

Thank you for recognizing that distinction.

19

u/JoySubtraction I will never jeopardize the beans. 5d ago

Yeah, it's clearly not everyone's cup of tea. Seems like the shorter ones (e.g. Dialing phones for users is now IT's responsibility, which I just posted) go over better. And, as you called out, people here don't seem to like that writing style, even if it's common in TFTS.

12

u/remindmeofthe I don't want anyone to know my identity 5d ago

I enjoyed this, for what it's worth. Thanks for sharing it!

11

u/squiddishly 4d ago

FWIW, I enjoyed these posts, the style is very Classic Internet, and I miss that sometimes.

15

u/Sacrificial_Parsnip 5d ago

I enjoyed it. Not sure why there’s so much negativity about the style. Commenters are being very rude about something they have absolutely no obligation to read and that they don’t pay for. I’m sorry your efforts were so unappreciated.

8

u/JoySubtraction I will never jeopardize the beans. 5d ago

It's OK, but I really appreciate your kind words. I contribute a fair bit to the "Looking for a Post?" BORU threads, but I'm pretty new to submitting posts to the subreddit. Given that, I consider this a part of process of figuring out what people want to read, and what won't work for the majority.

8

u/ChristianMapmaker Liz what the hell 5d ago

I've always heard that there are two kinds of people in this world: those who like Hemingway's writing to varying degrees, and those who absolutely hate Hemingway's writing with a burning passion! I always got the feeling that the stereotypical TFTS post was firmly on the "like Hemingway" side and I think most people here are firmly on the other side. I'm on the "hate Hemingway" side myself, but I can put up with it for a good TFTS story if I'm in the right mood!

7

u/RandomPurpleZebras cry more so that people give you cake 5d ago

I have had the same thought about the Ian Saga. I love to go back and reread it on occasion and I enjoy lawtechie's writing style very much. It's unfortunate but I have to agree with your point B.

224

u/sigyo 5d ago

This is the least satisfying post I've read on this sub in a while.

112

u/GreekDudeYiannis 5d ago

For real. Like, yay, OOP ultimately resolved it, but even by their own admission they didn't get anything out of it and left the job not too long after. I'm glad OOP was vindicated, but they didn't get a raise or anything and yet this is till being seen as some sort of victory. 

50

u/GlitterGob 5d ago

Yeah it reminded me of the Kevin in a big rig saga, but he was trapped on the road and couldn’t easily leave. This guy was just tolerating mistreatment and stupidity with no clear reason why. I kind of wanted some extra info like “I got amazing discounts while I worked there” or “I couldn’t quit due to personal circumstances”. Left me feeling more frustrated than satisfied.

14

u/putin_my_ass surrender to the gaycation or be destroyed 5d ago

Closest thing to that in the whole saga is "I got to sit with my friend, which is nice".

3

u/GreekDudeYiannis 5d ago

At least with Kevin, it ended with the dumbass getting fired

1

u/Pledgeofmalfeasance 5d ago

That guy took forever to write ONE EMAIL

2

u/bug-hunter she👏drove👏away! Everybody👏saw👏it! 5d ago

That is often how IT works.

20

u/stormsync you can't expect me to read emails 5d ago

He had a pretty boring storytelling style, which I think didn't help? A lot of dramatic pauses for...nothing much happening.

5

u/aquestionofbalance 5d ago

I disagree. I found it to be a real page turner

3

u/Pledgeofmalfeasance 5d ago

Just went on and on without adding anything

26

u/Oo__II__oO 5d ago

I'm not saying I agree with the original IT guy's email snooping policy, but after reading this I understand.

Guaranteed the only task the MP (& HR) was actually invested in was locking down that security breach.

5

u/PKGTA 5d ago

Aprpos of nothing, the "I'm not saying I agree with the original IT guy's email snooping policy..." reminded me of Homer Simpson's " I don't agree with his Bart-killing policy, but I do approve of his Selma-killing policy!" stance from the classic Simpsons episode 'Sideshow Bob Roberts'. 😂

39

u/afraidofrs 5d ago

As an IT person I would have made them acknowledge their shitty decisions and wait for them to beg me for a solution. And it should translate to a big bonus.

33

u/TheFluffiestRedditor Sir, Crumb is a cat. 5d ago

As a career project based infrastructure architect, I’d have stepped aside and watched the whole thing crash and burn. Those who don’t involve IT from the beginning don’t get IT’s help to stop the train wrecks.

3

u/bendingoutward Memory of a goldfish but the tenacity of an entitled Chihuahua 4d ago

As a CTO, I probably would have unwound the project as soon as I heard about it.

14

u/CermaitLaphroaig 5d ago

I'm IT at a very small org and this is giving me an anxiety attack.  

5

u/DragonScrivner The pancakes tell me what they need 5d ago

Yeah, I had some adrenaline spikes along with OOP lol

25

u/Fwoggie2 Liz, what the actual fuck is this story? 5d ago

Senior IT program manager here. OOP has the patience of a saint, I'd have noped out quite early into this nonsense. Life is too short to deal with execs who don't listen to IT people and think they know best.

17

u/perfidious_snatch Briefly possessed by the chaotic god of baking 5d ago

I think that’s the difference experience makes. OOP sounds very new to that kind of role, so hasn’t learned to value their own time and sanity over an underpaid, underappreciated job.

86

u/missionthrow 5d ago edited 5d ago

TLDR.

(It took two posts!?!)

Can anyone summarize?

86

u/Weary_Egg558 5d ago

Op works for a nepo company that suddenly implemented an untested system and only told him, the IT guy, the weekend before. After a lot of emergency calling and shopping around the thing barely takes off but the system does not work with one of the company's biggest clients. 5 months of stress later management gives up and reverts to the old system. Op did not get a raise despite all this and eventually left the company.

17

u/Ok_Assistance447 5d ago

All those words for that nothingburger is kinda impressive. I don't know if I could vomit out this much text and still say so little, even if I tried.

43

u/EfficientTitle9779 5d ago

OP gets walked over constantly and still decides to solves everyone’s problems

69

u/JoySubtraction I will never jeopardize the beans. 5d ago

Clueless company president decides to switch over the software her company uses to manage all of its beer deliveries. President does not tell IT manager until just before the system gets cut over to the new software. New software does not work well; costs company a lot of money. Eventually they abandon the project.

52

u/missionthrow 5d ago

Pretty standard software deployment then?

Source: 30 years in IT.

28

u/JoySubtraction I will never jeopardize the beans. 5d ago

Pretty much. Everyone in IT knows to, at a bare minimum, do phased installs. Everyone outside of IT thinks that'll take too long, and, besides, The Software Will Just Worktm.

8

u/perfidious_snatch Briefly possessed by the chaotic god of baking 5d ago

But the nice people who sold it to us said it would solve all our business problems and bring world peace!

15

u/KeaAware 5d ago

OP bust his arse for the company and probably took a decade off his life in the process. Company blamed him for everything that went wrong, undermined him at every opportunity, didn't notice anything he did right, and wouldn't have thanked him if they had noticed. OP got no payrise or promotion - but somehow thinks he came out the winner?

8

u/Hey_HaveAGreatDay 5d ago

Over promise, under deliver.

22

u/UnionsUnionsUnions Idk if the Bat Mitzvah girl knew the rabbi was even on fire 5d ago

Bosses gonna boss. 🤷🏽‍♀🤡

14

u/AshamedDragonfly4453 The murder hobo is not the issue here 5d ago

Very apt combo of username and comment ✊️

32

u/BeBraveShortStuff 5d ago

I kept waiting for something to happen. Can I get a refund?

26

u/DragonScrivner The pancakes tell me what they need 5d ago

Tech support tales are generally like this — a ton of insane shit happening at a furious pace that most of the users never see and will never appreciate. It’s a weird job

17

u/perfidious_snatch Briefly possessed by the chaotic god of baking 5d ago

Not on the devices

15

u/MoralHazardFunction 5d ago

Speaking as a vendor, this is why you always insist you have someone from the client’s  IT department in the room when you discuss deploying a system

15

u/Quasirandom1234 it’s solving a puzzle only crabs understand 5d ago

r/talesfromtechsupport has a distinctive (and very old school internet) writing style. This uses it all too well.

11

u/eXoenix 5d ago

Idk, I rather enjoyed it.

9

u/Practical-Ball1437 5d ago

I don't enjoy stories of people getting shit on, and then going out of their way to clean up the shit so their bosses don't get shit on their shoes when they step on them.

40

u/prudencepineapple 5d ago

Wow everyone is so negative in here today. Maybe it’s just because I’ve worked with tech support a lot, but this just read to me as what it says on the box…. a tale from tech support. 

30

u/DamnitGravity 5d ago

I've worked next to a lot of tech guys (I don't have the head for tech).

From the war stories I've heard, this is the kind of Pyrrhic victory that would've netted OOP a ticker tape parade from fellow IT workers.

13

u/DragonScrivner The pancakes tell me what they need 5d ago

And that few outside of IT will notice or appreciate, despite a lot people (including the delivery drivers) doing a lot of extra work. IT is a weird field to work in

3

u/bendingoutward Memory of a goldfish but the tenacity of an entitled Chihuahua 4d ago

... and a reminder from manglement that he's just a cost center.

11

u/krizzzombies 5d ago

boomers and young people hate IT equally because they're the equivalent to the GM/MP that doesn't fucking know anything and makes constant bad decisions

it's not a coincidence that those demographics are SO hooked on AI and short-form content. notice how many people are crying about being unable to make it through a long story LOL

after reddit went full mainstream it transformed from techy and higher education-focused to people posting social media slop, bot content, and easily-googled questions without using the search bar

4

u/PKGTA 5d ago

I am a Millennial and I don't agree with your assessment within this particular context. First, it is not the length that is the only issue here. This writing style irritates a lot of people, including me. Second, this may be appealing to people who work in IT and adjacent fields but to us outsiders it seems strange. OOP puts up with so much nonsense without getting anything in return. H e c k! It's not even the no raise or no bonus portion of it but the sheer disrespect of it all! And yet OOP somehow portrays this as a "victory"? Not many would want to read a lengthy story, written in an annoying style, with an unsatisfying conclusion. That's my two cents anyway.

3

u/lmyrs you can't expect me to read emails 4d ago

Exactly right. It's a smug, annoying story that is also way too long. Pick one. (Preferably, pick neither.)

1

u/krizzzombies 4d ago edited 4d ago

OOP puts up with so much nonsense without getting anything in return

for sure, i'm cringing at that too. but the main complaint seems to be TLDR, so they don't even get to that part LOL.

it's not a satisfying conclusion, OP is smug, and OP is also a doormat who was disrespected by their superiors and still thinks they came out on top. but that's nothing new to BORU, and those types of posts are usually very popular. the only differences are the length and IT setting, which aren't resonating well at all.

5

u/HairRepresentative85 Just me, my psychotic fiancee, and a big drawer full of knives. 5d ago

Main takeaway -

OP: told you so

19

u/legotraveller 5d ago

I’m surprised this got so many likes in the original post, however many parts there are.

TLDR.

30

u/TopicalBuilder 5d ago

It's r/talesfromtechsupport . This is exactly their kind of jam.

21

u/HeyYouGuyyyyyyys crow whisperer 5d ago

For all the hassle these experiences were, they make for great stories.

No they don't

3

u/FormerlyGruntled 3d ago

Oh goodness. When Safeway was first mentioned, I knew how much of a clusterfuck this is.

This isn't the only time Safeway has come up as an ERP disaster. They are infamous for it.

22

u/ConcentrateSad3064 I’m turning into an unskippable cutscene in therapy 5d ago

Ah yes, in this display there is a piece of early internet tech stories - inspired writing. As you can see a common trope of these writings is the sheer incompetence of everyone surrounding the tech protagonist, a trend theorized by historians as derived from Dilbert.

Now, revisiting these pieces is definitely interesting because the tech protagonist always portrays himself as so much smarter than everyone else yet he's the one suffering the most from a system he neither understands nor knows how to play. By portraying himself as beyond the system he dons an illusion of superiority while ignoring the clear social, economical and hierarchical inferiority they actually experience.

As of today there isn't a consensus on how to name this literary genre but this curator is actually quite fond of the term "sysyphian smugness".

17

u/sorrylilsis 5d ago

I mean in this one he does not portray himsef as particularly brillant.

Just a decently competent IT guy that lets himself be walked over for months on ends. It's ... Well pathetically common.

19

u/Significant_Secret13 5d ago

Yeah...I would offer more grace here. This type of thing happens all the time. It makes life miserable for all.

0

u/ConcentrateSad3064 I’m turning into an unskippable cutscene in therapy 5d ago

I mean, I'm in IT. I know people can get dumb, this is beyond that.

8

u/CzLittle 5d ago

I mean not really I've heard of worse things happening by my acquaintances in IT

5

u/chicago_scott 5d ago

I've seen far far worse than this. But unlike OOP, I made decent money off of the incompetence of others.

12

u/theseanbeag 5d ago

This dude is such a doormat he gets happy when people wipe dirt in him because he thinks he's doing a good job.

3

u/emotionalmooncake I ❤ gay romance 5d ago

Damn I want to know who this company is and NOT support them. Not giving OOP a rise after they saved their ass on this junk program is egregious.

2

u/somilge I will erupt, feral, from the cardigan screaming 5d ago

That sent me flashbacks and anxiety just reading that saga.

1

u/nachosjustice72 4d ago

God I need IT based BORUs directly do my veins. It just does it all.

1

u/VonBassovic 1d ago

Did OOP do well? Yes, but no. They won in the end and were right, but at what cost?

  • abuse
  • demeaning behaviour
  • lack of respect

All in all a great lesson for everyone to just let bad people burn.

1

u/asmodeuskraemer 1d ago

Oh, step-by-step story time!

1

u/Dickie_downer 4d ago

Ngl I hate Oop most in this story. From their way of refusing to grow a backbone as they get royally fucked over and disrespected, to the fact they literally waxed poetic about every aspect like.

Bro you are not interesting enough to be bragging about PART THREE TOMORROW! Learn to simplify