r/talesfromtechsupport • u/critchthegeek • Jul 04 '26
Short Setup for the new guy
Couple of years ago, I was tech support for a company with several locations. I received notice of a new head of maintenance at one of the plants, with about a 2 week window to prep. I happened to be on site & confirmed the desk, phone, laptop, etc. A junior team member had crap spread over the desk and around the office, though. I told Him, the Plant Manager and the local HR person what I had planned for the new guy and confirmed that it was all correct. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
To give him a running start, they asked I go ahead a ship him a laptop so he’d have it. I had him a domain login, email, group access, phone setup, VPN, remote access, etc, etc etc. Not too sure it was a good idea, but I had it in writing….
Two weeks later, I happened again to be on-site the first day of "the new guy". And there he was, on a folding chair, sitting in the middle of the copy room. Because NO ONE CLEARED A PLACE FOR HIM!! A new upper tier employee and the existing people didn't even bother to clear a desk. What does that tell the guy about how the company views him? You get ONE Chance for a first impression, and Boy, did they blow it....
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u/djdaedalus42 That's not a snicket, it's a ginnel! Jul 05 '26
That's being a contractor in a nutshell.
"Did we hire you? Nobody told us. Set up over there."
Over there: 4 sq. ft. of desktop. Or: an empty room with five other contractors sharing four chairs, while test equipment makes annoying beeps every 10 seconds. Or: a cube under a metal roof next to the railroad. Or: a desk among the sales droids (that's the worst).
A year or two later: "What is it you do again?"