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The IT Funhouse

Saturday, 7:17 a.m., as our home phone is ringing:

Me: What? Who died?
Him: Relax, it's probably work for me. Remember, I'm on call this weekend.
Him again, this time into the phone: Oh, okay. (Pause.) What server is it? All right, I'll look into it right away.

A few minutes later, as I peer over IT Guy's shoulder while he's firing up the remote server management tool:

Him: Uh-oh.
Me: That doesn't sound good.
Him: Do you remember what server ID I said it was?
Me: Something with the number "7" in it.
Him: Hmm...oh, right, now I remember. (Types some stuff.) I can't see the server. When I try to ping it, the system's not responding. See? (Types some more stuff.)
Me: And that's not good, right?
Him: I'm going to need to go into the data center to reboot the server.
Me: Let me get this straight. You're going to drive two hours round-trip to push a button on a machine that nobody's using during a holiday weekend?
Him: Yeah, but the good news is I get four hours overtime.

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Two days earlier, around 9:30 p.m.

IT Guy's bat-phone rings. Because our home was previously a safe house for the CIA and cell reception is virtually nonexistent, as usual he misses the call. He looks at caller ID, face takes on a puzzled look, but he shrugs and, because he's a consummate professional, goes out onto the deck to return the call.

Him: Hi. This is IT support. You called?
Her: Who? Who are you?
Him: This is IT Guy. Are you having a problem with your system?
Her: Who? What system?
Him: Look, I think someone at your house called my work cell phone by mistake, and I'm just making sure...
Her Husband: This is Brad. Who the hell are you and what do you want with my wife?

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One day earlier, around 8 p.m.

IT Guy (hunched over his work laptop): You know, this is just nuts.
Me (hunched over my work laptop): Now what?
Him: It takes me around 20 minutes to build a virtual server, which I just did. But now I have to document it, and that's going to take me around 45 minutes.
Me: Why so long?
Him: Because I have to populate a Notes database with a bunch of info and then print it out onto a form that I have to fax to someone I work with. Then I have to fill out yet another database, which asks for pretty much the same info as the Notes database. But because of security I can't cut and paste from the first database into the second.
Me: You're kidding about the fax part, right? Doesn't your colleague have e-mail?

*****************************************

How's your week been? What parts of the job are making you laugh or driving you crazy? Comment below.

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