Friday, February 06, 2009

We start with the dummy, and we learn from our mistakes, and now Dwight knows not to cut the face off of a real person.

Good morning, Internets! I have two good pieces of news. 1! My grandma's surgery went very well, so thank you for all of your good thoughts. She's still in the hospital recovering, but they're really hopeful that this surgery will help her.

And 2! It's Friday. FINALLY. Longest week ever, am I right? Am I right or am I right? Or am I right? Sorry, I still have Groundhog Day stuck in my head. It's weird to have a whole movie stuck in your head, you know? Like, I should probably go home and watch it RIGHT NOW because otherwise I'll just be distracted all day and we can't have that, even though that's pretty standard for, um, any day.

So, I've had to have someone from IT come to my office TWICE this week because once my backup battery blew up or something and also the plug in the wall stopped working and it was not good. The other time, I needed to have them install something so I could run a program blah blah blah, this is why I need administrative authority, because I shouldn't have to BEG someone to install iTunes. OK, that's not what they were installing but it SHOULD have been.

Anyway. I hate calling IT because they treat me like an idiot. I mean, I get why they have to, because they have people calling because their mouse isn't working and it's because it's not plugged in or their computer isn't turned on or something ridiculous. But, while I'm not a computer expert of any sort, I at least try to fix the problem myself before I call them. Because the first thing they tell me to do whenever I call is restart my computer. So I do that before I call them. And then! They make me do it anyway! Because they don't believe me! Assholes. And when my battery blew up, this is the conversation I had with the guy on the phone:

Me: Hi, this is Jennie in HR. Um, my computer just turned off for no raisin.
IT: What?
Me: I think the battery blew. The computer turned off, the battery beeped like crazy, and then it just stopped.
IT: Your battery shouldn't have done that.
Me: ...I know.
IT: Did it come unplugged?
Me: Excuse me?
IT: Did the battery come unplugged for some reason?
Me: No. It's not unplugged. I can see it right now and it's plugged in.
IT: Could you lean down there and check?
Me: ...SURE.
IT: ...
Me: It's still plugged into the wall.
IT: OK, can you press the power button.
Me: Okaaaaaaay. Well, the power light flashes green for a second, then a big red X flashes, and then everything goes dark.
IT: Weird.
Me: Yeah.
IT: And it's plugged in?
Me: YES.
IT: OK. I'll be up to take a look at it.
Me: Can't wait.

I feel kind of bad, because I think employees like me are even worse than the employees who don't know how to find the toolbar (heh, toolbar) because we THINK we could fix it ourselves if only we had administrative rights. This time, though, was a complete fluke. It turns out some sort of fuse blew and the outlet the battery was plugged into stopped working. So the IT guy moved it and plugged it into another outlet and my computer was working fine. Unfortunately. I always hope that they won't be able to fix my computer and my boss will just send me home for the day. Sigh. Dream big, Jennie. Dream big.

5 comments:

  1. Yay for successful grandma surgery!!

    I would totally be that employee who can't get the computer to work because it's turned off. So I'm the reason your IT guy is mean to you. Sorry.

    Would this be a good place for me to leave random comments about The Office? Like how I almost spat out my mouthwash when Jim came in and saw Dwight's tableful of half blown-up gray and brown balloons?
    Or at "Would a liar bring mini Mounds?"

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is always a good place to leave random comments about The Office. It made me LOL when Pam threw mini Mounds at everyone.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The part that got me: "What kind of cake do you want, imbecile?" I nearly fell over.

    While I have no IT guy, I get the same response when I call up someone to help fix my demented laptop - they always ask me if I restarted the computer.
    "Yes."
    "Well, let's just restart it again, will we?"
    "Sure (even though it takes 7 minutes to turn off and back on, and now I have to spend that time listening to you breathe and imagine that you are thinking to yourself that I am a complete idiot who doesn't even know how to turn off her computer)"

    Then they over-explain the really simple things -
    "Your start menu can be found in the lower left hand corner of your screen" -
    and skip right through the stuff I might actually need help with - "And if you just reinstall your entire operating system... after backing up any important documents of course, then the problem should resolve itself. Have a great day."

    Thanks, Mr. Wizard. Very helpful. :sigh:

    ReplyDelete
  4. He didn't even laugh when you said "RAISIN" ??

    "If it were an iPod, it would be a shuffle"

    HA! I didn't watch it last night but I have a feeling this blog post has some spoilers...

    ReplyDelete
  5. We have the best IT guy in the world! First, he lets us just call him any time on his cell phone; Second, he always responds personally; Third, he ALWAYS knows exactly what needs to be done; and Fourth, he just DOES whatever needs to be done with no editorializing, belittling, speculating or bullshitting. He is so nice, and so fast, and so awesome, that I've nearly forgotten the rage that calling IT used to be when I worked for the corporation in Orlando. If I could, I'd totally share my IT guy with you.

    ReplyDelete