Ok, so needless to say, it's Saturday and I'm in Erie for Easter. Not much going to happen today. Although while we were at the mother-in-laws, the S-I-L stopped by with her SO in tow. He didn't say much to me. Never does. It's been a major sticking point with me that this dork talks shit about my abilities even though I do it everyday all day long. Not to mention that I've cleaned up after him twice.
See what bothers me, is that he's a postman who considers himself a computer tech. I mean he builds systems and what not, so I guess that makes him such right? Me? I'm opening up my new restaurant, Chez Artie, next week. I mean, I can cook so by his logic, I can be a chef (with no formal training either). Now I'm been making sure he knows where I'm going and where I've been. If you get my drift. Let's see, has the postal service ever sent him on a TDY for his knowledge of computers? Maybe but HIGHLY doubtful because he's a POST MAN!! He's a MAILMAN! Every time I see him it totally pisses me off that this DICK considers himself my EQUAL. Uh right....
Oh yeah...checking FuckedCompany.com and looks like an EDS poster has struck again, this time posting Dickie's latest memo. Go see by clicking on the link on the right or go here: http://www.fuckedcompany.com/extras/eds2_email.cfm .
Later! Happy Easter!
Saturday, March 30, 2002
Friday, March 29, 2002
Ok, so now I'm at home. A bit about the flight.... It was about 3:30 and one of the guys I'm working with asks me what time I'm leaving. I told him 7pm, and he says 7pm? Looks at his watch and then says LEAVE NOW! Then he turns to his friends and starts talking about my flight and drive so then they start almost chanting LEAVE NOW...trust us...LEAVE NOW!
Alright....so they might have been right about that. It took me about an hour or so to get back to the airport, and then about 1.5 hours to get my ticket and get through security. The longest part was getting my ticket NOT getting through security. Sooo I got some dinner from the Roy Rogers, and then waited for my flight. Now herer's the cool part, I was standing there and I started talking to this guy (as we watched this rather large breasted woman with a tube top come off the previous flight) and he is telling me about how crowded the flight looked and how you can upgrade to business class (which is basically bigger seats and such) for only $25. Needless to say, I did it. Got to get on the plane first and then the best part FREE DRINK VOUCHERS!! You get the idea (only 2 free drinks though)
Ok now about the work. I'm home today (Good Friday) and needless to say that it has been a week their and I have done very little work. I have NO ID to get onto the ticketing system. NONE of the SAs there have taken the time to "mentor" or basically take charge of getting us some tickets to do. How freaking bad is that. This place needs some work. I already made up my first week list and have debated giving this to Mr. Steve.
Oh yeah, remember happy hour? Fucking Assholes! Not really their fault, but Mr Dick was following one of the people to the place and I was going to follow him, so I didn't print off a mapquest to the place. Well I came out one exit and they came out another and after waiting 5 minutes they took off. I waited another 5 and then called Dick on the cell, he told me how to get there. Here's the problem, once I got there 45 minutes later, no one was there. I waited for a bit and then went home (hotel). Next day they tell me that no one gets there until 7 (even though it was said that it started at 5:30). Dorks! You would think that someone would have said something.
Oh well...next time.
Alright....so they might have been right about that. It took me about an hour or so to get back to the airport, and then about 1.5 hours to get my ticket and get through security. The longest part was getting my ticket NOT getting through security. Sooo I got some dinner from the Roy Rogers, and then waited for my flight. Now herer's the cool part, I was standing there and I started talking to this guy (as we watched this rather large breasted woman with a tube top come off the previous flight) and he is telling me about how crowded the flight looked and how you can upgrade to business class (which is basically bigger seats and such) for only $25. Needless to say, I did it. Got to get on the plane first and then the best part FREE DRINK VOUCHERS!! You get the idea (only 2 free drinks though)
Ok now about the work. I'm home today (Good Friday) and needless to say that it has been a week their and I have done very little work. I have NO ID to get onto the ticketing system. NONE of the SAs there have taken the time to "mentor" or basically take charge of getting us some tickets to do. How freaking bad is that. This place needs some work. I already made up my first week list and have debated giving this to Mr. Steve.
Oh yeah, remember happy hour? Fucking Assholes! Not really their fault, but Mr Dick was following one of the people to the place and I was going to follow him, so I didn't print off a mapquest to the place. Well I came out one exit and they came out another and after waiting 5 minutes they took off. I waited another 5 and then called Dick on the cell, he told me how to get there. Here's the problem, once I got there 45 minutes later, no one was there. I waited for a bit and then went home (hotel). Next day they tell me that no one gets there until 7 (even though it was said that it started at 5:30). Dorks! You would think that someone would have said something.
Oh well...next time.
Wednesday, March 27, 2002
Okay, so we just had an all hands meeting. Not sure how to classify who was there, but apparently it was the same as if Ms. Angie (wink wink) had a meeting with everyone. At least it seemed that way. They had the pictel going with DC, NYC, & Conneticut with a couple of smaller groups on the speaker phone. Went about the same way our meetins do.
I have to say that I heard a couple of problems we have dealt with and I'm going to feel like a hero kind of when I start handing out the answers on what we did. For instance, the backups are taking way to long because of Virus Scan running in the background. They are trying to get the script working in Arcserve. Hmm... sounds familiar, this looks like a call to Mr Chris to find out the exact answer!
Ok, I don't have the answers myself, but isn't the mark of a good technician to know where the answers are if he/she doesn't have them?
It's looking like that Mr. Roy and Mr. Bruce are going to be the lucky ones to go downtown (or so Mr. Dick says). I thought there was going to be an interview process first, but I guess someone made the decision.
Did a couple of installs - fun fun! I'm ready for my first contact with the customer! Of course the one I'm doing craps out and won't connect to the domain AND won't pull an IP. After screwing with it for 20 min (and doing everything that the local "guys" we decide that it has to be the image since you can connect the old machine and it works fine. FUCK! It's like that time at the spring dance and your first big date. Your all nervous because you asked Mary Lou Rottencrotch to the dance and she said yes. You look good, she looks good and then the moment she leans over to kiss you and you yak all over the front of her....
Before you ask, no I didn't whip chunks on the customer, but I might as well have. It's just the way I felt. But wait, there's more! We get back to the desk and the "local guys" start playing 20 questions like I might not know what I'm doing. I'll give that too them, but while I'm 'splaining about the IP one of them says "they are prolly out of IPs in the DHCP..." What in the BLUE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? How can you run out of IPs? How long is your lease? 7 Days. 7 DAYS? Wow, no wonder you are having connection problems.
Breathe... just breathe ..
Happy is hour is coming quickly, I need a smoke.
Dork!
I have to say that I heard a couple of problems we have dealt with and I'm going to feel like a hero kind of when I start handing out the answers on what we did. For instance, the backups are taking way to long because of Virus Scan running in the background. They are trying to get the script working in Arcserve. Hmm... sounds familiar, this looks like a call to Mr Chris to find out the exact answer!
Ok, I don't have the answers myself, but isn't the mark of a good technician to know where the answers are if he/she doesn't have them?
It's looking like that Mr. Roy and Mr. Bruce are going to be the lucky ones to go downtown (or so Mr. Dick says). I thought there was going to be an interview process first, but I guess someone made the decision.
Did a couple of installs - fun fun! I'm ready for my first contact with the customer! Of course the one I'm doing craps out and won't connect to the domain AND won't pull an IP. After screwing with it for 20 min (and doing everything that the local "guys" we decide that it has to be the image since you can connect the old machine and it works fine. FUCK! It's like that time at the spring dance and your first big date. Your all nervous because you asked Mary Lou Rottencrotch to the dance and she said yes. You look good, she looks good and then the moment she leans over to kiss you and you yak all over the front of her....
Before you ask, no I didn't whip chunks on the customer, but I might as well have. It's just the way I felt. But wait, there's more! We get back to the desk and the "local guys" start playing 20 questions like I might not know what I'm doing. I'll give that too them, but while I'm 'splaining about the IP one of them says "they are prolly out of IPs in the DHCP..." What in the BLUE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? How can you run out of IPs? How long is your lease? 7 Days. 7 DAYS? Wow, no wonder you are having connection problems.
Breathe... just breathe ..
Happy is hour is coming quickly, I need a smoke.
Dork!
Ok, first of all I know I'm a day behind so I'll do my best to try and keep up. Just use your imagination and pretend it's yesterday.
So as today ends, we've learned how to use the ticketing system. Remember Remedy from like 4 years ago? I know where it went to retire, and believe me, it has NOT gotten better with age. These guys are getting screwed by the metrics (which is what the customer lives by down here), but at the same time, it's there own fault. See we had a meeting with the customer escalation manager Ms. Michelle (same kind of position as Ms. Eileen - you guys know who I'm talking about) and all she does is try to prove to the customer what kind of problems they are seeing. At the same time she also is the customer liason, which means anytime the execs have a problem she has to face the music there. Annnyywayyy, she gaves the straight poop on what we are facing with our new co-workers and customers. Our co-workers are of two types, transition or new.
The transition guys came over then the new company (you know who) came in and I mean like 500 or so transitioned. Now these guys have a small problem relating to there former co-workers in the fact that they know who the problem people are and try to service them like before. That doesn't work because the remainders / stay behinds know they don't have to put up with shoddy service because of the contract claus. This claus basically says, if we meet LOS every month, you give US 500K bonus, if we don't then we pay YOU 500K. Needless to say, it's fun to watch.
Have to run. We are having a team meeting.
So as today ends, we've learned how to use the ticketing system. Remember Remedy from like 4 years ago? I know where it went to retire, and believe me, it has NOT gotten better with age. These guys are getting screwed by the metrics (which is what the customer lives by down here), but at the same time, it's there own fault. See we had a meeting with the customer escalation manager Ms. Michelle (same kind of position as Ms. Eileen - you guys know who I'm talking about) and all she does is try to prove to the customer what kind of problems they are seeing. At the same time she also is the customer liason, which means anytime the execs have a problem she has to face the music there. Annnyywayyy, she gaves the straight poop on what we are facing with our new co-workers and customers. Our co-workers are of two types, transition or new.
The transition guys came over then the new company (you know who) came in and I mean like 500 or so transitioned. Now these guys have a small problem relating to there former co-workers in the fact that they know who the problem people are and try to service them like before. That doesn't work because the remainders / stay behinds know they don't have to put up with shoddy service because of the contract claus. This claus basically says, if we meet LOS every month, you give US 500K bonus, if we don't then we pay YOU 500K. Needless to say, it's fun to watch.
Have to run. We are having a team meeting.
Monday, March 25, 2002
Ok, I'm here and the first thing they have us doing is helping some client manager person install a macro to 30 or so machines. Lots of fun, but I'm a little confused so far. Still waiting to see what is going to happen after lunch. Ass is still sore from the anal probe I got at the airport when I made the mistake of saying "those M-16s you guys are carrying are the bomb!" Went downhill really fast from there. They seemed really touchy for some reason.....
On the other hand the "guys" here are really approachable ( read: glad to see us). It appears as we only got half the story. Might be the owner of the contract (wink wink) might be close to losing the contract. It is definately a case of too much work vs. not enough "guys" especially since they just lost 2 to layoffs. Mario (one of the "guys") explained a lot that seemed to have gotten lost in the story that was told my Mr. Bill. Customer handling skills here seemed to require a lot time spent on your knees (figuratively speaking) or you end up with a nasty report to your manager. I believe it has a lot to do with the "ratio" that they have, not to mention how touchy the client base appears to be. Written procedures seem to be a lost art down here also contributing to some of the problem. You should have seen there face when I explained about our special "team" that closes tickets using remote tools, all over the country.
Our newest charcter in the story is Ms. Laura, who is their leader, she is going to interview us after lunch and see who has the right mindset(?) to be sent downtown.
Speaking of bombs, I casually mentioned about a outsourcing thing happening in Rochester. Seems they have never heard of this. Looks like there will be some "bar meetings" while some stuff gets explained.
On the other hand the "guys" here are really approachable ( read: glad to see us). It appears as we only got half the story. Might be the owner of the contract (wink wink) might be close to losing the contract. It is definately a case of too much work vs. not enough "guys" especially since they just lost 2 to layoffs. Mario (one of the "guys") explained a lot that seemed to have gotten lost in the story that was told my Mr. Bill. Customer handling skills here seemed to require a lot time spent on your knees (figuratively speaking) or you end up with a nasty report to your manager. I believe it has a lot to do with the "ratio" that they have, not to mention how touchy the client base appears to be. Written procedures seem to be a lost art down here also contributing to some of the problem. You should have seen there face when I explained about our special "team" that closes tickets using remote tools, all over the country.
Our newest charcter in the story is Ms. Laura, who is their leader, she is going to interview us after lunch and see who has the right mindset(?) to be sent downtown.
Speaking of bombs, I casually mentioned about a outsourcing thing happening in Rochester. Seems they have never heard of this. Looks like there will be some "bar meetings" while some stuff gets explained.
Sunday, March 24, 2002
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