Ingsoc's Lair

clientsfromhell:

This story was when I was training in system integration (administrating computer and server for clients).

Our client was a big healthcare company and even when we did perfect jobs, they thought they could save money by finding other companies that will do the work for less.

Once, the cleaning person just shut off the power of the router inside the room, because she needed the plug for the vacuum cleaner. After she finished, she didn’t put the power of the router back and they had no Internet.

We provided our service from +200km away with VPN connections, but without a connection it was impossible to find the reason for their internet loss. We decided to drive there and prove instant support.

Of course, they figured this would be a good opportunity to “find a cheaper solution” and ordered another company who was consulting in the same city to check out the same problem and see if they could underbid us.

After we arrived, this other IT company was poking around trying to figure it out. They said that the internet was out because, and this was their reason, the “SWITCH” is not “ROUTING.”

Me and my boss asked them if this was a joke. It was not.

Once we started looking we immediately found that the real issue was the unplugged power, but we didn’t say anything. We wanted to have some fun and make them feel bad for hiring another company.

The other company tried things and asked for passwords for our servers and things that didn’t have anything to do with the actual problem. At this point we decided to say what’s really wrong, before the other company starts to ruin the already perfect working systems.

We said that we know the solution and asked  if they want to know it from us or still want to have the other IT company keep looking. Because they needed to be online, they decided to give us the stage.

We slowly and calmly walked to the router.

My Boss: First, the reason the switch is not routing is because a SWITCH is a SWITCH while a ROUTER is a ROUTER.  A switch shouldn’t route, it’s the part of the router. Secondly, how are you in still in business if you can’t see that someone unplugged the router?

At this point he put the power plug in and after few seconds an employee says

Client: Hey, we have internet again!

Both the other IT Company and the client who hired them were livid. I’ve never seen someone turn beet red and ghost white at the same time.

Rebimboca da parafuseta nos tempos modernos

clientsfromhell:

As I was doing a daily check of our client’s networks, the connection broke completely.

One of our biggest clients called immediately, because every minute without a working connection is a heavy financial loss for them. We were in red alert mode. It’s not often that everything breaks at once.

While we were looking everywhere, we had to focus on the server room because that was the likely culprit.

A server with 500+ plugged in cables looks like spaghetti. You have to plan and manage it carefully or you make a huge mess and create all sorts of new problems.

I started to investigate the server when I noticed an ethernet cable that looked out of place. I followed it from one port to… the port right next to it. This had created an endless loop for the server, because the server was feeding back into itself. I pulled the cable out and BAM! Everything worked again.

Me: Who did this?

Employee Whose Job Isn’t IT: (guiltily) M-me?

We asked him why he thought plugging a loose cable into a massive server was a good idea.

Employee Whose Job Isn’t IT: I saw this cable lying there, and no one was using it. I saw two free ports and put it in them, so it wouldn’t feel useless.

After a massive facepalm from everyone else at the company we banned him from the server room.

Quem nunca? #VidadeTI