Whats your first?

Submitted by Yakbutterblacktea on Mon, 05/05/2008 - 2:53pm.
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So whats one of your IT "firsts"? Can be anything from a funny story to something more serious all the way to down right unusual. Remember the first time you had to ask someone "did you try rebooting your computer?" to something a little more serious like the first time you came into your data-center and all heck had broken loose. Bring on your "firsts" the good, the bad and the ugly.. Have fun with it!

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When a person's career spans
Submitted by softwarejanitor on Mon, 05/05/2008 - 3:01pm.

When a person's career spans 20+ years it becomes difficult for things to stand out that much.

I remember the first time
Submitted by ciamele on Tue, 05/13/2008 - 8:14pm.

I remember the first time someone called me and said "my monitor is broken." I'm sure you already know where this one is going... but here's how it went.

Her: My monitor is broken.
Me: What happens when you hit the power button?
Her: Nothing.
Me: Is it plugged in?
Her: Of course it's plugged in.
Me: Can you see the outlet the monitor is plugged into?
Her: No.
Me: Can you check, please?
(she puts the phone down for a few moments to look)
Her: Oh, it wasn't plugged in, bye! (followed by a quick hang up)

Then I went for a short walk.

That is like something right
Submitted by softwarejanitor on Wed, 05/14/2008 - 9:34am.

That is like something right out of "Computer Stupidities"...

http://www.rinkworks.com/stupid/

My first misinterpreted
Submitted by pmcmahon on Thu, 05/15/2008 - 12:52am.

My first misinterpreted internal company email

Let's set the characters up...
Description of Me:
Fresh out of college, working in a remote office, very overworked, QA Engineer.

People on Email thread:
Me, VP Development in CA, QA Director in CA, 1 of 3 Development Directors in CA, Austin Development Manager.

Email Thread Conflict...
There was miscommunication in alerting QA that a new feature needed to be tested and when I openly admitted to not testing it in an email, the Development Director replied with the following edited statement:
"I recommend we track the change via a CRQ, so QA will remember to verify it."

How I misinterpreted it:
"You can't do your job so maybe if we staple this reminder to your forehead you will remember"

How I responded (edited):
"You want to accuse QA of forgetting something you talk to the QA Director.

I don't need to be included in the email if you're going to take a cheap shot when I'm working my butt off."

Result...
It didn't take but 3 seconds before my phone was ringing off the hook and the Director was asking for my head on a platter. Luckily I wasn't let go, however beginning that day all my emails were to be reviewed by management before sending.

Moral(s) of the story

  1. Email's do a poor job in conveying inflection/mood, so when you read an email that you take offense to, get a second opinion and/or wait 24 hours before responding.
  2. People are not angry at you they're angry at the problem.
  3. Emotional emails are a bad idea
  4. Write an email like you just included the whole company in your response.(Let me emphasis the word "like" as in pretend. For those of you out there that enjoy bringing the whole company into your email drama, please seek help.)