Admin

Have you had a chance to do this?

3 Comments

Users can really stick it to you sometimes and today I got caught on a call with a user who I suppose was trying to stick it to me somehow. There were about 9 of us on the call and she asked me:
Have you had a chance to look at the old backup files yet?

And I was like, what old backup files?
She said, I wanted you to go through and make sure there aren’t any old backup files sitting out there from 3yrs ago taking up space. We’ll want all that stuff cleaned up before we switch servers.

I said, well was I supposed to do that? Is that something you’ve asked me to do?
She said, no, I was just wondering if you’ve had a chance to do it yet.
I said, yeah I’ve had many chances, but since nobody has asked me to then I haven’t done it. I’ve also had many chances to eat bananas and grind up cherries with a sharpie, but nobody’s asked me to do that either.
Would you like me to go look for extra backup files?

Yes, she said.

I said, ok then why didn’t you just ask me to instead of trying to make it look like I’m not doing something I’m supposed to do? I’ve had many chances to do many things including delete all the data in your system, but since nobody’s asked me to, I haven’t done that.

Well, she said, I was just trying to find out if you’ve had a chance to do that yet.
Yes, I get that, but you haven’t asked me to do it yet so how could I have had a chance? Now you in here trying to make it look like you’ve asked me several times and I’ve just been slacking.

OK, so that’s basically how it went. Dealing with users sometimes can really be hard… especially when they forget a key component and then try to cover it up like it’s been on your tasklist forever. And something this trivial is just ridiculous. It takes 5mins to check for old backups and admitting that you forgot until now is no big deal. Sometimes we spend more time on CYA than actual work.

3 thoughts on “Have you had a chance to do this?”

  1. I would like to say I’m surprised that someone would do this… but unfortunately, I’m not.
    This whole country now has this sickness which has people blaming everyone else for their own faults and failures.
    Didn’t raise your kids right? Blame TV or the video games… not the fact that you weren’t there as a parent to protect them from those games and TV shows…
    Unemployed? blame the economy… or better yet, lets blame the government for not providing you unemployment for 24 months straight while you failed to expand your marketability by studying, getting certifications, networking and the like… it’s not YOUR fault. It’s everyone else’s!
    don’t have enough money to pay for your kids lunches and food? don’t blame your own financial management skills… it’s everyone else’s fault that you bought that big-screen TV, have every cable channel, high speed Internet, new car and new home you can no longer afford… can’t be YOU making bad decisions so lets let the rest of society pick up after your own messes.
    Got into that car accident? It’s not YOUR fault… you were just coming into the lane. you turned your blinker on after all right? It’s not like he had the right of way because he was in the lane driving along with traffic that was already stopping due to congestion and you abruptly dove into his lane reducing his allowed distance to stop by 20+ feet…
    Lets all begin blaming someone else for our own lack of responsibility… After all. it’s not OUR fault is it?

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