What The Fuss Is All About

Long Story Long, or: Of All The Days To Not Be Able To Tweet

Long story long: Here’s all the shit that happened since I left my iPhone home this morning and I saved it for you all:

The Omen:
I woke up at 5:30AM, which means I got into work at 7AM, which is pretty damned weak. That’s at least an hour I could’ve slept. I discovered I left my phone (and only unfiltered internet connection) at home.

The Connection Problem:
Three days ago, I was contacted by a problem our software people were seeing with FTP connections to a certain remote location. After a cursory glance at the problem, I declare that it’s not a system issue, but most likely software or perhaps a firewall.

Today, every member of middle management stops by my desk to chat with me because the software people told the bigwig client that it’s “definitely” my server’s problem. I spend the rest of the morning discussing with non-technical people how I proved that it was not my server’s problem. The argument, “The other remote sites are working fine” doesn’t cut it for some reason.

Endless Paperwork:
We’re gearing up for an annual operating system patch cycle, which from start to finish takes 7 weeks. I spent the morning creating “slides” on a stupid Sharepoint server for each and every step of this process. As this is going on, I am constantly interrupted by questions as to why my server won’t FTP to the client’s remote site.

Emasculated at Lunch:
We went to Ruby Tuesday’s for lunch. It’s my favorite place that we can go to and get out in about an hour. They had a new menu, part of which lists their flavored iced teas. I love iced teas.

I decide to try the “Ruby T” which purports to be POM juice blended with iced tea*. The waitress brought it out to me in one of their fancy girly drink glasses, and it even has a goddamned garnish on the rim of the glass. I asked the waitress why she didn’t warn me about ordering a girly drink, and advised that she bring the next one in a beer mug.

The rest of the lunch, I am accused of having a vagina by my friends.

Ambush:
A middle-manager stops by my desk at 2PM and says that I’m needed in a meeting. He won’t tell me where, but says he’ll walk me down there. I enter the room and he leaves!

I sit down and ask, “What’s up?” and I’m immediately told by the software lead that my server isn’t [up]. I assure him it is, and he responds that it may be up, but something is wrong with it because they can’t FTP to the remote site.

At this point I feel the flames of rage licking their way up my cheeks. I assure him again that my system is just fine, and thus begins an impromptu class on how servers and network communications work. These people can’t operate a microwave oven, and they’re calling my expertise into question. I formulate a test, they agree, and we adjourn.

I get back to my desk and the FTP connection is working flawlessly. I sit there with another admin and a software operator watching a goddamned packet-capture for an hour before they decide they’re going to go back to their desk and call me if anything breaks.

2 hours later, it broke and the phone calls came flooding in. I ran a test which proved that the failure is not on the server, but past the organization’s border firewall.

Tomorrow, I will demand an apology.

Trying To Keep The Man Down:
We’ve got visiting software people in town from out of state for a product implementation. They are working with the really loud people in the office, and I’ve got no patience left. Someone turns my “I’m smarter than you” cross-stitch around so it faces their cubes. I leave it because I think it’s funny.

Shenanigans ensue, and before long a bottle cap is accidentally sent into their work area, which results in one of the visiting software people to confront us on both throwing things at them AND pointing offensive cross-stitches at them. Nothing is said to me about it.

*fucking delicious

6 May 2009 ·