From durrell@best.com Tue May 30 11:56:13 CDT 1995 Article: 1258 of alt.sysadmin.recovery Path: tezcat.com!news.sprintlink.net!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen. cso.uiuc.edu!sdd.hp.com!news1.best.com!shell1.best.com!not-for-mail From: durrell@best.com (Bryant Durrell) Newsgroups: alt.sysadmin.recovery Subject: Re: IAP Nightmare part V Date: 26 May 1995 10:48:34 -0700 Organization: Semiotic Marines, Altoid Squad Lines: 55 Message-ID: <3q54a3$ltj@shell1.best.com> References: <3q523d$f18@nyx.cs.du.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: shell1.best.com In article <3q523d$f18@nyx.cs.du.edu>, Laura Giletti wrote: >Two different occasions: first, the server took a flying leap >and splatted itself (figuratively). I am alone in the office and >am trying to figure out what is up (or down). Phone rings. "Is >Jerry there?" Me, "no, but if you re calling about the system, the >server is down and I will be getting it up as soon as possible." >"Oh, that's okay, it was a question about something else. Maybe >you can help me .... [yadda yadda yadda]" I just put the phone down >on the desk until I heard her stop and then I picked it up and said >"I just can't help you now. Call back later." So, I'm busily working away adding UUCP accounts at my Previous Employer, taking the occasional phone call ("My UUCP transfers keep failing. "Are you using hardware flow control?" "Nope." "Try that, and let's see how it does." "... Wow! Thanks!"). And suddenly there's this *sploosh* in the opposite corner, where our news admin sits. Luckily, he was out at lunch. I look over. There's water *gushing* out directly under his workstation. "Yipe!" Evacuation commenses; the building maintenance people are called. In the middle, the phone rings. "Hi thank you for calling (elided) I'm very sorry but we're having a system emergency at the moment and I can't help you." "But I..." "I'm very sorry ." Ring ring. "Hi thank you for calling --" "Someone just *hung up* on me! I'm a *customer*!" "Sir, I really don't have the time --" "Give me the *president*." Who was, in fact, standing by; I shrugged, did so, and I have rarely had a more satisfying experience than hearing my boss say "You are distracting one of our system administrators during an emergency. Go Away." Sometimes, sometimes the managers come through. -- Bryant Durrell http://www.innocence.com durrell@innocence.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Mathematics, rightly viewed, posses not only truth, but supreme beauty -- a beauty cold and austere, like that of sculpture." -- Bertrand Russell