Really?

Sometimes things people choose to do just boggle my mind. They are so out there with their logic that I just can't seem to wrap my head around it. Case in point, one of the departments here at work made a new printer purchase that they wanted installed and setup. They currently have a standalone fax machine and a networked printer. They wanted one unit that would both fax and print for them. Easy enough.. as there are a ton of multi-functions out there that can do both. Right? Easy.. right?

One of our techs was working with them to get this setup and was calling for my assistance to get it setup server side. We got the basics going, IPs assigned, drivers installed etc. Then the conversation got interesting.

Tech: Well they are replacing a fax down here too and they want this unit to be able to fax.

Me: Well, are there fax drivers for that unit? Does it have fax capabilities?

Tech: No fax option on it. It has some digital scan to email function they want to use. They keep telling me that they should be able to email-fax from this thing, but you have to setup the internal email server on it for it to work.

Me: Wait.. so they are replacing a fax machine, they want to be able to fax still.. and they bought a unit without faxing capabilities?

Tech: Yes, because they thought they could email stuff through this unit instead.

Me: They already have email. If they could just email it in the first place they wouldn't need to fax. You can set them up to scan to a file with that unit and they can use our email to send the scanned attachments if they want to do that.

Tech: No, that isn't what they want to do. They insist that they were told that they could "fax" through this unit if we setup some kind of internal mail server on it.

Me: Well they are pretty much SOL if they are thinking we are going to put secondary proprietary mail servers on our network just so a few people who opted not to buy a multifunction with fax capabilities to replace a fax machine can "email fax" documents. Its one extra step to attach it to a regular email through our system.

Tech: They aren't going to like that.

Me: Tell them its a better option than me coming down there with a shovel and a crotch punching midget ninja and going medieval on their asses!




As if that weren't enough, we had Genius2 come up to work on the air handler for the server room. We have two units. One main one and a smaller backup for use when we have problems or need to to maintenance on the main unit. G2 decides he needs both shut off to do his work. He shuts them both off.. opens up the main unit to start work and promptly dissapears. Doesn't notify anyone as to what he is doing. Doesn't tell anyone where he is going. No ETA on downtime.

Well shortly the datacenter climbs from a chilly 55 degrees to an Arizona-like 105+. If you know anything about computers, you will know that heat is your biggest enemy. The equipment we have stacked up in the server room puts out tremendous amounts of heat and requires a lot of cooling. It wasn't long before the servers sensors started shutting things down due to overheating issues.

First server to go down? Our Websense server which filters internet access. If thats offline, everyone is blocked. No one would bother calling for a while if any other server went offline, but when that one went down we had about 12 people call in a panic because the interwebz was broken! Fix it! I was in the middle of a bid on ebay! I can't check my fantasy league! OMG .. I needz my interwebz. My preciousssssss!

It was a long day yesterday and I wanted desperately to punch a few key people in the face. Lets hope today is a good day. I had a breakfast with no hog.. and I don't think I will have to use my AK .. so maybe today will be a good day.


Note: Total readership that might get above reference: 2