Triple threat!! My month of HELL (EPIC Length ranting)

[Crazeyal]

Man..

This day week MONTH has been ROUGH!!!

I could put this in Morons in Management, Cursing out Co-irkers (sp intended), Customers suck! where to start where to start... (I am putting this in Customers Suck, because I wound up on painkillers from the Airport's confined spaces and protruding metal deathtraps!!)

I do high end Service for big clients, Airports, Hospitals and the like. BIG places with loads and loads of cameras and powered access control. They pay for 24/7 response and, if they pay enough, free on-site staff. Well one of the Airports decided that they had had ENOUGH of their 70's style furniture and outdated Cathode Ray monitors. They wanted to spend literally hundreds of thousands of dollars and revamp their operations area. The bad news was that they didn't want ANY downtime from their current setup.




Fat chance...


The Operations room had wiring and equipment that was at LEAST 15 years old, and in some cases, MUCH older. The wiring was in LITERAL knots. There was about 6 separate, delicate (old as HELL) and in varying stages of obsolescence vital systems that fed into the back of the 8 foot metal beast of a table. They had radios for the tower, maintenance and Police. They had Computers for the Access control, National Weather updates (vital!!), and inter-office email. Then there was the camera systems... and the monitors for them... and the Pan Tilt Zoom matrix... and the Fiber-Optic cable converters that fed the the 70+ cameras...

Now.. all of the wires for this was installed over a 20 year period, by the lowest bidder.

GUESS WHO HAD TO UNF*** ALL OF THAT?!?!?

You have to understand, that Fiber-Optic cable has changed over the years. It's still fairly delicate, but you can actually brush against the new stuff and move it without worry... Within reason. The old stuff was literally glass fibers with rubber around it for protection. Guess what happens to 20 year old rubber?? CAN YOU SAY BROKEN CAMERA FEED?!?!? I knew you could... [/Mr Rogers] About 1/3 of the cameras had this old CRAP...

Another thing you have to realize is that my company does NOT believe in "fix it tomorrow". IF something is called in, or is discovered during a Preventative maintenance vist... You stay till it's fixed! Did I mention that I don't know HOW to fix Fiber-Optic cable? ...that I am not ALLOWED to learn how to fix it, or even own the tools??? (some $?#!@ing liability issue) So.. If a Fiber-Optic cable breaks, I have to sit there and WAIT for a sub Contractor to come and repair it.

EVEN IF IT'S OVERNIGHT!!!

I broke 3 camera feeds in 5 minutes by just moving wires 10 feet way from them. (Insert maniacal laughing/crying/swearing here)

Luckily, the Airport's IT Administrator is certified to repair Fiber. As the whole damn upgrade was HIS #$@#@#ing idea, it served him RIGHT to have to crawl into the 1/2 foot wide space and re-terminate the Fiber ends.

Needless to say, Things got WORSE before they got better. All of the Fiber modules were getting moved to what USED to be the kitchen. They knocked down the whole thing and put up new walls for a "server room". What do you get when you mix demolition, an active workspace, a December deadline and a tight schedule?? Yup... Contractor no-shows!!!



Which resulted in YOUR'S TRULY working an entire weekend, and one late-night till 4 am ta boot!

THIS... was the BEGINNING of my month!!! The Airport job is not done YET... and now we add in my brand new co-IRKers...

Long story short on these two winners is that the area was understaffed, FOR A YEAR. I had gotten kinda used to 50 hour weeks, and only complained when they hit 70!! Within a month or two of each other, I caught a break (or so I thought!!) They hired some people with a bit of experience and I started working normal hours.

Problem is, the new guys are polar opposites and their weaknesses just keep me RUNNING! The first young guy is computer savvy, knows access control software so well that he was teaching other people at his old job. The other guy is an old hat Alarm installer who felt he was just a bit too old to be pulling cable under people's houses. As the second one is ten years YOUNGER than me, I heard the first ding of the warning bell...

THEN... the whining starts...

Older guy can't get email. Can't log-on to company website. Can't register for software.. can't... you get the picture... After a week... The problem is.... TADA!!! WINDOWS 3.1!!!!

Numb nutz buys a new computer...

Annnnnd then the young guy... Good god... I mean ... GOOD GOOGLY GOOP what an EMO Whiney BRAT FERSHLUGIN GRR PFHHHHT

Let's seee Divorced... 2 year old Kid... Girlfriend in KANSAS (or somethin).. currently living in broken leaky trailer that's owned by his PARENTS and used as storage container... hence.. NO BED... No friends because of divorce...

And THAT is to start out with... The stuff rolling downhill THIS month??

Child falls down at daycare = Leaves work at 10 am
Child has fever = can't come in until 3PM!!!
Parents have argument with business partner = Leave work early to stop THEFT OF BUILDING?!?! (just. Don't . ASK...)
Girlfriend doesn't return text message = Whole morning of whining
Girlfriend goes on DATE WITH OTHER GUY = constant text messaging amidst replies of "I'll be there in a MINUTE"
Girlfriend breaks up with him = Planned Airplane ride 1 week later is NOT a great investment.
ME working until 4am, getting up at 9am and working the rest of the day = "I need a ride to the airport" at 3pm "Can I borrow$$$ until payday PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ (not paid back)" and a Homer Simpson "D'OH" moment as he is about to get into the plane SANS COAT and going westward.

Me = going home without coat


(side note: All of the above came with at LEAST a half hour of "memememe me *gasp* whymewhymewhyme blah bla h blah" whining. eAcH. DaMn. TIME!!

Sooooooooo

Incredibly hard project from customer, incredible stupidity and YOUTH-RELATED MORONITUDE... Ya think that's enough to tick me off??

Nah..

The powers-that-be have this INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT client in an oh-so NOT TO BE NAMED World-wide communication provider. All Told.. they aren't a bad client, there's just a whooooooole lot oh dem!!



Well... the VERY rich and powerful owners of my company have a slight problem. THEY ARE IDIOTS!!!! They knew we had outstanding work orders for the MASSIVELY IMPOOOOOOORRRTTTTAANNNNNT client and did NOTHING!!! We actually have a good deal (on the service tech end of it...) If there is a job that involves installation, we subcontract the job out. If a service issue involves anything more than a six foot ladder.. sub it out! Basically, if it involves getting sweaty or more than a day.. SUB. IT. OUT!!!

With four weeks left out of the YEAR, they realize they have umpteen BEEEEELION camera adds, new panic buttons and massive MASSIVE amounts of inspections NATIONWIDE to get done before years end. The bad news??? The Subs. SAID. NO!



Too little notice, not enough time, got other work scheduled...yadda yadda yadda...

So...

The bigwigs decide to ARGUE ABOUT IT FOR ANOTHER WEEK!! and THEN start shipping out parts. My little neck of the woods? They ship ME a huge-ass box, and expect ME to dole out parts and assignments.

Uh..

Huge-ass project??

HELLLLLOOooOOoo??

I give the bulk of the work to the guy with no computer knowledge, but tons of installing experience. It works well at first, but Emo-boy has to take up the slack. You want to see a look of UTTER despair? Try watching me, as I get a panicked phone call, BEGGING for advice, BECAUSE OF A BLOWN FUSE!!!

Emo Boy: IT'S ALREADY TAKEN OUT TWO FUSES!!
Me: ... *bumps head on metal table and strains back trying to get cell phone in speaking position* uh... check the wire for shorts?
Emo Boy: BUT I DON'T KNOW HOOOOWWW TUUU DUUU THIIIIIIIIISSSSSS
Me:*whimper* *Bump hand on metal bracket trying to perform a "D'OH" maneuver* JUST.REPLACE.THE.FUSE. *Try desperately to ignore the camera that just went black*
Emo Boy: AYYYYEEEE DOoooOoOONNNNTAH HAVE MooOoooOONNEEEeeEEYYY
Me:*TWITCH* *camera blinks back to life out of fear* TAKE. A. PIECE.OF.WIRE.AND.WRAP.IT.ONCE.AROUND.THE.FUSE.
Emo Boy: *tut* That doesn't sound SAFE *click*
Me: KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!!!!

Epilogue:

WELLLLLP... It's the weak (sp intended) before Christmas. They had a company wide phone-meeting this morning. I missed it because I had to drive an hour away to get a Hospital's system Un-f*****... Basically the morons in the IT dept decided to move the server for the access control panel and not TELL anyone. The Hospital is the Pit of DESPAIR as far as cellphone coverage, so I figured I'd be EXPLAINING MYSELF to the Powers-that-be, but I REALLY had no choice. As it is, I had to blow off a regular client (the ever-lovin Airport o DOOOOOM) to go do the service call, and then go to one of the communication stores for an Install/Upgrade/2 year overdue inspection yadda yadda YADDA.

I get an "Atta boy" for fixing the Hospital's problem.
I spot a MAJOR flaw in the communication store's system while completing EVERYTHING promised to that particular store.
The server for the E-meeting hiccuped and no-one cares that I missed the meeting because scores of people couldn't dial in.
THE COMPANY MET SO MANY GOALS THAT WE ARE GETTING CHRISTMAS WEEK OFF!! PAID!!!
Emo Boy just "Didn't feel like talking"

[theredbaron47]

THE COMPANY MET SO MANY GOALS THAT WE ARE GETTING CHRISTMAS WEEK OFF!! PAID!!!

I do believe this is a perfect ending to your story of massive woe.

I don't know how you survived all of that ineptitude. Ineptitude from every angle, that is; people not doing their job, people being stupid, people being whiny, people not thinking or using (un)common sense, and the list goes on...

Enjoy that week off, my friend. You deserve it!!

P.S. I must say, I greatly enjoy your writing style. I can't even describe why, but something... awesome!!

[Crazeyal]

P.S. I must say, I greatly enjoy your writing style. I can't even describe why, but something... awesome!!

That is a VERY nice compliment. Thank you. I have another epic in the War Stories. *buffs nails*

[Gurndigarn]

Another thing you have to realize is that my company does NOT believe in "fix it tomorrow". IF something is called in, or is discovered during a Preventative maintenance vist... You stay till it's fixed! Did I mention that I don't know HOW to fix Fiber-Optic cable? ...that I am not ALLOWED to learn how to fix it, or even own the tools???

The best fix is wholesale replacement of the entire cable. Or, if you can do the same job by pushing electrons through copper cable at merely near the speed of light, complete removal and refurb with braided copper wire.

One of these days I'm going to give my rant on Sega coin-op games... let's just say, for now, that the company does not think in terms of cleaning or repair, and their egos... well, every other company out there thinks ethernet, or firewire, or even custom-designed wire cables are sufficient for linking two games together. Sega, OTOH, has to use fiber-optic cables. Fragile fiber optic cables. Fiber optic cables with finicky connectors. That also break. And none of which can be picked up at your local computer store. Because the time lag from pushing electrons 2 1/2 meters is Simply Unacceptable for Almighty Sega.

[Crazeyal]

Uh.. That's fine when yer talkin a two foot cable. These are up to MILES LONG. BIT of a price differance... especially when you consider that the Floor of the AIRPORT ITSELF would have to be re-dug to replace some of the cables.

[Der Cute]

Al, hon, you've done a remarkable job here. I just want to say that I'd have gone fully gray within the first 12 hours.

Have you chatted with your boss about learning fiberoptic splicing / re-ending? I understand it's complicated, as the end has to be sanded perfectly and w/o an angle, but as your company is servicing Blah Airport, it may be feasible.

Let's hope EmoDork and OldFart can rub off on each other's skills. Emo could learn some old timey soldering, and Oldy could learn some new fangled stuff. Just not the whineys and the *grunt* s.

Hugs and virtual Bailey's Coffee to ya.

Cutenoob

[BookstoreEscapee]

P.S. I must say, I greatly enjoy your writing style. I can't even describe why, but something... awesome!!

When I was in college I got to write a paper in Grammar B...it's much like the way you wrote this, with purposeful misspellings, etc. etc. It was the most fun paper I ever wrote

[Crazeyal]

Al, hon, you've done a remarkable job here. I just want to say that I'd have gone fully gray within the first 12 hours.

Already there.

Have you chatted with your boss about learning fiberoptic splicing / re-ending?

My company has a rather EXTREME open door policy. The CEO comes out to YOU. *HE* is the one who forbade it. It's more about our other clients and the snowball effect of aging Fiber. If one guy in the company does it why not THEM??? And then we are responsible for literally hundreds of thousands of Fiber ends.

Hugs and virtual Bailey's Coffee to ya.

Cutenoob

Why Thankee one and all. Tis been a warm reception for this story and DAMN welcome. I got some runnin to do come Monday, but the Funny thing??? Now they have to sell me my vacation days back!!!

(oh and I luuuuurve Baileys)

[Geek King]

Al, you had me wincing at "old fiberoptic cable." Be [kinda] glad you're not allowed to work with it. All the special equipment you need (or at least, should have), and the polishing... THE POLISHING!

Best of luck, you have my sympathies, and my jelousy for working a traveling job. I think it would be kind of fun, but then I'm single.

[HawaiianShirts]

When I was in college I got to write a paper in Grammar B...it's much like the way you wrote this, with purposeful misspellings, etc. etc. It was the most fun paper I ever wrote

I didn't know there was an actual term and structure for writing like this! That's awesome.

Hey, Crazeyal, can I use parts of this post for a lesson plan for the 11th Grade English class I get to start student-teaching in February? I think they'd have a good time attempting to mimic that kind of writing.

[Crazeyal]

and the polishing... THE POLISHING!

Yeah.. I've been present at most of the repairs so I know how arduous it can get. The guy who was doing the transfers actually had a machine to fuse the fibers FOR him. It cost $30 grand...

and my jelousy for working a traveling job. I think it would be kind of fun, but then I'm single.

Actually I'm pretty stable most of the time. A little TOO much sometimes. Last year I was booked for 48 hours of PM service for a 40 hour week!!! They didn't have enough personel in the area, and had 3 clients with 2 days of free service each. You do the math, my Bosses obviously couldn't

[Crazeyal]

Hey, Crazeyal, can I use parts of this post for a lesson plan for the 11th Grade English class I get to start student-teaching in February? I think they'd have a good time attempting to mimic that kind of writing.

No problem! I'd tell you to read my LARP stories for more of this type of writing, but the mispellings were a bit more .. uh.. Unintentional??

[Crazeyal]

Week off my ASS!!!