"But it should be in the cloud!"

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

This one is from a job I left last last year.

Guy calls the help desk, his computer has crashed and he is trying to retrieve some of his data. The following conversation ensues:

SC: I'm pretty sure I had most of the important stuff saved to the Cloud.

Me: Okay, I can help you track it down. Where was it saved to?

SC: The cloud.

Me:

Me: Yes, I got that part, but where on the Cloud?

SC: What do you mean?

Me: Well, the Cloud can mean a lot of different things, where specifically did you back your data up to?

SC: I don't know! I just got an alert about a week or so ago to do a Cloud backup so I did.

Me: But you don't remember what service or system that alert came from?

SC: No, I don't. Look, why is this so hard? I told you it's in the Cloud. Just...get it back for me.

Me: Well, I have to know where to look first, sir.

SC: Look in the cloud!

Me: (screaming internally) Okay, what you've just told me is like saying you want me to find your car, but it could be parked in any parking lot in America and you don't even remember what kind of car it is.

SC: I'm not talking about cars, I'm talking about the Cloud!

Me: (ARRRGH) Okay, well since you do most of your work for Client A, I'd guess your data ended up in service X, Y or Z. I can do a database search using your name and employee info but I can't promise how much of your data I can recover.

SC: JUST GO IN THE CLOUD AND GET IT!

Me: It doesn't work like that sir.

SC: SCREW YOU ASSHOLE! YOU'RE USELESS!! I make too much money to be dealing with this crap! *CLICK*

I hope you just picked up on the fact that one of my colleagues just called me an asshole...on a recorded call.

So, what did your friendly IT support guy do? I sent a copy of the recording to his manager with a friendly "You might want to listen to this." note attached.

Two days later, what pops into my email but a lame apology from Cloud Man, with a thinly veiled threat for me to get his data back ASAP. I sent that along to his manager as well and at the same time said manager (who is a genuinely awesome dude) asks me very nicely to go ahead and do the database search. So I spend a few hours poking around the systems, retrieve what I can, pack it into a centralized folder and send it on its way.

Three days later I get a reply from the manager: "Thanks so much for that. Cloud Man was let go a few days ago and I needed as much info as I could get to bring <new guy on that account> up to speed so this thing doesn't go too far off the rails."

Two weeks later, I get a nice email from that guys manager, commending my efforts in retreiving that data and helping save their project timeline. This manager is only a couple of rungs below the CEO, so that's high praise.

[Racket_Man]

AAAAHHHH the gift that keeps on giving. Foot and mouth disease RECORDED for posterity along with documentation and managers who will actually listen and take the proper action.

Gotta love it .

[lordlundar]

*sigh* and to think that people view the BOFH as a humour article. No no my friend, it's a self defense course.

[dalesys]

Same intellectual prowess as the dog expecting to find the bone he buried under the motorhome... at the last campground.

[TheSHAD0W]

I've reached the point where I think every company should run their own cloud now, it's reached the point where it's no more complicated than running any other web service.

[It's me]

Same intellectual prowess as the dog expecting to find the bone he buried under the motorhome... at the last campground.

Or painting an X on the front of the boat so they can find the good fishing spot again. (But I like the buried bone one better, hadn't heard it before &#128077

[RealUnimportant]

I've reached the point where I think every company should run their own cloud now, it's reached the point where it's no more complicated than running any other web service.

Most do, don't they? At least that's where I've always assumed my primary system profile was stored and recalled from... It may not be available from the World Wide Webs but within the company it should be universally accessible.

[Racket_Man]

I just happened to remember a similar situation back in my IT days. This was WAY before the internet as we know it and WAY before "the Cloud" was even a dream (mostly because of not much infrastructure beyond dialup at 300 bps and lack of bandwidth back in early 1990's).

We did have a decent network for the company's PC's and all of our employees PS's were hooked up to the network. My boss (and later after he left) made it policy that ALL important stuff (doc's spreadsheets, other stuff) must be put on the network as the network was backup up on a daily basis. He did train everyone how to do this.

Well low and behold one employee's hard drive commits suicide. I examine said PC and determine hard drive is toast. I also query the employee to make sure important stuff was on the net work.

Yeah like that was going to happen. Nothing on the network all on local HD. I have to tell the owner about the situation and he is not very happy as I explain lost work/data and the lack of a proper backup on the network. I also explain (25 years ago remember) that IF we wanted to try and recover the lost data it would have to be an outside company and the cost would be expensive.

OK retrain everyone about using the network for important stuff.

[lordlundar]

Most do, don't they? At least that's where I've always assumed my primary system profile was stored and recalled from... It may not be available from the World Wide Webs but within the company it should be universally accessible.

Not nearly as much. "The Cloud" is globally randomized distributed data, ie bits and pieces of it all over the world randomly. For security and data protection issues alone most information is stored is still stored in controlled intranet systems with hierarchical backup procedures. The networks might be linked to each other via a central backbone but it's not "the cloud". That way if a server goes down, only that access point is affected.

The problem is "the cloud" is used as a marketing term and people think using it means their smart.

[TheSHAD0W]

"The Cloud" is globally randomized distributed data, ie bits and pieces of it all over the world randomly.

Some talk about it may have led you to that conclusion, but it's not.

It's referred to as a "cloud" because the end user isn't supposed to have to think about how it's implemented. It's not randomized, though it may be spread out among a number of servers. It's up for techs to implement.

I run my own personal cloud, using the "Nextcloud" software and a server at my house. Better and more private than using Dropbox or Gdrive, and I've given a few friends their own accounts on it.

[Mental_Mouse]

I forget who said it, but "the cloud" can way too easily become "you can’t get your data because of the failure of a machine whose existence you had no reason to suspect".

[otakuneko]

I forget who said it, but "the cloud" can way too easily become "you can’t get your data because of the failure of a machine whose existence you had no reason to suspect".

I prefer "the cloud is just someone else's computer".

[Ironclad Alibi]

This thread has reminded me of the demotivational poster that says,

Every Dark Cloud Has a Silver Lining, but Lightning Kills Hundreds of People Every Year Who Are Trying to Find It.

[protege]

I prefer "the cloud is just someone else's computer".

...and that's why I don't depend on it exclusively. Still though, trying to get my employer to put a dedicated backup program in place is difficult. We're still waiting on the 3rd party tech--who is supposed to be showing us how to do "fire drills" with the equipment--to actually do it. He doesn't care, mostly because my boss threatened him while working on an unrelated project. This has been going on since March. Anyone want to guess what's going to happen if the backups fail?

[earl colby pottinger]

Voicemail

What gets me is the double voicemail.

The first time you know after his manager heard it, the manager would say something to Mr. Loud Mouth.

The second time, Mr. Loud Mouth should have realize his manager was not really on his side and even if he did not know about the voice mails, he should have realize his manager would hear about his threats.

The only thing I can think of is that Mr. Loud Mouth, was so dumb as to not realize that all phone calls were recorded in his company. Whenever I call a company and am talking to someone I always assume I am being recorded. Even in places where the recording has no legal standing it lets people prove to their bosses what type of person you are and how you treated them.