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  • The end all be all massive waste of time

    I get back from lunch, and doing my back from lunch bouncing around dealing with the little issues that come up when I make the mistake to step away from the office.

    Work study is on the phone, so when this older looking woman (older than our traditional students) walked in, I was the one who had to go help her.

    She introduced herself as a graduate, and needed access to her email account. Emails of graduates are disabled 6 months after they graduate, deleted 2 months after that.

    PLUS.... we switched our students over to Windows Live accounts last year. So, we don't have ANY student emails on our exchange server anymore.

    Since she was almost in tears after hearing that news, I went over to the network admin, as the server admin was in a meeting. He, of course, punted it right back to the server admin's plate. But did inform me that it was just a webinar, and I could crash it. So I did.

    Server admin says tell her he can get her a .PST file tomorrow IF IT STILL EXISTS.

    So I go down and tell her that.

    Through about 10 minutes of babble, she gets around to explaining what's REALLY going on.

    For the sake of my sanity and fingers, I'll sum everything up for you.

    First off, (l)user is TOO STUPID TO LIVE!!!!

    She tells me, after much to do, that her email account got hacked, and she needed into her old school email to get the reset email link. Okay, fine.

    I get permission, and recreate her email account. I make a note to disable it at the end of the day. I figure that's it.

    Wellll...., no. Idjit at the computer repair shop in town is charging her to fix it. So, I figure, I'd save this woman some time and money by doing it for her, I mean what's so hard about clicking on the forgot password link?

    I do, then wait, and wait, and wait.. no email. Hu.

    So I go do it again. And then I notice that the domain part of the email address (since they only show the first few letters of the address, and the full domain) was really really short. Our domain isn't really all that short.

    So, look closer and.., yeah. First Class Idjit entered in the wrong email address as her alternate email. She put the school's abbreviation in instead of the full domain. I'm like...

    So I explain to her. "But why did they let me put in the wrong address??" I swear, that's exactly what she said. I try to explain... and just trail off, because she's just not getting it.

    So, I take the other option, and contact customer support. I should have ran away instead.

    First thing is that MSN needs another email account to contact her at. I asked if she had another one.. "Yeah, but none that I get into."

    "CAN you get into any of them?" Cue Blank stare.

    So I create a new email for her.

    I click the contact customer support link.

    THAT link takes you to like this 2 screen length form, asking all kinds of questions about the account. She claimed that she forgot her glasses, or something, so I had to read everything to her.., and translate what she said to type it in.

    So, I get everything filled in, submit it, and explain what the process is. They'd investigate, and contact her later on.

    Once again, I swear, exact quote. "So what's my password?"

    I explain everything AGAIN. I really don't know why, as there were no more signs of comprehension.

    I end with, "CHECK THIS EMAIL ACCOUNT EVERY DAY."

    "Oh, I guess I should go get my computer back from <repair guy>, hu?"

    Yes, that would be wise.

    So, let the betting start. Will she be back? Will she remember the account name (firstinitallastname)? Will she remember the password (123456)? Will she ever get her account back? How long until pondering how this girl got into our uni will land me into therapy? How many licks does it take to the get to the center.. oh, wait, already been done.

    Check out the D'oh thread for some jewels I got on the phone while typing this up.
    SC: “Yeah, Bob’s Company. I'm Bob. It's my company.” - GK
    SuperHotelWorker made my Avi!!

  • #2
    The phrase "Too stupid to be allowed to live" comes to mind.

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    • #3
      i agree with you RD why would using a temporary email like your school account ever cross your mind as something you would put as a retrieval option??

      Comment


      • #4
        And that's how it is now, with the Windows Live accounts.

        HOWEVER, when she was a student, we overly stressed the fact, time and time again, that we're not going to host your crap after you're gone. We've got more important uses for that server space.

        PLUS, I send out an email every month after graduation, warning them of the pending deletion.

        She had no excuse to think she was keeping it, other than, as RD put it, she too stupid to be allowed to live.
        SC: “Yeah, Bob’s Company. I'm Bob. It's my company.” - GK
        SuperHotelWorker made my Avi!!

        Comment


        • #5
          Quoth patiokitty View Post
          Some schools keep the email accounts for students even after they have finished their degrees - I know mine does. The email is yours until the day you die, essentially. At least that is the way it's currently set up at the university I attend.
          I know some schools that have their students on say Exchange while a student then X time after graduation give them a username @ alum . school . edu that is either a less powerful email system or just forwards mail to a personal account they set up.

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          • #6
            My college has a weird setup. If you are an alumni.. your account is usually deleted unless you're an alumni who volunteers on campus a lot. Then you get to keep it.

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            • #7
              Reminds me of a current 'customer' I have to deal with...

              'Can you write down how to sell on ebay for me' F**K OFF!

              Yeah, he keeps asking me to WRITE IT DOWN. I just showed him the bookmark I made to the ebay 'How to sell guide'.

              I feel your pain.

              Comment


              • #8
                T.A., I think you may be a bit too nice sometimes. Your SCs don't know how lucky they are. A lot of techs would have just told her "oh well".
                "If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you."

                Comment


                • #9
                  Yeah, I know, and that's how I get myself into trouble.

                  But, now, everyone I work closely with knows that I have that problem, and do a lot to protect me from myself.

                  The server admin is working with me on the VoIP project. He quickly took over "firing" the vendors for me, when it became clear I just couldn't do it.
                  SC: “Yeah, Bob’s Company. I'm Bob. It's my company.” - GK
                  SuperHotelWorker made my Avi!!

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Quoth Sandman View Post
                    My college has a weird setup. If you are an alumni.. your account is usually deleted unless you're an alumni who volunteers on campus a lot. Then you get to keep it.
                    Sorry... pet peeve...
                    <pedant> The singular is alumnus. </pedant>

                    The license plate frames bother me every time I see them. Doubly-so because they come from places of learning. >_<

                    ^-.-^
                    Faith is about what you do. It's about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are. It's about making sacrifices for the good of others. - Dresden

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Quoth Andara Bledin View Post
                      The license plate frames bother me every time I see them. Doubly-so because they come from places of learning.
                      Hey! You don't know! It could be a husband/wife team of graduates, making "alumni" license plate frame perfectly correct.

                      Not very likely, but possible.
                      Sorry, my cow died so I don't need your bull

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                      • #12
                        Quoth technical.angel View Post
                        I get back from lunch, and doing my back from lunch bouncing around dealing with the little issues that come up when I make the mistake to step away from the office.
                        Ugh. I feel your pain. I can sit at the phone, fixing up our site or whatever, no phone calls of note for THREE solid hours...Then I head out to use the can or just outside for 5 minutes for some air...Get back to the desk -- Bam! 2 voicemails and 3 emails in that short span of time that all want me NOW! >_<
                        "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
                        "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
                        "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
                        "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
                        "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
                        "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
                        Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
                        "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

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                        • #13
                          I don't know about "too stupid to live", but there definately should be some sort of test before letting someone have (or in some cases, use) a computer. The place I work at is looking for a new graphic artist and some of the people who say they are 'good with computers' are only good at Twittering and checking their FaceSpace or MyBook or whatever that thing is.
                          "Kamala the Ugandan Giant" 1950-2020 • "Bullet" Bob Armstrong 1939-2020 • "Road Warrior Animal" 1960-2020 • "Zeus" Tiny Lister Jr. 1958-2020 • "Hacksaw" Butch Reed 1954-2021 • "New Jack" Jerome Young 1963-2021 • "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff 1949-2021 • "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton 1958-2021 • Daffney 1975-2021

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                          • #14
                            Quoth Andara Bledin View Post
                            The license plate frames bother me every time I see them. Doubly-so because they come from places of learning.
                            I ranted about at length this to a friend of mine once because it bothered me tremendously also, but he pointed out an alternate interpretation that has since mollified my inner pedant. Rather than taking the license plate frame to be a declaration of identity (e.g., "[I am a] University Alumni" <cringe>), it can be can be taken as a declaration of belonging or support for a group (e.g., "[I belong to the group of all] University Alumni"). He likened it to sports-team license plate frames, wherein nobody will assume that the driver of the car is, in fact, the embodiment of the New York Giants. He then made a rather crude and unfounded claim regarding my mother's relationship with said football team, but that's irrelevant to the point.

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                            • #15
                              Quoth slavetotheman View Post
                              Rather than taking the license plate frame to be a declaration of identity (e.g., "[I am a] University Alumni" <cringe>), it can be can be taken as a declaration of belonging or support for a group (e.g., "[I belong to the group of all] University Alumni").
                              Nekojin's tried that with me.

                              I won't accept that. There's more than enough room to make it Alumni Assoc. or the like. Since they don't, however, I am going to continue to assume it's just lameness on their part.

                              ^-.-^
                              Faith is about what you do. It's about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are. It's about making sacrifices for the good of others. - Dresden

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