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Once upon a time when I worked as an IT Manager, I was responsible for the student computer labs. I took care of the lab spaces, the PCs, the user accounts, and the employees who oversaw the labs. I had numerous policies in place in order to keep things running smoothly and to prevent any old person from walking in and using the very limited computing resources (people would walk in off the street and try to use the labs).
One of these policies was that I do not create an account unless you are on my list of students that I get every semester, or until I've heard from the Undergraduate or Graduate office that you are enrolled in classes with us.
So one evening, on the first day of fall classes, I get a call from the Graduate Lab about a person claiming to be a student who was having trouble and was being very rude. I was busy training a new tech, so I figured, training opportunity, send the guy down.
Not exactly the training opportunity I had in mind.
The guy comes down and tells me he can not log in. SO I open Active Directory and ask him to write down his name and student ID number. He does so and I search AD student containers for both fields. Nothing. I search the entirety of AD. Nothing. I ask him if he was still a student? He says Yes. I ask him if he was supposed to have graduated in May or August? He says Yes.
AhHA! In May I would have gotten a list of graduating students, at the end of June, I disable all graduating accounts. At the end of August, I delete said accounts unless someone complained (sometimes a student was supposed to graduate in May, but had to finish up school work over the summer and still needed their account). So this gentleman had been deleted. He explained that he had been granted a special student status so he could take a few classes he did not get a chance to take.
No biggie. I tell him that I will email the grad office and in the morning they will email me back with his student status, and then I will recreate his account and all will be right with the world.
Uh-huh, yeah, right...NOT!
BS - Bad Student
ME - BOFH Manager & Trainer of future BOFH
BS: NO! I need my account tonight, I have to print off stuff for class.
Me: Sorry, I can not allow you access to lab resources until I know you are a student eligible for said resources.
BS: I just told you I am!
Me: I need someone in the grad office to confirm it for me since I can not look at student information.
BS: Well call them!
Me: It is 7PM, no one is up there anymore, the only reason I am here is because it is the first day of classes and I like to be here to handle technical issues.
BS: Well I need to print!
Me: You can print in the morning as soon as I have your account recreated, take 2 minutes once I hear back from the grad office.
BS: I have a class at 7AM I have to have stuff printed for, I need to print now!
Me: The graduate labs have been open for a week. The grad labs are always open for a week before the semester starts. Everyone knows this, so if it was so important for you to have this stuff printed off before class tomorrow, why are you just now doing it?
BS: I did not think it would be a problem.
Me: Well, I was told you graduated, I was not told you were a new student (he was not on my list of incoming students because technically he was not incoming) or a continuing student. I CAN NOT recreate your account until I confirm your status as a grad student. If you need to print, you can go to the undergraduate lab and print from there with your student ID number.
BS: Can I get free printing in there?
Me: Not until I know you are a grad student, until then, if your ID works in the undergrad lab (which means he is a student at the university, it does not mean he is a grad student in my college), you can print at the standard rate of $0.07/page.
BS: I am not paying for printing!
Me: Then you wait until tomorrow.
BS: Give me access NOW!
Me: No.
<wash rinse repeat>
Me: Listen, I do not have all night to argue with you. You have a choice, get out of my office, and I will email you when your account is working again, or keep arguing with me and I'll ban you from the labs.
BS: FUCK YOU! You are just some pissant staff member, you have to do what I say!
At this point, I was a wee bit angry, so I stood up from behind my desk. Now, I am not as big as JustADude by any means, but I am by no means a slouch, and I am used to dealing with Marines and getting them to listen to me, so a self-important kid 5 years my junior is not someone I am going to take any guff from.
Me: <with both hands on my desk> I am not some lowly staff member, I answer only to my director or the Dean himself. I determine what policies I wish in place and how they are enforced. I determine who does and does not use the facilities I am responsible for, and you are banned from the labs, you will get out of my office or I will call campus security and have you removed from the building.
He looked at me hard and wheeled out of my office. I apologized to my new tech, who was just staring wide eyed at the whole affair, and told her I needed to do damage control, so we would have to finish training tomorrow.
I then sat down and wrote a long letter detailing the incident to my boss and the student services coordinator for the grad office. The next morning my boss & I had a chat and we agreed that he was banned until the grad office gave us a good reason to un-ban him. Later that day the student was in the SSCs office filling his ear (and the SSC had already read my email and told me he would let me know if the student came to see him).
In the end, I forced the student to apologize to me and my tech for making an ass of himself. He did apologize, but complained to my boss that I was not clear as to the policy. She asked him questions about the policy and if I had informed him of it, he said yes and then said I was not clear. She called bullshit on him and told him if he had a problem with me, he'd have to take it up higher.
He went to see the Assistant Dean (students do not get to see the Dean directly without a good reason) and started complaining about me. The Assistant Dean threw him out of his office and asked my boss what they hell she was doing letting the idiot student come see him without a heads up from her.
All in all, the idiot spent two weeks without his account before I felt he had figured out I could not be bullied or over-run so easily.
One of these policies was that I do not create an account unless you are on my list of students that I get every semester, or until I've heard from the Undergraduate or Graduate office that you are enrolled in classes with us.
So one evening, on the first day of fall classes, I get a call from the Graduate Lab about a person claiming to be a student who was having trouble and was being very rude. I was busy training a new tech, so I figured, training opportunity, send the guy down.
Not exactly the training opportunity I had in mind.
The guy comes down and tells me he can not log in. SO I open Active Directory and ask him to write down his name and student ID number. He does so and I search AD student containers for both fields. Nothing. I search the entirety of AD. Nothing. I ask him if he was still a student? He says Yes. I ask him if he was supposed to have graduated in May or August? He says Yes.
AhHA! In May I would have gotten a list of graduating students, at the end of June, I disable all graduating accounts. At the end of August, I delete said accounts unless someone complained (sometimes a student was supposed to graduate in May, but had to finish up school work over the summer and still needed their account). So this gentleman had been deleted. He explained that he had been granted a special student status so he could take a few classes he did not get a chance to take.
No biggie. I tell him that I will email the grad office and in the morning they will email me back with his student status, and then I will recreate his account and all will be right with the world.
Uh-huh, yeah, right...NOT!
BS - Bad Student
ME - BOFH Manager & Trainer of future BOFH
BS: NO! I need my account tonight, I have to print off stuff for class.
Me: Sorry, I can not allow you access to lab resources until I know you are a student eligible for said resources.
BS: I just told you I am!
Me: I need someone in the grad office to confirm it for me since I can not look at student information.
BS: Well call them!
Me: It is 7PM, no one is up there anymore, the only reason I am here is because it is the first day of classes and I like to be here to handle technical issues.
BS: Well I need to print!
Me: You can print in the morning as soon as I have your account recreated, take 2 minutes once I hear back from the grad office.
BS: I have a class at 7AM I have to have stuff printed for, I need to print now!
Me: The graduate labs have been open for a week. The grad labs are always open for a week before the semester starts. Everyone knows this, so if it was so important for you to have this stuff printed off before class tomorrow, why are you just now doing it?
BS: I did not think it would be a problem.
Me: Well, I was told you graduated, I was not told you were a new student (he was not on my list of incoming students because technically he was not incoming) or a continuing student. I CAN NOT recreate your account until I confirm your status as a grad student. If you need to print, you can go to the undergraduate lab and print from there with your student ID number.
BS: Can I get free printing in there?
Me: Not until I know you are a grad student, until then, if your ID works in the undergrad lab (which means he is a student at the university, it does not mean he is a grad student in my college), you can print at the standard rate of $0.07/page.
BS: I am not paying for printing!
Me: Then you wait until tomorrow.
BS: Give me access NOW!
Me: No.
<wash rinse repeat>
Me: Listen, I do not have all night to argue with you. You have a choice, get out of my office, and I will email you when your account is working again, or keep arguing with me and I'll ban you from the labs.
BS: FUCK YOU! You are just some pissant staff member, you have to do what I say!
At this point, I was a wee bit angry, so I stood up from behind my desk. Now, I am not as big as JustADude by any means, but I am by no means a slouch, and I am used to dealing with Marines and getting them to listen to me, so a self-important kid 5 years my junior is not someone I am going to take any guff from.
Me: <with both hands on my desk> I am not some lowly staff member, I answer only to my director or the Dean himself. I determine what policies I wish in place and how they are enforced. I determine who does and does not use the facilities I am responsible for, and you are banned from the labs, you will get out of my office or I will call campus security and have you removed from the building.
He looked at me hard and wheeled out of my office. I apologized to my new tech, who was just staring wide eyed at the whole affair, and told her I needed to do damage control, so we would have to finish training tomorrow.
I then sat down and wrote a long letter detailing the incident to my boss and the student services coordinator for the grad office. The next morning my boss & I had a chat and we agreed that he was banned until the grad office gave us a good reason to un-ban him. Later that day the student was in the SSCs office filling his ear (and the SSC had already read my email and told me he would let me know if the student came to see him).
In the end, I forced the student to apologize to me and my tech for making an ass of himself. He did apologize, but complained to my boss that I was not clear as to the policy. She asked him questions about the policy and if I had informed him of it, he said yes and then said I was not clear. She called bullshit on him and told him if he had a problem with me, he'd have to take it up higher.
He went to see the Assistant Dean (students do not get to see the Dean directly without a good reason) and started complaining about me. The Assistant Dean threw him out of his office and asked my boss what they hell she was doing letting the idiot student come see him without a heads up from her.
All in all, the idiot spent two weeks without his account before I felt he had figured out I could not be bullied or over-run so easily.
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