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We IT folk have a lot of talents when it comes to fixing your various computer issues. To the non-savvy, we seem like wizards, able to get your "busted" computer to work again, or rescuing your "lost" work from the depths of cyber-hell.
But there are limitations. Usually the result of the technology.
For instance, if your computer is utterly frozen, not responding to any input-- keyboard or mouse-- and your monitor picture doesn't change at all, then it's gonna need a reboot to un-stick it, most likely. And this means that whatever you were working on, you're going to lose everything since your last save, most likely.
This is an immutable fact about computers. If you don't save it, then it's pretty much gone after a reboot, particularly if you were relying on the auto-save, which just sticks the document in the "temp" folders on The Client's computers.
Today, I took a call from the SC with the problem described above. No input was accepted by her computer. It was frozen. She wanted to know if I could save her work before she had to attempt the reboot. I told her that, unfortunately, no, I couldn't.
Well, she didn't like that. I apologized, explaining that the limitations of the system prevent me from doing anything. She tried to say that "you have ways to do it," and I had to tell her that I don't "when your computer is frozen like this." When even Ctrl-Alt-Del doesn't work, I can't "unstick" whatever command is freezing your computer.
SC: "You could at least try."
I protested again that I can't, that there is literally nothing else I can do. (If there are methods of unfreezing her computer without losing her work, then either I don't have access to them, or they have been disabled for security reasons on our network.) I again told her that she'll have to reboot.
SC: "You could at least try."
I apologized again and again explained that I can't. That there is nothing I can do that will work.
She said she'd reboot and thanked me. And then, as she hung up, I could hear her say, "You didn't even try."
You know what, lady? FUCK YOU. It would be wonderful if technology could work the way you want it to work, but guess what? While you're at The Client, the technology is going to work the way The Client wants it to work. And even then, The Client is constrained by the technology's limitations. What you want to happen just won't happen.
Don't assume you know how IT assistance does its job, or assume that we have powers that we don't.
If I'm telling you that I can't do it, then I can't do it. If I don't "try," then there's a reason for that. It's because nothing I "try" is going to work.
Which would you rather have, lady? That I waste your time and mine throwing techniques at the wall, and see them all fail, after which you'll just have to reboot anyway and then spend more time reconstructing your lost work?
Or just reboot from the get-go and get down to the reconstruction?
Seriously, don't take that tone with me. I'm irritated enough at work right now as it is with our Internet access disabled.
But there are limitations. Usually the result of the technology.
For instance, if your computer is utterly frozen, not responding to any input-- keyboard or mouse-- and your monitor picture doesn't change at all, then it's gonna need a reboot to un-stick it, most likely. And this means that whatever you were working on, you're going to lose everything since your last save, most likely.
This is an immutable fact about computers. If you don't save it, then it's pretty much gone after a reboot, particularly if you were relying on the auto-save, which just sticks the document in the "temp" folders on The Client's computers.
Today, I took a call from the SC with the problem described above. No input was accepted by her computer. It was frozen. She wanted to know if I could save her work before she had to attempt the reboot. I told her that, unfortunately, no, I couldn't.
Well, she didn't like that. I apologized, explaining that the limitations of the system prevent me from doing anything. She tried to say that "you have ways to do it," and I had to tell her that I don't "when your computer is frozen like this." When even Ctrl-Alt-Del doesn't work, I can't "unstick" whatever command is freezing your computer.
SC: "You could at least try."
I protested again that I can't, that there is literally nothing else I can do. (If there are methods of unfreezing her computer without losing her work, then either I don't have access to them, or they have been disabled for security reasons on our network.) I again told her that she'll have to reboot.
SC: "You could at least try."
I apologized again and again explained that I can't. That there is nothing I can do that will work.
She said she'd reboot and thanked me. And then, as she hung up, I could hear her say, "You didn't even try."
You know what, lady? FUCK YOU. It would be wonderful if technology could work the way you want it to work, but guess what? While you're at The Client, the technology is going to work the way The Client wants it to work. And even then, The Client is constrained by the technology's limitations. What you want to happen just won't happen.
Don't assume you know how IT assistance does its job, or assume that we have powers that we don't.
If I'm telling you that I can't do it, then I can't do it. If I don't "try," then there's a reason for that. It's because nothing I "try" is going to work.
Which would you rather have, lady? That I waste your time and mine throwing techniques at the wall, and see them all fail, after which you'll just have to reboot anyway and then spend more time reconstructing your lost work?
Or just reboot from the get-go and get down to the reconstruction?
Seriously, don't take that tone with me. I'm irritated enough at work right now as it is with our Internet access disabled.
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