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This is prompted by a call I had last night. It should have been a fairly standard call, no more than five minutes, tops, but of course, it ended up being more complicated than that and took half an hour to fix. In my last half-hour of my shift, too.
So User calls up, he's having an issue with his ID certificates (used in The Client and other Non-Client departments/bureaus/agencies/divisions to certify one's identity when accessing databases or networks or systems) and he can't get into his intranet browser. From the way he described the issue, I assumed it to be a bog-standard ID cert repush call. That is, I send him a new set of ID certs, he installs them, it takes no more than five minutes, and he's on his way.
One of the problems User is having, though, is that he says he encounters problems with his ID certs going "off" (getting corrupted or otherwise not working-- common occurrence at The Client) too frequently to be standard ID cert issues. He thinks there may be a problem with his profile. No problem, I tell him, let's get your certs working again, and then I'll send the ticket on to the account admins so they can check your profile.
Then things get complicated, because after the certs are installed, his browser is returning an error when he launches it. The error is one we have documented and have steps in place to resolve. The problem comes from the browser profile getting corrupted somehow or being out of date. Solution one? Reboot the workstation, which normally forces an update to the profile.
Normally for this browser issue, I'd tell the caller to call back if the problem persists. But because both I and User want to make sure that his certs are working again, I stay on the line while he reboots.
--SIDE TANGENT--
While we're waiting for his workstation to reboot and for it to allow him to log back in, there's some noise and yelling going on in the background. Someone (not User) is upset about something, and is yelling and cursing about it. I pay no attention to specifics, since I can't make out details and I don't particularly care.
User has a separate workstation also where he handles other network traffic, which isn't affected by his current issues. But every so often, User tells me "Hold on, [VIP Location] is on the line." And he explains what it is they're asking him to do, not with any detail, but without my inquiring either. Then, later on, User also explains that the yelling I heard earlier was from an upset colleague of his, who is apparently getting re-assigned overseas or something. Again, I hadn't inquired about the yelling.
I DON'T NEED TO KNOW THIS. ANY OF IT. The yelling had no bearing on the issues you called me to investigate or resolve, and while I feel bad for the guy who was doing the yelling, I didn't need to know about his issues or family life. As for the [VIP Location] stuff, since that's all happening on a separate system from the one we're working on, I don't need to know what you do for The Client. Indeed, I probably shouldn't know what you're doing for The Client. Stuff's compartmentalized for a reason.
And if you were name-dropping to try to impress me, stop. I'll work to resolve your issue with the same urgency I work to resolve anyone else's.
--END SIDE TANGENT--
Anyway, after the reboot, the browser error persisted. So I remoted in, and tried resetting/repairing his browser. Nope, error still won't go away. So now comes the second most-complicated solution: uninstalling and reinstalling the browser. Since User is on the ENVY system, he can't do this himself, as it requires admin credentials he doesn't have. So I uninstall the browser, run a command that will force his workstation to update his group policy, and then have him reboot again.
Then he logs in, I remote in once again, and reinstall the browser. Badda bing, his browser now works without returning the error, and we were also able to confirm that his ID certs are working properly.
User thanks me for fixing the browser. I wrap up the separate ticket I wrote for his browser issue, and tell him I'll forward the ticket for his ID cert issue to his account admins so they can look at his profile.
It was a more complicated call than expected, but the part that really bugged me was the Side Tangent stuff. I don't need to know all that. He wasn't breaking any security policies in doing so-- no classified information or anything was divulged-- but it's still not something he should be telling to just any schlub on the phone.
So User calls up, he's having an issue with his ID certificates (used in The Client and other Non-Client departments/bureaus/agencies/divisions to certify one's identity when accessing databases or networks or systems) and he can't get into his intranet browser. From the way he described the issue, I assumed it to be a bog-standard ID cert repush call. That is, I send him a new set of ID certs, he installs them, it takes no more than five minutes, and he's on his way.
One of the problems User is having, though, is that he says he encounters problems with his ID certs going "off" (getting corrupted or otherwise not working-- common occurrence at The Client) too frequently to be standard ID cert issues. He thinks there may be a problem with his profile. No problem, I tell him, let's get your certs working again, and then I'll send the ticket on to the account admins so they can check your profile.
Then things get complicated, because after the certs are installed, his browser is returning an error when he launches it. The error is one we have documented and have steps in place to resolve. The problem comes from the browser profile getting corrupted somehow or being out of date. Solution one? Reboot the workstation, which normally forces an update to the profile.
Normally for this browser issue, I'd tell the caller to call back if the problem persists. But because both I and User want to make sure that his certs are working again, I stay on the line while he reboots.
--SIDE TANGENT--
While we're waiting for his workstation to reboot and for it to allow him to log back in, there's some noise and yelling going on in the background. Someone (not User) is upset about something, and is yelling and cursing about it. I pay no attention to specifics, since I can't make out details and I don't particularly care.
User has a separate workstation also where he handles other network traffic, which isn't affected by his current issues. But every so often, User tells me "Hold on, [VIP Location] is on the line." And he explains what it is they're asking him to do, not with any detail, but without my inquiring either. Then, later on, User also explains that the yelling I heard earlier was from an upset colleague of his, who is apparently getting re-assigned overseas or something. Again, I hadn't inquired about the yelling.
I DON'T NEED TO KNOW THIS. ANY OF IT. The yelling had no bearing on the issues you called me to investigate or resolve, and while I feel bad for the guy who was doing the yelling, I didn't need to know about his issues or family life. As for the [VIP Location] stuff, since that's all happening on a separate system from the one we're working on, I don't need to know what you do for The Client. Indeed, I probably shouldn't know what you're doing for The Client. Stuff's compartmentalized for a reason.
And if you were name-dropping to try to impress me, stop. I'll work to resolve your issue with the same urgency I work to resolve anyone else's.
--END SIDE TANGENT--
Anyway, after the reboot, the browser error persisted. So I remoted in, and tried resetting/repairing his browser. Nope, error still won't go away. So now comes the second most-complicated solution: uninstalling and reinstalling the browser. Since User is on the ENVY system, he can't do this himself, as it requires admin credentials he doesn't have. So I uninstall the browser, run a command that will force his workstation to update his group policy, and then have him reboot again.
Then he logs in, I remote in once again, and reinstall the browser. Badda bing, his browser now works without returning the error, and we were also able to confirm that his ID certs are working properly.
User thanks me for fixing the browser. I wrap up the separate ticket I wrote for his browser issue, and tell him I'll forward the ticket for his ID cert issue to his account admins so they can look at his profile.
It was a more complicated call than expected, but the part that really bugged me was the Side Tangent stuff. I don't need to know all that. He wasn't breaking any security policies in doing so-- no classified information or anything was divulged-- but it's still not something he should be telling to just any schlub on the phone.
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