It's hard work when you can't trust your own department. I would know -- when I was employed at one large company, the corporate IT office was known for its incompetence. It would lose orders, miss details, and generally act clueless, while leaving us in the lurch for essential equipment.
We learned to expect the worst and to make alternate plans, but we still had to run each and every IT request through this core group, much to the annoyance of those of us in the branch outposts. Because of their bumbling, even the most basic tasks -- such as ordering a new printer -- became frustrating, epic ordeals.
[ Get a $50 American Express gift cheque if we publish your IT story. Send it to offtherecord@infoworld.com. | Get your daily dose of workplace shenanigans by following Off the Record on Twitter. | For a quick, smart take on the news you'll be talking about, check out InfoWorld TechBrief -- subscribe today. ]
In any other office, when your laser printer quits working, you buy a new one and expense it, right? Unfortunately, that wasn't how our system worked. Instead, I had to call the corporate office to request a new unit. I also held my breath, hoping they wouldn't find some way to mess up this simple request.
At first, it looked encouraging. The request was approved, and they sent it out right away. When it arrived, the box looked to be in perfect condition. Then I opened the package.
The printer inside the box looked like it had been crushed, then shredded. It quite honestly was nothing more than little bits of plastic and twisted bits of metal. None of it was usable. This was exactly what I hoped wouldn't happen.
I called the corporate IT office and chewed them out for sending me anything in that condition, and I demanded they send another printer. "Huh? What?" they replied. I told them I needed another printer right away. They promised to send a replacement, along with the shipping labels for returning both the original printer and the severely damaged replacement.
No comments:
Post a Comment