In preparation for entering the fray that is Spring '12, I logged in to all my official accounts to print out class lists, classroom assignments and other assorted crap. I had actually gotten it all via e-mail last week, but I could not be arsed to actually do anything with it until this morning.
Once I went through the rigamarole, I was greeted, not with my normal mail screen, but with a new G-mail account. A perfectly clean account, with no previous e-mails in it. Also missing were all contact lists, sent mails, calendar entries and everything else the previous account held.
Fuck a goddamned duck.
A new mail popped up, welcoming me to the NEW uni G-mail system! Hooray! The mail literally said, "Isn't this a lovely way to start off the new year?"
NO, you dozy, goat-felching, Ass-To-Mouth-receiving fuckmunches! NOOOOOO!
I called IT support. The tech sounded peevish. "You think you stodgy people would appreciate what we've done and what a cool surprise it was!" he grumped. Whatever, Smedley. I need to port over all my old stuff, I need my lists and contacts, and I really need them before battle-entry tomorrow morning. I'm not entering a hot LZ unarmed.
"Oh, we're going to a whole training series in mid-February. We will explain everything then!"
That's six weeks away, you numb bastard. Everything starts tomorrow. If I'd had some warning, I could have printed everything, or at the least, saved it to flash drive.
Who thought it was a good idea to completely scrub the old system and replace it with a new one less than 24 hours before opening bell -- with no warning?
Ah, I sense the upcoming forcible removal of someone's testicles.
ReplyDeleteThere is something about the IT people; they seem to have an attitude of "we think this is better, so we're gonna shove it down your throat".
Rip them a new one!
I am an IT guy, but not one who generally creates this sort of mayhem.
ReplyDelete"We apologise again for the fault in the subtitles. Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked have been sacked."
Facepalm
ReplyDeleteThere is no problem so bad that nit wit IT people can't make it worse. Our recently departed (yay) IT guy managed to crash the email system and delete two weeks of backed up network storage at the same time.
ReplyDeleteOur I.T. department (most of whom I suspect can't SPELL "I.T.") migrated from Novell Groupwise to Outlook last summer. Groupwise had its issues, but I knew what they were and how it all worked, and felt comfortable with it. Outlook has proven to be a hemorrhoid on the butt of our computer network; in addition, they never got the licensing ironed out, so every time we log in, it pops up a "Do you REAAAALLLY want to continue?" warning. Idiots.
ReplyDeleteI was reading this to my wife, and when I reached "Who thought it was a good idea to completely scrub the old system and replace it with a new one less than 24 hours before opening bell -- with no warning?" her response was "Someone that will be unemployed next week?"
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I have been in the IT field since the late 90's. We've been responsible for all forms of upgrades and migrations, and this is something we refer to in the business as a resume-generating experience.
It sounds like this IT department is operating without adult supervision, or the person nominally in charge is an administrator with no background/clue versus network operations.
DeleteDevelopment / Staging / Production
This IT crew probably would think those words apply only to the Theater Arts Department.
Typical college IT department... NO adult leadership, NO common sense... shoot em all, and start over with a QUALIFIED department that actually knows how to do it.
ReplyDeleteOur college is a little backward, and low-paying besides, so we have turnover in our IT department. Our library was about 80% on the way to computerizing the card catalog (another issue)when the last IT guy left--without instructions to the new guy to make daily backups of the library system. Sure enough, the library system crashed, and the last backup file was corrupted. It's taken almost a year to find the work of the last 2 years, and some stuff will have to be re-entered.
ReplyDeleteMy sympathies.
IT departments, even corporateones, are like that sometimes.
ReplyDeleteFor your reading pleasure, a blast from early-internet history: The Bastard Operator From Hell. Enjoy!
http://bofh.ntk.net/BOFH/index.php
Maybe they want to screw with you simply for pure, devilish enjoyment?
ReplyDeleteThat sucks. And Gmail? Really?