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So 'Hugh' gets to feel smug because he knows the difference between an RJ45 port and an RJ11 port, while leaving his less informed co-worker at a disadvantage,

by thadt 3y ago

So 'Hugh' gets to feel smug because he knows the difference between an RJ45 port and an RJ11 port, while leaving his less informed co-worker at a disadvantage, working over the weekend on a deal that helps pay their salaries, while Hugh stays home and plays? Hugh's job is to make sure that dude has email, and instead on Monday he's enjoying making dude look dumb because Huge didn't do his job? If I were Hugh's IT manager, I think we would be having a learning moment about why we're there in the first place.

baz00 3y ago
This isn't going to be the first run in with one of these folk. I had one. Belittling them is all that was left. I was working for a very very very large defence contractor and the CEO of the hour would take his IBM ThinkPad and throw it across whatever hotel room he was in at the weekend because he was a giant oaf. Then bring it in on Monday and blame us for "giving him a fucking piece of shit". So we bought him a ToughBook. Which he proceeded to break in just the same way. Our IT director eventually asked him "have you just ever considered stopping treating your kit like shit?"
- moribvndvs 3y ago
  In the article, Hugh is the IT person, not the Associate Director.
  - baz00 3y ago
    Good point - thanks! Edited comment. Will leave this here to point out my failure.
moribvndvs 3y ago
This must be the Associate Director himself, otherwise this is a very weird take, but I guess not surprising given the state of things these days. Sure, plugging things into the wrong port is an honest mistake. We all make mistakes. But he was shown how to do it, failed to consider the risks of relying last minute on something he’s clearly not comfortable with when faced with a critical task, and must have not had the wherewithal to ask about the two ports, try basic troubleshooting himself, practice ahead of time, or call in for help. Instead he tried to turn his failure into someone else’s. Personal accountability is critical even if sometimes it’s hard to swallow. Desperately trying to roll your own shit downhill is-at a minimum-a sign of an extremely low character. At least the Assistant Director in this story had enough decency to just take the L at the end and drop it.
- thadt 3y ago
  > Personal accountability is critical even if sometimes it’s hard to swallow. Full agreement. My point was more that not only is personal accountability important, but in a healty organization we should also be accountable for each other. The IT guy's attitude is off, and there are several things he could do in the future to make that better. I've accidentially plugged a phone line into an RJ-45 port - it's super easy to do (or at least was). In the future, a piece of tape over that port would help a lot. Want to provide support for that - put your phone number on a note on the laptop and ask him to call if he needs help. That's what being accountable for each other looks like. And likewise, if I were the associated director's manager, I'd tell him to drop the adversarial power play with IT and treat them with the respect of people that can help you get your job done, instead of treating them like dispensable slaves. And to take responsibility for his stuff, with or without their help.
Arnavion 3y ago
>Hugh and his colleagues configured the PC and did a spot of training to ensure the AD was conversant with the modem he was provided He was told which port to plug it in.

by thadt 3y ago

baz00 3y ago

This isn't going to be the first run in with one of these folk. I had one. Belittling them is all that was left. I was working for a very very very large defence contractor and the CEO of the hour would take his IBM ThinkPad and throw it across whatever hotel room he was in at the weekend because he was a giant oaf. Then bring it in on Monday and blame us for "giving him a fucking piece of shit". So we bought him a ToughBook. Which he proceeded to break in just the same way. Our IT director eventually asked him "have you just ever considered stopping treating your kit like shit?"

moribvndvs 3y ago
In the article, Hugh is the IT person, not the Associate Director.
- baz00 3y ago
  Good point - thanks! Edited comment. Will leave this here to point out my failure.

moribvndvs 3y ago

This must be the Associate Director himself, otherwise this is a very weird take, but I guess not surprising given the state of things these days. Sure, plugging things into the wrong port is an honest mistake. We all make mistakes. But he was shown how to do it, failed to consider the risks of relying last minute on something he’s clearly not comfortable with when faced with a critical task, and must have not had the wherewithal to ask about the two ports, try basic troubleshooting himself, practice ahead of time, or call in for help. Instead he tried to turn his failure into someone else’s. Personal accountability is critical even if sometimes it’s hard to swallow. Desperately trying to roll your own shit downhill is-at a minimum-a sign of an extremely low character. At least the Assistant Director in this story had enough decency to just take the L at the end and drop it.

thadt 3y ago
> Personal accountability is critical even if sometimes it’s hard to swallow. Full agreement. My point was more that not only is personal accountability important, but in a healty organization we should also be accountable for each other. The IT guy's attitude is off, and there are several things he could do in the future to make that better. I've accidentially plugged a phone line into an RJ-45 port - it's super easy to do (or at least was). In the future, a piece of tape over that port would help a lot. Want to provide support for that - put your phone number on a note on the laptop and ask him to call if he needs help. That's what being accountable for each other looks like. And likewise, if I were the associated director's manager, I'd tell him to drop the adversarial power play with IT and treat them with the respect of people that can help you get your job done, instead of treating them like dispensable slaves. And to take responsibility for his stuff, with or without their help.

Arnavion 3y ago

>Hugh and his colleagues configured the PC and did a spot of training to ensure the AD was conversant with the modem he was provided He was told which port to plug it in.