I must be weird because I get pissed off when users bring in Blackberries. We don't run BES and have repeatedly stated Blackberries are no longer supported due to them constantly having issues with the Exchange mail system. iOS, Android, WP7 (hell, even WM6) are all supported because they have good working Exchange support.

1. Exist

That's what a turd in a punch bowl looks like:

Kar98: That's what a turd in a punch bowl looks like:

[i.i.com.com image 610x595]

If this is a real thing, I want it.

Kar98: That's what a turd in a punch bowl looks like:

[i.i.com.com image 610x595]

Still beats carrying a laptop.

TsukasaK: Kar98: That's what a turd in a punch bowl looks like:

[i.i.com.com image 610x595]

If this is a real thing, I want it.

I believe it's been available for some time. It's a bluetooth keyboard case that uses a hing eto slide the phone out.

Here is a similar one from Think Geek (new window)

I like the idea myself, but it adds significant bult to the phone and you need to keep 2 batteries charged. I also got tired of carrying an extra thick phone around with my G1

HallsOfMandos: 1. Exist

I was going to say "Come in to work", but yours trumps it.

Yeah, I love trying to support everyone's iPad/laptop/smartphone wit wifi that walks through the door and having to make sure everyone's iPhone can connect to the mail server properly. :/

hurdboy: Submitter sounds like a Microsoft Exchange Admin who forgot which checkboxes turn on IMAP and SMTP AUTH.

It's one thing to not support it, it's another to babysit every little problem after you've said you don't support it.

There is a clumsy "is" that should be an "are" in the first paragraph.

I have no further need of this Maggie.

This whole bring your personal device to work thing is a horrible idea that will be a distant memory in 6 years.

Kar98: That's what a turd in a punch bowl looks like:

[i.i.com.com image 610x595]

Techbargains has a link to one today for $22.
/not a link whore, but it's there

1. Respirate
2. Metabolize complex carbohydrates
3. Detect and translate photon wavelengths using broad spectrum photo-receptive cells

4. What HallsofMandos said.

Because having a completely open smartphone policy doesn't create unnecessary risks to the corporate network or anything.

But then again I forget that end users will sacrifice security for convenience every chance they can get.

/I detect an I-D-10-T error.

//Perhaps it's a keyboard to chair interface problem.

brigid_fitch: If you like the sliding keyboard, why not just get an Android?

/No snark. I have an Android 3 for just that reason.

I said I like the idea, but sliding keybaords are often bulky. Of the phones that have had physical keyboards, I've had a Blackberry i7100, T-Mobile Dash, T-Mobile Sidekick (not the android version), T-Mobile G1, and I've used the newer sidekick quite a bit.

Blackberry: Awful. it used the dual letter keys so typing was about as intuitive as using a regular phone

T-Mobile Dash: Similar to the i7100, but individual keys. Too small to be effective

Sidekick (non-android): Best keybaord I used ona phone. Big keys and the battery life was amazing. farking thick though

G1: Small keys and thick phone made it annoying. The unresponsive touchscreen made onscreen typing a chore, so there wa sno happy medium

Sidekick (android): Similar problem to the G1. Small keys abd bulkiness. But the screen is much improved

Using touch screen keyboards was defintiely annoying at first, but like anything a little practice acclimated me to them and now I don't have to carry a brick around in my pocket.

Quickest way to piss off IT:
So, uhhh I need a Unix login for my employee who started their first day about fifteen minutes ago, oh I need a cell phone, a desk phone a new PC and all that stuff. I guess I shoulda told you about them when I hired them a week ago?

Last place I worked, we didn't support smart phones at all. You want email, you used your laptop. Messed up the laptop? We re-imaged. Lost your 'special files' when we re-imaged? Here's your pink slip.

Jormungandr: Quickest way to piss off IT:
So, uhhh I need a Unix login for my employee who started their first day about fifteen minutes ago, oh I need a cell phone, a desk phone a new PC and all that stuff. I guess I shoulda told you about them when I hired them a week ago?

THIS....ALL THIS!

Jormungandr: Quickest way to piss off IT:
So, uhhh I need a Unix login for my employee who started their first day about fifteen minutes ago, oh I need a cell phone, a desk phone a new PC and all that stuff. I guess I shoulda told you about them when I hired them a week ago?

Jesus Christ, this.

We event went as far as to implement an HR new employee request from. If someone bothers to do it, it's usually none of the boxes checked and the persons name spelled wrong. I've since started handing the sheet back and say "Fill the form out completely and I will add this to my to-do list. I will also be forced to pay retail prices for new equipment and will be charging your department the cost of my mileage to go pick it up."

ManOfTeal: Because having a completely open smartphone policy doesn't create unnecessary risks to the corporate network or anything.

But then again I forget that end users will sacrifice security for convenience every chance they can get.

Jormungandr: Quickest way to piss off IT:
So, uhhh I need a Unix login for my employee who started their first day about fifteen minutes ago, oh I need a cell phone, a desk phone a new PC and all that stuff. I guess I shoulda told you about them when I hired them a week ago?

Loving all of this.

Uh... I'm more than happy to use my personal phone for work related talk and data charges, as long as my company gives me an allowance that partially covers the plan. It's win-win. It's cheaper for the company than paying for me to have a separate phone and plan, and I get part of my bill paid for, plus don't have to carry two phones. Don't expect me to do it for free, though.

Jormungandr: Quickest way to piss off IT:
So, uhhh I need a Unix login for my employee who started their first day about fifteen minutes ago, oh I need a cell phone, a desk phone a new PC and all that stuff. I guess I shoulda told you about them when I hired them a week ago?

OMG this happens to me about monthly. Joe Blow can't sign in using JBlow as a username, well did HR send me any information about this person? No I should be contacting them daily to find out who is hired. Or why is Jane Doe still in our email address book she left months ago. Well thanks for letting me know.

TNel: Jormungandr: Quickest way to piss off IT:
So, uhhh I need a Unix login for my employee who started their first day about fifteen minutes ago, oh I need a cell phone, a desk phone a new PC and all that stuff. I guess I shoulda told you about them when I hired them a week ago?

OMG this happens to me about monthly. Joe Blow can't sign in using JBlow as a username, well did HR send me any information about this person? No I should be contacting them daily to find out who is hired. Or why is Jane Doe still in our email address book she left months ago. Well thanks for letting me know.

Strangely enough, HR (who handles a lot of the security functions at our business) has agreed to do monthly audits of active and inactive employees at our company at our request. They are just as annoyed as we are about departments not informing anyone about the change of personnel.

Mikey1969: MightyPez: I must be weird because I get pissed off when users bring in Blackberries. We don't run BES and have repeatedly stated Blackberries are no longer supported due to them constantly having issues with the Exchange mail system. iOS, Android, WP7 (hell, even WM6) are all supported because they have good working Exchange support.

EXACTLY!! BB's were such a royal PITA... It would sometimes take a full 24 hours for one to activate, and people's devices lost connection to the server all the time. Now, if someone has trouble on their Android or iPhone, it's 2 minutes of setting things back up, and they're ready to go...

Not to mention each user not remembering their BB account password to get into the god awful web-based management interface.

brigid_fitch: MightyPez: TsukasaK: Kar98: That's what a turd in a punch bowl looks like:

[i.i.com.com image 610x595]

If this is a real thing, I want it.

I believe it's been available for some time. It's a bluetooth keyboard case that uses a hing eto slide the phone out.

Here is a similar one from Think Geek (new window)

I like the idea myself, but it adds significant bult to the phone and you need to keep 2 batteries charged. I also got tired of carrying an extra thick phone around with my G1

If you like the sliding keyboard, why not just get an Android?

/No snark. I have an Android 3 for just that reason.

Android is the operating system. DROID is a brand.

You have a DROID 3 from Motorola. Brand from company.

If you're trolling, you got me.

We're fortunate as our HR is in charge of making sure IT gets notified for new hires. They feed us the data of who arrived/left and we automatically create or disable the accounts.

Now, everything else about HR is screwed up, but that at least works.

Want to piss me off? Don't bother reading any of the documentation we so nicely wrote for you.

enry: Want to piss me off? Don't bother reading any of the documentation we so nicely wrote for you.

This too. We rely heavily on a terminal server and not a week goes by that someone calls not knowing how to use Remote Desktop connection (ESPECIALLY the boss). This after I made a nice simple document with screenshots and short steps on how to login to the TS. And this was about 4 years ago.

"Dear Maggie: What's the fastest way to piss off my IT department?"

Ask them to do their job.

howdyyall9999: "Dear Maggie: What's the fastest way to piss off my IT department?"

Ask them to do their my job for me.

There, that makes more sense.

"I changed the formatting of these cells and now my spreadsheet doesn't work. YOU need to fix it for me!"

Ya know, I started quoting people to here, but there are too many. I can never tell if it's refreshing or soul crushing to know that "users" are the same everywhere, nobody follows clearly posted policy and sales people are ALWAYS pains in the arse (not that that was mentioned, but that's my quibble).

As for the phone article: "...is making corporate IT departments more comfortable with opening the networks to other devices, too." First, that "is" makes me cringe every time I see it; secondly, it's less likely a matter of "comfort", as it's likely the fact that so many people are whining to the IT manager(s)/director(s)/VP(s)/CIO about not being able to use their own devices that they're giving in to them, in spite of every argument to the contrary (hopefully). God, I've got enough problems worrying about BlackBerry that we have utilities in place for, let alone having to have people start calling in with a dozen different devices and multiple operating systems, wanting support because now they think that because they were told they can use it, it means that we support it.

/shudder

Jormungandr: Quickest way to piss off IT:
So, uhhh I need a Unix login for my employee who started their first day about fifteen minutes ago, oh I need a cell phone, a desk phone a new PC and all that stuff. I guess I shoulda told you about them when I hired them a week ago?

So, uhh, I need a new active directory account and exchange mailbox for a new employee...when does he start? well, he doesn't start until next week, so none of his information is in our HR system. However, I want to score points with another VP, so go ahead an bypass all our automation for account creation and create his account manually, mmmmk? (last sentence wasn't actually actually said, but implied).
Thanks,
VP of Information Technology

/last VP was an idiot
//reminded me of Bush..went with his "gut"

MightyPez: howdyyall9999: "Dear Maggie: What's the fastest way to piss off my IT department?"

Ask them to do their my job for me.

There, that makes more sense.

"I changed the formatting of these cells and now my spreadsheet doesn't work. YOU need to fix it for me!"

LOL! God I get those all the time, I broke this piece of software now you fix it right now because it's an emergency! Or my bulb broke last week for my projector and never told you and we have a major presentation today and we don't have any spare bulbs so fix this right now.

howdyyall9999: Ask them to do their job.

+1

I love IT people.

Never before has such a group of people been so infallible.

What's the #1 thing you'll never hear an IT person say? "My Fault."

Seriously, if you had any social skills, you'd all be executives.

howdyyall9999: "Dear Maggie: What's the fastest way to piss off my IT department?"

Ask them to do their job.

Where "their job" is defined as "anything involving an electronic device, including but not limited to speeding-up your work PC which has 6,241 icons on the desktop arranged in the shape of a cock and more virii than a $10 whore, installation of the Fart Noise While Bud Light Sloshes Around On The Screen App on your new iPhone, and fixing your old iPhone that hasn't worked since you dropped it in the toilet walked 30 seconds in the rain while it was in your pocket".

I haven't done an IT support job in about 20 years, but I'm betting dipshiats haven't changed. Dipshiats never change. It's why IT guys burn out and turn into BOFHs within months -- because dipshiats.

Jormungandr: Quickest way to piss off IT:
So, uhhh I need a Unix login for my employee who started their first day about fifteen minutes ago, oh I need a cell phone, a desk phone a new PC and all that stuff. I guess I shoulda told you about them when I hired them a week ago?

This is how it went when somebody would call us looking for this crap.
"Hello, oh you have a new user that needs a phone, login id, email address, etc, oh and they need it immediately? Are you in front of your computer? Ok go to the company intranet. Click on IT request. Click on open a request. Click new user request. Fill out that form, click submit and the request will be fulfilled within 10 business days."

There weren't any exceptions and if you wanted to argue this we would explain the process and remind you that on the paper work that you filled out when you hired the new person it clearly stated in bold letters the process and SLA for procuring any equipment and IT services for new hires, then we would hang up.

MightyPez: enry: Want to piss me off? Don't bother reading any of the documentation we so nicely wrote for you.

This too. We rely heavily on a terminal server and not a week goes by that someone calls not knowing how to use Remote Desktop connection (ESPECIALLY the boss). This after I made a nice simple document with screenshots and short steps on how to login to the TS. And this was about 4 years ago.

VPN was always the worst when I worked help desk because you would have people that had VPN access but would only use it maybe twice a year so they would forget how to sign into it. Then instead of opening the how to loginto VPN file that was next to the VPN icon they would call to report that their VPN wasn't working. That wasn't so bad, but there some people that would call and get pissed and insist that the VPN was either broken or that we changed the log in process and didn't inform anybody and they were going to go over my head and raise holy hell about it.

svaj: God, I've got enough problems worrying about BlackBerry that we have utilities in place for, let alone having to have people start calling in with a dozen different devices and multiple operating systems, wanting support because now they think that because they were told they can use it, it means that we support it.

To be fair, nobody but blackberry forces you to install their hardware/server for synching mail/calendars/etc.

/at an enterprise that supports all of the "big four"
//more problems with farking blackberries than any other device

Tofino: which has 6,241 icons on the desktop arranged in the shape of a cock

But windows doesn't have an arrage by penis..

MightyPez: brigid_fitch: If you like the sliding keyboard, why not just get an Android?

/No snark. I have an Android 3 for just that reason.

I said I like the idea, but sliding keybaords are often bulky. Of the phones that have had physical keyboards, I've had a Blackberry i7100, T-Mobile Dash, T-Mobile Sidekick (not the android version), T-Mobile G1, and I've used the newer sidekick quite a bit.

Blackberry: Awful. it used the dual letter keys so typing was about as intuitive as using a regular phone

T-Mobile Dash: Similar to the i7100, but individual keys. Too small to be effective

Sidekick (non-android): Best keybaord I used ona phone. Big keys and the battery life was amazing. farking thick though

G1: Small keys and thick phone made it annoying. The unresponsive touchscreen made onscreen typing a chore, so there wa sno happy medium

Sidekick (android): Similar problem to the G1. Small keys abd bulkiness. But the screen is much improved

Using touch screen keyboards was defintiely annoying at first, but like anything a little practice acclimated me to them and now I don't have to carry a brick around in my pocket.

You posted that using your phone, didn't you?

Ugh, I feel for IT departments.

I was the only person who wasn't a salesman in a satellite office, so everyone decided they would come to me with their tech problems.

There was a lot of basic stuff like "I turned on paragraph symbols in outlook," but after asking me about that, they'd switch to weird shiat like "how do you install a hard drive" and "what's wrong with this software you've never heard of that i use at home?"

dittybopper: MightyPez: brigid_fitch: If you like the sliding keyboard, why not just get an Android?

/No snark. I have an Android 3 for just that reason.

I said I like the idea, but sliding keybaords are often bulky. Of the phones that have had physical keyboards, I've had a Blackberry i7100, T-Mobile Dash, T-Mobile Sidekick (not the android version), T-Mobile G1, and I've used the newer sidekick quite a bit.

Blackberry: Awful. it used the dual letter keys so typing was about as intuitive as using a regular phone

T-Mobile Dash: Similar to the i7100, but individual keys. Too small to be effective

Sidekick (non-android): Best keybaord I used ona phone. Big keys and the battery life was amazing. farking thick though

G1: Small keys and thick phone made it annoying. The unresponsive touchscreen made onscreen typing a chore, so there wa sno happy medium

Sidekick (android): Similar problem to the G1. Small keys abd bulkiness. But the screen is much improved

Using touch screen keyboards was defintiely annoying at first, but like anything a little practice acclimated me to them and now I don't have to carry a brick around in my pocket.

You posted that using your phone, didn't you?

Sadly, no. I'm just really bad at spell checking

MightyPez: howdyyall9999: "Dear Maggie: What's the fastest way to piss off my IT department?"

Ask them to do their my job for me.

There, that makes more sense.

"I changed the formatting of these cells and now my spreadsheet doesn't work. YOU need to fix it for me!"

Their job is to assist in any IT or computer related problems. It's even the first bullet point in the goddamn job description.

Hey, if you are a mechanical engineer with R&D experience feel free to come work for me instead. No? Then don't give me shiat when we don't know why our computers aren't working correctly. That isn't what they are paying me for. Yes, I could learn it all to be self sufficient in these matters but:

a) I don't have the time nor the interest
b) that would make you obsolete now wouldn't it.

I give them the respect that the deserve based on the fact that they possess a skill that I do not. In return all I expect is they perform that skill in a professional manner. That is the level every other "professional" is held to.

Please explain why the majority must conduct themselves like a 15 year old that has just been told to do his chores.