On Call The very premise on which The Register is built is that our readers know quite a lot about information technology, and that stories featured each Friday in On Call – our weekly tales of your support experiences – therefore reflect your working lives.
We mention the above because this week's On Call, sent by a reader we'll Regomize as "Jack," involves a supposed IT manager who was startlingly ignorant of basic technologies.
Jack's tale comes from his time working at a large western country's tax office.
"I lovingly called it 'Idiots R uS' while I worked there," he told On Call (yes, the odd capitalization in that quote is a clue).
In Jack’s telling, this tax office never hired managers from outside the organization. "They rose from new hires, most of whom are only required to have passed high school," he wrote. "Those who learn the 'Survivor Method' - Outwit, Outlast, Outplay – can become a manager in a few years."
Achieving managerial status does not, however, require newly minted leaders to know what their minions do at work.
One other thing to know about this tax office is that it required remote workers to use a VPN before logging in to remote Windows sessions.
Of course some struggled to do this, and Jack took many calls from users who couldn't connect.
One such call came from a manager who got off on the wrong foot by blaming Jack for not being able to connect to the VPN.
"I could hardly get a word in edgewise during the abuse alleging it was my fault," Jack told On Call.
- Techie ended vendor/client blame game by treating managers like toddlers
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- Sysadmin cured a medical mystery by shifting a single cable
- Tech support team won pay rise for teaching customers how to RTFM
To understand the reason for this sudden tirade, Jack looked up an internal directory to learn a little more about the user and discovered he was talking to an IT manager.
To solve the VPN problem, Jack therefore asked them to open a command line and run a traceroute.
Silence followed … and stretched until it became awkward. The user asked if Jack was still on the phone, and he responded by asking for information about the traceroute.
At this point, the user admitted she had no idea what to do.
Jack pointed out that IT managers really ought to know about command lines and traceroute.
"Her response was that managers manage people and do not need to know the department's subject matter, and that she had transferred into this role from a team that managed phone services."
Jack saw an opening and pounced.
"In that case, perhaps you should quit blaming me and start listening to my instructions," he said.
"After that, she was quiet and followed directions to a successful conclusion," Jack told On Call.
Has your IT manager lacked IT skills? If so, click here to send On Call an email detailing the extent of their cluelessness so we can share your story on a future Friday. ®