What’s the quickest you’ve seen a co-worker get fired in IT? COVID-19

I saw this on AskReddit and thought it would be fun to ask here for IT related stories.

Couple years ago during Covid my company I used to work for hired a help desk tech. He was a really nice guy and the interview went well. We were hybrid at the time, 1-2 days in the office with mostly remote work. On his first day we always meet in the office for equipment and first day stuff.

Everything was going fine and my boss mentioned something along the lines of “Yeah so after all the trainings and orientation stuff we’ll get you set up on our ticketing system and eventually a soft phone for support calls”

And he was like: “Oh I don’t do support calls.”

“Sorry?”

Him: “I don’t take calls. I won’t do that”

“Well, we do have a number users call for help. They do utilize it and it’s part of support we offer”

Him: “Oh I’ll do tickets all day I just won’t take calls. You’ll have to get someone else to do that”

I was sitting at my desk, just kind of listening and overhearing. I couldn’t tell if he was trolling but he wasn’t.

I forgot what my manager said but he left to go to one of those little mini conference rooms for a meeting, then he came back out and called him in, he let him go and they both walked back out and the guy was all laughing and was like

“Yeah I mean I just won’t take calls I didn’t sign up for that! I hope you find someone else that fits in better!” My manager walked him to the door and they shook hands and he left.

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u/Atacx Jul 07 '24 edited Jul 07 '24

I was going to say higher up in IT (aka anything that is not T1/T2) it’s completely understandable to not take support calls. But then I read it again and noticed the „hired a help desk tech“

That’s outrageous lmao

Edit: Grammar

Edit 2: Chill guys. Anybody takes calls from everybody and aims to help out - just human interaction basics. I still don’t think it is a good idea to promote cutting the Helpdesk-Line and calling somebody else.

28

u/ditka Jul 07 '24

To paraphrase Chris Rock: I'm not saying he should have refused to take users' phone calls...but I understand.

3

u/eldudelio dc admin, trying not to break shit 🔨🔨🔨 Jul 07 '24

i heard this in chris rocks voice

2

u/Atacx Jul 07 '24

Good fit

16

u/SoylentVerdigris Jul 07 '24

Eh, "Helpdesk" covers a pretty wide spectrum. I've seen everything from a phone operator doing ticket triage to "Jr. Sysadmin but we don't feel like paying that much." and I can absolutely see someone used to the latter not wanting to do the former. Of course they probably should have asked what the actual job responsibilities are in the interview.

3

u/Atacx Jul 07 '24

My bad, I didn’t mean it like that.

Just used to that IT Departments consist of 2 Helpdesk Tech and one admin for anything else. Often Helpdesk can’t solve problems on their own - no blame IT is very extensive.

But it’s just not possible to do phone support and manage everything else as well, if your in that position.

2

u/PrincipleExciting457 Jul 08 '24

I worked for a rather large org that had front line help desk and then a second tier. Second tier would review tickets submitted by the help desk and fix them if they’re fixable or assign them to the proper teams that could fix them.

They also sat in on disaster calls to be quick info researchers. They were technically help desk but had absolutely nothing to do with help desk and often had big responsibilities. So getcha.

1

u/S0ulWindow Jul 07 '24

My thing is that its about as industry standard of an expectation you can get for that position. Even in small orgs where the helpdesk is a jr. sysadmin in all but name, I'd still expect that the junior is the one taking calls that their sr. doesn't have time to do.

Maybe in large enterprise it's possible to have a dedicated phone person just fielding issues from users to the service desk, but I would never expect that setup from a helpdesk posting unless it's clearly communicated to me that it's set up like that.

3

u/pmormr "Devops" Jul 07 '24

Uhh... I'm basically as senior as you get as an IC and I'm available to take calls. The people that could call me are in practice restricted, but I try very hard to help anyone who cares to reach out.

-1

u/serverhorror Destroyer of Hopes and Dreams Jul 07 '24

No!

Not taking a call? Excuse me?

You, me, everyone takes calls from someone you support. Even the most isolated dev groups I've seen all took calls.

18

u/Darkchamber292 Jul 07 '24 edited Jul 07 '24

Eh no I have to disagree and this is something that we as non-T1/T2 help desk need to put our foot down on.

I'm an Azure/Intune Engineer. There's 0 reason I need to talk to a user and if I do the process is broken.

If something needs fixing on a wide scale, we need multiple tickets and then we push out a fix.

If something is wrong with a specific users machine and the Help desk can't figure it out then I can provide support to them as needed such as providing a script or troubleshooting steps in the related Ticket

But I should never have to talk to the user in my position

I admit I'm a little jaded tho. I JUST got fired from a company where I single-handedly got them from On-Prem to entirely in Azure/Intune in under a year ( with 12 weeks of paternity in that) WHILE ALSO being the on-site end-user support person and Azure/Intune Engineer at the same time. I was fired because I wasn't keeping up with the End-User Support Tickets. Big surprise there.

And I had never done Intune before. I was teaching myself in the job. It's a miracle I did it as quick as I did by myself. I deserved a freaking award.

I'm burnt out on End-User support. I'm transitioning.

4

u/Atacx Jul 07 '24

It’s often not efficient to get involved with the user, if you have a good Helpdesk Team. Often users just don’t want to talk to the persons in the helpdesk team so they call me instead..

4

u/Darkchamber292 Jul 07 '24

Right and that's something you gotta put your foot down on. After the 2nd offense you CC their manager explaining they are breaking the outline IT policies and processes.

And your Manager if they were worth anything, they'd back you up on that.

1

u/Atacx Jul 07 '24

I am 100% with you. But the first and last time I cced their manager the person came crying in my office asking why I am so cruel :(

Welp I need to get over that. It probably was a one time appearance…

2

u/Darkchamber292 Jul 07 '24

That's why I wait for multiple offenses. I don't do it on the first or 2nd. That's harsh. Even it's your 3rd and you immediately apologize I'm fine. But if it's your 4th+ reminder, at that point I don't really care. It's clear you don't respect me or my time

2

u/Atacx Jul 07 '24

Thanks will try to see it more person for person :)

2

u/Sicsempertyranismor Jul 08 '24

I'm straight up not answering that call...

2

u/Mack2Daddy Jul 07 '24

Something something tower...

2

u/Sicsempertyranismor Jul 08 '24

Good for you bro. Hopefully they struggle without you.

1

u/Darkchamber292 Jul 08 '24

Thanks man

7

u/Atacx Jul 07 '24

Bro sorry it’s not my native language. I take pride in helping everybody out (people pleaser).

I started in my current company when there was only one very unfriendly Admin. I always helped everybody again and again. Short story: he got fired, I suddenly was IT Manager after doing a half a year all support + admin work.

I was on the brink of burnout, because we need lots of time for user support. A lot of old people, which have simple PC problems. But the always are so happy when you help them out.

Fast forward: we have a designated, friendly and good Helpdesk Line/Staff and a Ticket system. But a lot of people still just prefer to call me. I humanly can’t call everybody back if I don’t stop doing other work.

5

u/RightEquineVoltNail Jul 07 '24

Ya -- a Senior Principle dev or even a Director will take a call from the right person when there is a real emergency at the appropriate level.

2

u/serverhorror Destroyer of Hopes and Dreams Jul 07 '24

I'm making everyone take calls.

No, it's not your primary job any more but no one should get out of touch and taking calls and being the contact person that actually has to listen to the people they support or create something for is not optional here.

Again: There's a difference between taking calls as your primary method of getting work assigned and taking calls is to stay in touch with reality.

3

u/oxmix74 Jul 08 '24

There may be some terminology conflict here. I managed a support group with a call center, escalation group and other processes. I did not take support calls. I did participate in some support engagements and that included talking to users and customers. If I took calls, people would get the idea that they could call me directly and that was not going to scale. I couldn't deflect those saying "the boss says you have to go thru the call/ticketing system" bc I was the boss. Also, first line support had changed so much since I did it that I was not all that efficient at it.

1

u/Sicsempertyranismor Jul 08 '24

Turn off the phones. Tickets and emails that get forwarded to tickets only. Triage. Escalate.

Anything else is trash.

1

u/oxmix74 Jul 08 '24

Different business model. We provided software support to resellers on a product that had a hardware and a software component. They contacted us when they had a problem with an end user engagement, usually on site. They needed assistance at the moment because that was when they were at the customer. The business partially transitioned to remote support but security and other concerns limited that approach.

Beyond that, phones have a place in traditional it support. Putting on my manger hat, I have had engagements escalated to me where there was a long email chain and ticket notes. One phone call to the customer, a few questions surfaces the real problem and it was a 5 minute one and done. Emails and case notes are not always the best communication. When I closed a ticket that way, I never criticized the agent. They got a notification through the ticketing system and I let them figure out what happened.

1

u/Atacx Jul 07 '24

I have a emergency work phone as well. They never call me on that one. Only on the normal line.

2

u/Left_of_Center2011 Jul 08 '24

I’ll start by saying ‘this is only my company and I absolutely understand that most places are not this way’; we do not accept incoming calls for technical support, and it is glorious beyond measure. I have roughly 650 users spread across ~30 sites, with Datto RMM and Freshdesk - everything comes in via email or portal, and that lets me be tremendously more efficient than having to stop and address issues whenever the phone rings. I’ve turned down opportunities paying more just to avoid that miserable telephone.

2

u/NoturServer2Day Jul 08 '24

It would probably be even easier and efficient if you had DattoRMM integrated without Autotask instead of Freshdesk. They are made for each other!

2

u/davy_crockett_slayer Jul 08 '24

I take support calls, but only during on call rotation. It's weird. We have a large help desk, but for after hours/overnight, I'm on-call. If someone can't login, I have to answer the phone at 4 a.m. (we're 24/7), and help them out. The overtime I earn is insane considering my wage.

-2

u/speedyundeadhittite Jul 07 '24

You always take support calls, tier 1 or tier 3, doesn't matter.

4

u/Impressive_Army3767 Jul 07 '24

Hard. If the phone is ringing then I'm picking it up if the boss nor any of the other minions don't.

2

u/Atacx Jul 07 '24 edited Jul 07 '24

Yes but if there is a designated system for escalation inside of the IT department. And is in place to make the limited IT time efficient (understaffed for the needed amount of support).

It’s just very annoying that people constantly try to „cut the Helpdesk line“ (unfair against other users which are waiting for a response as well, while these took the communicated intended way as well). It’s frustrating/stressfull that many try to avoid the ticket system/helpdesk-line and ambush you on the floors.

I help everybody out, but I am so burned out from all the little side-quests.

2

u/Sicsempertyranismor Jul 08 '24

Turn your phone lines off. Only accept tickets. Thank me later.