Quote:
Originally Posted by Derek
Back at work after two weeks off to find the work equivalent of a huge steaming pile of cow manure waiting for me along with people who think an out of office message means just resend the email on the day I'm back instead of maybe finding someone else to do it.
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Sounds like my place..
One of our printers had a known fault that was easy to work around, but not covered by the warranty and would have cost at least £500 to repair. Essentially, a small switch in one of the paper cartridges jammed and occasionally had to be reset. A job that took 5 minutes with a small screwdriver. It was a documented problem, so all the techs could find the solution (assuming they didn't know it).
When the switch jammed, the printer registered a paper jam and was essentially out of action until the problem was solved.
This switch jammed while I was on holiday. The first I heard was when I got back and almost the first thing my assistant said to me is "Sorry, but I've handed in my notice". Then I got a phone call from my boss's boss asking me to come see him now. I did, and got essentially ripped a proverbial new one because our only A3 colour printer had been out of action a week, and had caused a delay to a coursework deadline.
So, I calmly pointed out to my boss that this was a known problem with the printer, and at least one technician knew the solution (a colleague, who seemingly stayed silent during this whole debacle, was the one who discovered the problem and the solution and told me). Even had they not known it, I had documented it if anyone bothered to look it up. I also pointed out that most of the team had my mobile number. If they had bothered to contact me, I would have talked them through the solution even though I was on holiday.
And yes, coursework deadlines are considered important enough by the uni that if we (as techs) do anything to delay them, we can get a written warning.