Things you shouldn't have to tell people

[TallGeekyGirl]

Originally Posted by Magdalene

1.) If you mark everything 'urgent' and 'expedited', eventually those words will lose their power not just over us, but over our vendors. Use those words with care.

This happens in IT a lot as well. If everything is urgent then nothing is urgent. Urgent just becomes the new standard priority and tickets are still just worked on in the order in which they are received.

[DevilBunny]

'Oh, another top priority task from the VP. Put it with the others, he'll change the specs in a few days anyway.'

[Not_Done_Living]

Originally Posted by DevilBunny

'Oh, another top priority task from the VP. Put it with the others, he'll change the specs in a few days anyway.'

I have a list of "CIO Top 10 projects" it has 53 projects on it.
Every time a new project comes in , it is a Top 10.
If i asked the CIO which of these were his Top 10, he would probably name 10 that are not even on the list.

[Beachlife!]

Originally Posted by TallGeekyGirl

This happens in IT a lot as well. If everything is urgent then nothing is urgent. Urgent just becomes the new standard priority and tickets are still just worked on in the order in which they are received.

The systems I have used most recently classify what priority means, top priority means production is down, #2 priority means it is an urgent problem that will shortly affect production, etc. The help desk people are then trained to verify this in the first phone call. This helps cut down on the high priority-ness.

The other feature which is common, is an IT priority which is not set or visible to the end user.

[Lainie]

We have two schema for prioritizing/describing the severity of defects: one from an IT POV, one from a business POV.

[Magdalene]

Originally Posted by TallGeekyGirl

This happens in IT a lot as well. If everything is urgent then nothing is urgent. Urgent just becomes the new standard priority and tickets are still just worked on in the order in which they are received.

On the flip side of this....

If you *didn't* mark it 'urgent' and 'expedited', please don't act surprised that we didn't treat it as such.

(I know this sounds like a contradiction to what I was griping about. The problem is we have one sales guy who marks *everything* he touches as 'urgent' and 'expedite' when there's no call to, and on the other end of the spectrum, a second sales guy who marks *nothing* as 'urgent' and 'expedite' when he should. The end result is my team ends up giving priority to exactly the wrong things--so not only do we have a sales guy screaming at us because he thinks *everything* is an emergency, but then we also suddenly get a second one screaming at us because something really *is* an emergency, and we had no clue. So then we're scrambling on his projects all of a sudden.)

However, warning/follow up to second guy....

You gave me the project two business days ago. I promptly put the package together for a VP signature and was waiting to get it back. You decided to tell me *today* that it was an urgent rush job and I needed to send it to our vendor NOW--and I told you I could do no such thing until the VP signed off on it.

So then you sent the VP an email and escalated on *him*?

This is the fourth time you've pulled this. The VP knows it's you, and lemme tell ya--he ain't none too happy that you keep doing this.

Magdalene

[Ramblin' Dave]

Originally Posted by Gayle

Magdalene:

#7. You're not the only David in the building. You're not the only David who turns in orders for me to work on. You're not even the David that turns in the MOST orders for me to work on. Identify yourself and the project and THEN start explaining or we'll be here all day.

Trust me, if he's over the age of six, he knows how many other Davids there are out there! Sounds like he's guilty of a bad case of arrogance if he automatically expects you to know which one he is.

[obxbaby54]

I have a Sam's card. I like the store. What I DON'T like is having to show my receipt to some person at the door who counts the items in my cart and then on the receipt. What, do you think I shoplifted that mega box of Beggin Stips between the register and here?

[kitap]

If your company has such tight controls on your laptop that you cannot connect to our WiFi this is not our fault. Asking me what *I* am going to do about this is going to get you the response "we provide the WiFi ; if your company will not let you accept our WiFi this is not our issue".

Seriously. Who thinks this way?

[ganzfeld]

I don't think the customers should blame you for it but I don't think it's too much to ask for reasonably secure WiFi if the hotel is offering it at all. If you provide a safe, the hotel would probably make sure it works. If you provide a safety deposit service it's not too much to ask to take precautions so that things kept in it will be safe.

[fitz1980]

Originally Posted by kitap

Seriously. Who thinks this way?

More people than you would think. When I was bartending in Florida something about our building made it basically a dead zone for cell phones. Cingular users MIGHT get one bar and Verizon users generally couldn't get a signal at all. I can't tell you how many people would come up to me and say "my phone won't get a signal in here" like they expected me to flip a switch and magically fix that.

[ganzfeld]

But WiFi is a service provided by the hotel. It doesn't have anything to do with people complaining about cell phone coverage.

[kitap]

Originally Posted by ganzfeld

I don't think the customers should blame you for it but I don't think it's too much to ask for reasonably secure WiFi if the hotel is offering it at all. If you provide a safe, the hotel would probably make sure it works. If you provide a safety deposit service it's not too much to ask to take precautions so that things kept in it will be safe.

As I understand it it's that the company doesn't let the laptop recognize our WiFi provider. That's not our fault.

[ganzfeld]

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that it was the hotel's fault in your case. I've been in charge of setting up guests' WiFi (not at a hotel) and I should have mentioned that it's usually not the establishment's fault. I've also had some bad experiences with hotels, too, where they simply couldn't be bothered to set it up right. (I didn't complain to the front or ask "what are you going to do about it?")

[chocolate kisses]

I should not have to tell someone that it's not a good idea to stop the car when you have a green light at the intersection to scrape the ice off your windshield. Generally, when you have icing on the windshield, you cannot count on the cars behind you to be able to stop with short notice because there is ice on the roads as well, dummace. It would have been so easy for him to pull onto the side street to scrape off the ice.

[Spam & Cookies-mmm]

To a coworker/friend:

Do not gripe to me about how the boss always gives me the interesting/tough assignments and leaves you doing the same old boring things, if you aren't even willing to google a restaurant location for lunch. Have a little initiative!

[Beachlife!]

Originally Posted by obxbaby54

I have a Sam's card. I like the store. What I DON'T like is having to show my receipt to some person at the door who counts the items in my cart and then on the receipt. What, do you think I shoplifted that mega box of Beggin Stips between the register and here?

I think this is a double check of the cashiers more than an attempt to stop shop lifting.

[Spud Sabre]

I'm in an employment assistance program for people with disabilities. Stop treating me like a moocher and like it's my fault I don't have a job. As a disabled person, I don't have to look for work to receive income assistance, but I joined that program because you wouldn't stop pestering me about it, even though it meant admitting I can't get by without help. I still do job searches. I did volunteer work to get something on my resume. I've written a book and put out a handful of music albums. I have not been "lazing around" your house. I'm not interested in a "paycheck to paycheck" lifestyle. And I know neither of us like that the income assistance I'm receiving now is not enough that I can move into the city, but the fact I'm not getting any more money is not for lack of trying.

ETA: FYI, the program I'm in assists people with disabilities with finding jobs, and advocates on their behalf with potential employers. Today I finished a volunteer work assessment with them as well. It was a one month "job experience".

[Dear Babby]

Originally Posted by obxbaby54

I have a Sam's card. I like the store. What I DON'T like is having to show my receipt to some person at the door who counts the items in my cart and then on the receipt. What, do you think I shoplifted that mega box of Beggin Stips between the register and here?

One time the Costco door person found a package of cheese that I hadn't been charged for. They sent me to the front desk to pay for it. They didn't accuse me of shoplifting.

[robbiev]

Originally Posted by kitap

If your company has such tight controls on your laptop that you cannot connect to our WiFi this is not our fault. Asking me what *I* am going to do about this is going to get you the response "we provide the WiFi ; if your company will not let you accept our WiFi this is not our issue".

Seriously. Who thinks this way?

Unfortunately, many people apparently do. I work in the firearms industry which is highly regulated. People regularly get mad at us because they want to do something specifically disallowed by federal and state law.

A straw purchase for their brother/sister/cousin who has been denied comes to mind.