Confessions of an IT Manager_Phil Factor
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Section VI: Hiccoughs in the Working Day 293<br />
The music suddenly stopped. I was through to someone technical just as the<br />
life force was starting to drain away.<br />
"Sorry to trouble you today." I started.<br />
"No trouble at all. I'm on double time. It's quiet here. I'm only too pleased to<br />
speak to a fellow hum<strong>an</strong>."<br />
I wondered briefly who he had been speaking to before. A salesm<strong>an</strong>? I<br />
explained the problem <strong>an</strong>d read out the full product code.<br />
He sucked through his teeth. "Sorry, we c<strong>an</strong>'t do you. There isn't <strong>an</strong>other one<br />
<strong>of</strong> those in the country. They'll have to come over from the States. It'll be ten<br />
days, I guess."<br />
"I thought we had mainten<strong>an</strong>ce contract with a two-hour response time with<br />
your comp<strong>an</strong>y."<br />
There was a pause. I assume he was drawing himself up to his full height.<br />
"Well," he said rather huffily, "we did respond within two hours. We responded<br />
rapidly, <strong>an</strong>d efficiently, by telling you it was going to take ten days."<br />
I sighed <strong>an</strong>d put the phone down. It was the season <strong>of</strong> goodwill after all, <strong>an</strong>d<br />
I assumed the guy I was speaking to had overdone the Office Party. I had a<br />
brief dream <strong>of</strong> trudging through the Bleak Mid Winter snow like good King<br />
Wenceslas on the feast <strong>of</strong> Stephen, looking for 18 GB SCSI drives in PC<br />
World.<br />
However, the solution proved to be simple. The test server, luckily, was <strong>an</strong><br />
identical twin <strong>of</strong> the production one, <strong>an</strong>d kept synchronised with it. A drive was<br />
taken from it <strong>an</strong>d popped in the production RAID array. Within <strong>an</strong> hour I was<br />
back at peace with the world, sipping sherry <strong>an</strong>d listening to Rammstein<br />
through headphones, as I ministered to the server.<br />
Ten days later, a dispatch rider solemnly r<strong>an</strong> up the steps <strong>of</strong> the comp<strong>an</strong>y<br />
into reception, carrying <strong>an</strong> 18 Gig SCSI drive, <strong>an</strong>d proudly made us sign for it<br />
as if it were a holy relic. We dropped it straight in the bin, because the new<br />
Raid Array from our next <strong>IT</strong> supplier was clicking away happily in the rack.<br />
I've never since retained <strong>an</strong>y faith in mainten<strong>an</strong>ce agreements that promise<br />
rapid response times, unless they spell out exactly what constitutes a response.<br />
Ours didn't.
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