I'm getting tired of people thinking I do nothing in IT.

Almost all day long I get smirks or jokes that I do nothing all day. For example:

"Oh you just sit around all day and look at the internet."

"He doesn't do anything."

"Are you working hard or hardly working?"

"Oh come on, you don't do anything all day."

"You don't work. You just walk around all day."

Or some problem happens, where the email stops working. I can only do so much since we outsource it to a provider. So I end up calling them or sending them a ticket to resolve the problem.

"Isn't it your job to fix these things?"

Everytime someone walks by my office I see them glance in. I usually am listening to my ipod in one ear and running updates remotely, checking event logs, researching, monitoring network usage, etc. They all think I am just watching movies or something.

This isn't any of my supervisors or anything since they know exactly what I do, it's just co-workers and such. Lately, it's becoming more frequent and it's starting to aggravate me. One of these days I'm afraid I am going to go off on them. I used to work at the bottom with everyone else, printing, moving skids, cutting forms, working the warehouse. But I worked hard and proved myself, got promoted after I graduated and now I am doing what I want to. It just sucks that I get no respect for what I do. (at least from co-workers) I don't mean to sound like I am whining, but I am starting to get mad at everyone.

I'm still pretty new to the IT field (outside of school) and am always researching and trying to learn more about new technologies. It's my job. It's too bad I am the only IT guy in our building. It's totally different whenever I talk to other IT professionals at other companies, vendors, or contractors. I tell them I am new and they are eager to help.

Anyone get this kind of treatment?

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Comments

drainey

Personally my favorite is the "Are you working hard or hardly working" usually said in a matter that indicates the speaker assumes it's the latter. In which case I usually reply I'm working hard on hardly working. Which usually leaves them stumped. Hard to make fun of someone for not doing anything and getting paid for it if it doesn't seem to bother them.

For those that are persistent in implying that you don't earn your keep. Suggest that you'd be happy to get everyone an ech-a-sketch, a pad of paper, a pen, some envelopes, and some stamps to replace their pc with it's applications, like email, word, excel, etc. and of course the network that connects everyone. Which would allow the company to let you go and save it valuable money spent on your otherwise unneeded salary. This usually gets the point accross quite nicely.

dynamik

I get this from time to time, but usually it's all in good fun. It wouldn't surprise me if some people genuinely thought it though.

Anyway, I was out sick yesterday, and something went down around 2pm. I slept through the calls, and they weren't able to do some things the rest of the day. I open Outlook and read over an email from yesterday afternoon. Basically, she's upset about the situation and wants me to create "fix it" notes, so anyone here can do network/server maintenance if I'm not available.

No problem. I'll get right on that. How much could someone possibly have to know in order to do my job anyway?

undomiel

Same situation as dynamik at my job. The boss wants me to "train her in the server" so that when things break when I'm not here she will be able to fix it herself. She also wants to be left documentation and steps to do for things. So far they amount to: step 1 - reboot. If not fixed go to step 2 - call me.

I don't think she will be happy about that though.

Schluep

As for the last two examples, I trained a few people on how to deal with various database issues that arise during processing on some old DBs and they took down notes word for word. Every time a new issue came up I explained what I did and why but they only wrote down what I typed and didn't understand why. They have binders with 100+ pages of typed of notes to try and cover every possible scenario of things that can go wrong but it is always something new and they never learned how to truly troubleshoot the issue since they never understood what was happening in the first place and why those commands were the answer to the problem.

There are some things you just have to be famliar with and no amount of notes can compensate for it if you don't work with it regularly and understand the process behind what is happening.

Claymoore

Sometimes this is a good thing...

Installing some hardware to facilitate an upcoming SAN conversion resulted in a comedy of errors that led to an impromptu cutover and upgrade of a critical system this weekend. 3.5 TB of storage and a large database - lots of fun in a glad-you-didn't-have-to-be-here sort of way. (Actually I might post what happened because it was kind of entertaining). Hours of effort from several people was a total success because 400 people came to work today and didn't notice a damn thing had changed. As far as they know, we didn't do anything this weekend.

Fortunately our bosses do know we worked very hard this weekend overcoming a series of challenges and that's what matters when it comes time for salary reviews.

Zoomer

Ok, lately now it's getting worse. It seems that everyone is catching on and ganging up on me. One person overhears the jest and now they are joining in. I made the mistake of asking someone a Mac question, since I know next to nothing about Macs and that opened the floodgates.

Once again I got the, "Didn't you go to school for this and your asking me? Hehe."

"Useless." Another person said.

Needless to say, I got pissed. But I tried not to show it. I did say, "You need to shut up." But I bit my tongue and walked away. Probably my fault since I asked the question. I just go into the closed server room, close the door and blast music while I work. Or go have a smoke. What was really fun was when that same person calls back an hour later, "My printers are down. I need them back up quick!"

"Sure," I said. "I'll get right on that..."

And then I'll go have another smoke break.

dynamik

You might want to have a chat with your boss and see if he can offer any advice. It sounds like this is approaching full-blown harassment, which is not acceptable. Just be careful in the way you go about things. Having management issue a memo stating that people should not pick on the IT staff is not likely to help the matter

hetty

dynamik wrote:

You might want to have a chat with your boss and see if he can offer any advice. It sounds like this is approaching full-blown harassment, which is not acceptable.

+1

Maybe you need to sharpen your research skills. If you don't know something, find out and fix it then. You shouldn’t be expected to know everything. But it sounds like your younger than them and they might know more about some of the system than you and they think there is no point asking you. Telling someone to shut up is going to do you no favors. And blaring music wont either. You’re meant to be the IT professional. You can’t block yourself off in the server room because it’s easier, you need to confront user issues head on and if that means more research on your part. Then so be it. I never ask users how to fix something unless they offer, otherwise you’re just begging for smart ass replies. Research it yourself.

garv221

Ask them who the idiot is? You get paid to surf the net all day. lol

The majority of post on this site happen between 9-5 Mon-Fri. We all do nothing. :P

dynamik

garv221 wrote:

Ask them who the idiot is? You get paid to surf the net all day. lol

The majority of post on this site happen between 9-5 Mon-Fri. We all do nothing. :P

undomiel

I always found it funny how few posts have occurred by the time I get to work in the morning.

/usr

IT is just one of those jobs that does not require you to be "working" all day, even though you're working.

We all know that we have a lot of free time on our hands. Some of us surf the net, some of us study, or whatever.

However, we also provide a service for these people that would otherwise render entire companies completely dead in the water, unprofitable, and quite possibly out of business.

Have they ever had to deal with a downed router that took out half of a production floor? No.

What about when shop floor PC's stop functioning and a manufacturing facility cannot print shipping labels for product? Nope.

Have they ever had to walk into a business and have whatever business critical application be down, and you've never touched that particular piece of software before in your life? No.

Have they had to troubleshoot hundreds of lines of code to find the ONE statement that's bringing down an entire business critical program? No.

Yet somehow we make it all work, all the time. We are the glue that holds these business together. Don't ever let anyone get you down or tell you different.

Without IT (I use that term incredibly broadly, regardless of what you do) support people like us, there would be no businesses as they exist today, and that's a fact.

We deserve our downtime for having to deal with stressful situations like this.

If it bothers you THAT much, you really need to switch jobs or find a way to laugh about it with them. It does not get better.

The next time someone starts, just laugh and walk away. Remind yourself of what field you're in and then ask yourself what field they're in. Ask yourself who will be better off in 10-15 years.

That should bring a smile to your face.

snadam

undomiel wrote:

I always found it funny how few posts have occurred by the time I get to work in the morning.

and how quiet the 'TE wire' is during lunch!

(as i sit here and eat a sandwich waiting for other people to post up!)

undomiel

My lunch is late so the dead time always hits right before it. The misery!

snadam

undomiel wrote:

My lunch is late so the dead time always hits right before it. The misery!

im usually breaking for lunch between 1-2, but this week is quiet compared to most. So I know where youre coming from, i think

Essendon

I still have a sour taste in my mouth when I think of the eventful day last November, and it was my birthday that day....

This company I was hired to do a 1 month contract for (would love to name the company..), seemed to be quite an ideal place to work in, nice location, overlooking parks and the river, just perfect. It was the Friday of the second week of the contract and the boss, the Network Manager i.e. MY manager had to go see some corporate vendors for the day, and I was the sole IT guy in the 100 people, 3 storey building. I had a lot of work on that day, but I was able to quickly able to sift through majority of the work. By 2pm, I was almost done and I thought I would have a pizza, a soda and a few songs on the iPod. But I remained at the desk (which was to prove to be my undoing).

I was engrossed in the food, songs and my emails, when the MD came in for a surprise visit. I didnt know, didnt hear (music was on), didnt see (too deep in to the emails) him coming. He had his usual side-kick with him. There was a tap on my shoulder and I saw the Big man looking sternly at me. His side-kick said I was the new IT guy and exclaimed " You arent doing anything again... ". I looked at him incredulously and said "Mate, I have just done a ton of work and having a much needed break..." and the MD cut me off. He went " Could I please see you in the office ". I knew there was some trouble

In his office, that bastard of a side-kick was also there. He goes " We pay you so much money and you sit at your desk eating pizza and listening to music. We have decided to

TERMINATE

your services from this very hour ". Can someone imagine my mental reaction to this??? I tried to reason with the MD and he said that this was final. Giving me $40 an hour was no little amount, they said and they expected me to be working my a$$ off all the time... I just left the room, collected my stuff from the desk, threw it all in the car, and drove off.... All the way home, I was thinking, has this really happened??

On Monday, I get a call from the Network Manager i.e. my Manager, that he sincerely apologises for what happened on Friday, and the company would like to reinstate me to my position. I FLATLY DECLINED. Said sorry, there was no way I was coming to work for such people..

Do you guys think I did the right thing, my parents said I did and that's all I really care about.

blargoe

As long as the network manager is available to you as a reference, or you already have a list of references, then I would have done the same thing.

dynamik

I wouldn't have gone back either. That's ridiculous.

intelzee

sprkymrk wrote:

Tell them what bothers you most is having to pause Star Wars right in the middle of the best parts every time they come by, so if they would just go quickly and quietly about their business you would be abe to finsih your movie in peace.

Then tell them if they were nicer to you more often you would let them use the executive sauna once in a while when you're not using it.

Then ask them why they weren't smart enough to do your job.

lol that is so somthing i would say to them

kripsak

MobilOne wrote:

I still have a sour taste in my mouth when I think of the eventful day last November, and it was my birthday that day....

This company I was hired to do a 1 month contract for (would love to name the company..), seemed to be quite an ideal place to work in, nice location, overlooking parks and the river, just perfect. It was the Friday of the second week of the contract and the boss, the Network Manager i.e. MY manager had to go see some corporate vendors for the day, and I was the sole IT guy in the 100 people, 3 storey building. I had a lot of work on that day, but I was able to quickly able to sift through majority of the work. By 2pm, I was almost done and I thought I would have a pizza, a soda and a few songs on the iPod. But I remained at the desk (which was to prove to be my undoing).

I was engrossed in the food, songs and my emails, when the MD came in for a surprise visit. I didnt know, didnt hear (music was on), didnt see (too deep in to the emails) him coming. He had his usual side-kick with him. There was a tap on my shoulder and I saw the Big man looking sternly at me. His side-kick said I was the new IT guy and exclaimed " You arent doing anything again... ". I looked at him incredulously and said "Mate, I have just done a ton of work and having a much needed break..." and the MD cut me off. He went " Could I please see you in the office ". I knew there was some trouble

In his office, that bastard of a side-kick was also there. He goes " We pay you so much money and you sit at your desk eating pizza and listening to music. We have decided to TERMINATE your services from this very hour ". Can someone imagine my mental reaction to this??? I tried to reason with the MD and he said that this was final. Giving me $40 an hour was no little amount, they said and they expected me to be working my a$$ off all the time... I just left the room, collected my stuff from the desk, threw it all in the car, and drove off.... All the way home, I was thinking, has this really happened??

On Monday, I get a call from the Network Manager i.e. my Manager, that he sincerely apologises for what happened on Friday, and the company would like to reinstate me to my position. I FLATLY DECLINED. Said sorry, there was no way I was coming to work for such people..

Do you guys think I did the right thing, my parents said I did and that's all I really care about.

I would of replied to the Manager, "Only if I get a raise"

tiersten

snadam wrote:

undomiel wrote:

My lunch is late so the dead time always hits right before it. The misery!

im usually breaking for lunch between 1-2, but this week is quiet compared to most. So I know where youre coming from, i think

I've had a lot of very late lunches because of important work. Its without fail that somebody will mention it later on thinking that I've had an extended lunch. I just tell them out straight that no, I didn't leave for lunch until 2:30pm and thats why I didn't get back until 3:30pm.

gojericho0

I don't know about you guys, but there is also a lot of time that people don't work that I'm doing maintenance windows for customers. How much work do you think any of these critical people do outside their normal 9-5

klone74

i find it funny when they think like that i make it as i do crap all and get good money for it as long as the people that i need to impress are impressed thats all that maters its me getting the pay rise and not the people thinking i am not doing any:):):):) i love it when they talk like that.

ladiesman217

Mishra wrote:

It is just jealousy... Most people make tons of comments on how young I look and even very rude comments like "you aren't old enough to work here". When I make 6X their salary and dress nicely to work in order to make good impressions.

It is how people work, I would try to just ignore it as saying something can only be negative.

Yeah Jealousy…I’ve also experienced things like that though my previous work is just an entry level one. They even want me to turn off the AC when there’s no customer around. My boss’s relatives loves to check on me to see what I’m doing and she always said “oh it’s really cool in your place”. I already got it, it’s because they don’t have AC in their department. I was even confronted why I’ am allowing girls on my desk (they’re hot).

whilst it’s pretty obvious for them to see that my work that time is service oriented. These type of people are insecure. Crab mentality consumed them; they will try to pull down those who will strive to be better.
.

vsmith3rd

Zoomer, get back to work, and stop creating discussion forums while at work.

LBC90805

Bring it up with HR and have ask them to make it a case of harrasment if people make such remarks.

skeet2331

I use to work at a high school just doing basic tech support. Fixing PCs, printers you know crap teachers can't figure out how to do. The best one I ever heard was I fixed a teachers PC and when I left he went over to other another teacher that I have known very well for about 5 years and told her that I was a smart ass know it all. I was like That's what they pay me for. Next time I won't fix your problem.

I know it sucks after hearing the same stuff day in and day out but I try to take it as a accomplishment when people try to say i'm not working or I act like a know it all.