Topic: The 'Let's Bitch About Our Jobs' thread. (Read 214006 times)

Wunderkind · « **Reply #250 on:** April 10, 2008, 04:27:03 AM »

I've decided to join ydnamtnediserp's rant about airlines cancelling.

We, at the hotel, have been sold out for the last three days, and will remain sold out for the next three days due to a large marketing event that happens in the area twice a year. This event sells out almost every hotel in a 50mi radius of itself. Traditionally, there is a guest change-out that happens on day 4. Now, there are 240+ guests who want to know why they can't extend their stay another day to give themselves time to find another flight.

Our brilliant upper-management has told us to suggest that they 'rent a car'. Riiiiight. Like I'm going to look these people (some of whom are big wig upppity-up types) in the face and tell them to 'rent a car' and not get cussed out.

Fucking airlines.

jeee · « **Reply #251 on:** April 10, 2008, 08:33:53 AM »

Quote from: Wunderkind on April 10, 2008, 04:27:03 AM

Fucking airlines.

There could be a market for those.....

Demosthenes · « **Reply #252 on:** April 10, 2008, 10:23:47 AM »

Quote from: dcrog on April 09, 2008, 05:54:24 PM

I've kept out of this for a long time, but:

Subject: Company based web email.

It started long ago that you typed in or bookmarked smtp.domainname.com

Someone changed something so for a while you typed in the ip address to get to the login page.

Then it changed to https//:mail.domainname.com/owa

For the last week and a half I've been trying to find out why mine won't work anymore. I hate having to connect through VPN and then Remote desktop to check email that I can't even print on the jobsite, unless I forward it to an outside account. I was told to not use my bookmark and try typing in the https//... address back in. No luck. Monday the IT guy was supposed to be in and figure out what was up. No luck. I called back today to see if anyone had figured out the problem. No luck.

Called another superintendent who has been on vacation to see how he had solved the problem and got his working. He said his bookmark stopped working so he tried typing in simply mail.domainname.com/owa and it went through.

I tried it. Eureka, it worked. But it is now simply an http:// url. I called the admin to make sure he knew the mail was no longer on a secure server. He tells me it is secure so no problem.

My main problem with all of this is that at no time when any of these changes were made was anyone notified. Plus nobody ever seems to be sure how these changes take place, or why.

We manage such things for most of our clients. To be fair, it's really quite difficult to keep URLs consistent when it comes to managing webmail versus OWA versus whatever. Heck, when we upgraded our main POP server to the next .5 version number it changed the fricking URL from http://mail.domainname.com to http://webmail.domainname.com... something we didn't even figure out for a couple of days. We found out because we had a pile of clients calling us wondering when the webmail server was going to be back up so they could log in.

That said, we learned from stuff like that and now we test things and let people know when stuff changes -- BEFORE it changes. Sounds like your IT guys haven't figured that out yet.

Also, if you're logging into OWA and it's not an "https", it's not secure.

dcrog · « **Reply #253 on:** April 10, 2008, 11:28:28 AM »

Quote from: Demosthenes on April 10, 2008, 10:23:47 AM

Also, if you're logging into OWA and it's not an "https", it's not secure.

That's what I called to tell the company admin about. Oh well.

If he mentions it to the IT I'm sure the url will change again.

To be fair I suppose, the IT guy works for some firm and is only there once every two weeks. When he walks in there are at least a half a dozen people waiting on him with their own problems. I try not to bother them if I can fix it on my own.

Demo. As far as VPN and Remote Desktop, other than to access email or programs on the server, is there any reason I should have to use both? With VPN they tell me I shouldn't be able to drag and drop data from my local machine to the data drive on the server. Even though I've been doing it for months. They broke it last week to where I couldn't but it seems to be working again the last few days. It certainly makes it easier moving files and printing hard copies locally. Since they tell me with the all in one printer I have won't work even after installing the drivers on the server.

Demosthenes · « **Reply #254 on:** April 10, 2008, 11:51:44 AM »

Quote from: dcrog on April 10, 2008, 11:28:28 AM

That's what I called to tell the company admin about. Oh well.

If he mentions it to the IT I'm sure the url will change again.

Don't believe them if they tell you it is secure. It means they're not using a cert, so it's just connected over plain old vanilla http, which is only as secure as any other webmail.

Quote

Demo. As far as VPN and Remote Desktop, other than to access email or programs on the server, is there any reason I should have to use both?

I'm not clear why you'd need a VPN and RDP. Usually the only reason we set up VPNs for our remote desktop clients' users is if they have a local printer that needs to get secure print traffic to from the terminal server.

Unless I'm misunderstanding what you're doing. Are you RDPing into a workstation on an office LAN or something? Or a terminal server?

Quote

With VPN they tell me I shouldn't be able to drag and drop data from my local machine to the data drive on the server. Even though I've been doing it for months. They broke it last week to where I couldn't but it seems to be working again the last few days. It certainly makes it easier moving files and printing hard copies locally. Since they tell me with the all in one printer I have won't work even after installing the drivers on the server.

I don't see why not... drive redirection is a simple check box on your object in Active Directory. Enabled or disabled. You can also enable or disable it with your Remote Desktop client (in the "local resources" tab if you hit the "options" button). Drive redirection goes over your RDP connection, not over the VPN.

Granted, if some sysadmin disables it for your account in Active Directory, you can have it checked on your end and it still won't work.

dcrog · « **Reply #255 on:** April 10, 2008, 12:29:12 PM »

I think that the problem is that they used Remote desktop for so many years they don't understand what the VPN actually is. When I questioned the admin about it he told me it was an added layer of security. Log onto VPN, after connected open Remote desktop. Which all I am doing is sending daily reports onto the terminal server. Usually small excel files. When they first switched to VPN my Remote desktop stopped working for a while. My project manager was here with his laptop and wanted to get to some of his files on the server. He plugged his laptop into my DSL line and connected through VPN. Remote wouldn't work for him either. But since his machine and mine have been on the office network physically the accessible drives are listed under My Computer as network drives. He simply clicked on the icon he keeps on his desktop while working at the office and there he was, on the server using the server installed program. That's how I figured out that I could do the same thing by simply creating a shortcut to the folder under my server profile and placing it on my own desktop.

As long as the VPN works like it does now, and I'm not compromising anything, it makes me a happy camper. I can copy to or from the data drive on the server with no problem. If I simply want to print something that is on the server my local printer has no qualms about it. I figured this out after spending a few hours at the office with my printer, driver disc, and the IT guy trying to get Remote Desktop to allow me to print locally from the job site. They initially told me to go buy a generic HP printer if I wanted to print down here.

Edit:
Is there a way to access my email through VPN? Creating a shortcut from my remote desktop doesn't work. It seems to be linked to the \\E drive on the server. E is the drive letter of my DVD drive here locally. So when I create and click on the icon it asks me to insert a disc.

reimero · « **Reply #256 on:** April 10, 2008, 12:45:18 PM »

Many and Wunderkind, did either of you post over at customerssuck? Because I could almost swear someone here did.

xolik · « **Reply #257 on:** April 10, 2008, 01:08:08 PM »

Quote from: reimero on April 10, 2008, 12:45:18 PM

Many and Wunderkind, did either of you post over at customerssuck? Because I could almost swear someone here did.

I did for awhile, back when I was working at The Pit. I loved that site.

Demosthenes · « **Reply #258 on:** April 10, 2008, 01:44:09 PM »

Quote from: dcrog on April 10, 2008, 12:29:12 PM

I think that the problem is that they used Remote desktop for so many years they don't understand what the VPN actually is. When I questioned the admin about it he told me it was an added layer of security. Log onto VPN, after connected open Remote desktop. Which all I am doing is sending daily reports onto the terminal server. Usually small excel files. When they first switched to VPN my Remote desktop stopped working for a while. My project manager was here with his laptop and wanted to get to some of his files on the server. He plugged his laptop into my DSL line and connected through VPN. Remote wouldn't work for him either. But since his machine and mine have been on the office network physically the accessible drives are listed under My Computer as network drives. He simply clicked on the icon he keeps on his desktop while working at the office and there he was, on the server using the server installed program. That's how I figured out that I could do the same thing by simply creating a shortcut to the folder under my server profile and placing it on my own desktop.

As long as the VPN works like it does now, and I'm not compromising anything, it makes me a happy camper. I can copy to or from the data drive on the server with no problem. If I simply want to print something that is on the server my local printer has no qualms about it. I figured this out after spending a few hours at the office with my printer, driver disc, and the IT guy trying to get Remote Desktop to allow me to print locally from the job site. They initially told me to go buy a generic HP printer if I wanted to print down here.

Ah, okay. It sounds like you're just RDPing to your workstation in the office then?

Printing locally via RDP isn't too hard, but it can be tricky. First, make sure you can print from your laptop to it locally. Second, make sure the driver for that printer is installed on the machine you're RDP'd to. Then when you log into the remote computer, open printers and faxes and the printer should show up. If it doesn't, things get more complicated from there, believe me.

Quote

Edit:
Is there a way to access my email through VPN? Creating a shortcut from my remote desktop doesn't work. It seems to be linked to the \\E drive on the server. E is the drive letter of my DVD drive here locally. So when I create and click on the icon it asks me to insert a disc.

Not sure. If you're just RDPing into a workstation that normally has Outlook set up on it under the profile you're logging into, it should work seamlessly. Otherwise, I don't know. It depends on how email is set up for you guys.

dcrog · « **Reply #259 on:** April 10, 2008, 02:26:50 PM »

Quote from: Demosthenes on April 10, 2008, 01:44:09 PM

First, make sure you can print from your laptop to it locally. Second, make sure the driver for that printer is installed on the machine you're RDP'd to. Then when you log into the remote computer, open printers and faxes and the printer should show up. If it doesn't, things get more complicated from there, believe me.

I can believe that. But that's what the IT guy tried. It didn't work. All in one printers don't seem to have much luck with Remote Desktop, so I'm told. Through VPN by itself it works fine.

Quote

Not sure. If you're just RDPing into a workstation that normally has Outlook set up on it under the profile you're logging into, it should work seamlessly. Otherwise, I don't know. It depends on how email is set up for you guys.

It does work fine as long as I open VPN along with RDP. Oh well. As long as they have the web access I'm good to go. It's just a pain if I have to move an email to another folder so that I can print it with VPN. But that only happens when the OWA isn't working. That or do like before the VPN and email it to myself to an outside account.

Thanks Demo.

Demosthenes · « **Reply #260 on:** April 10, 2008, 05:28:05 PM »

That's BS. I've set up literally hundreds of redirected printers, including dozens upon dozens of AIO's. There's nothing intrinsically more difficult for them than anything else (though to be fair, the scanning functionality doesn't generally work from the remote machine, nor does the faxening), particularly if it's an HP or an Epson or a Canon printer in question. If it's a Dell or a Lexmark, forget it. Those are a nightmare, and even if you can get them to work, their drivers are so poorly written they can actually cause issues in completely unrelated printers on the same server. Seriously.

One way to troubleshoot this is to import the reg key I PM'd you and then RDP to the remote machine, and then (on the remote machine) go to Start=>Control Panel=>Administrative Tools=>Event Viewer and look at the "System" events for when you logged in. If it's a driver disparity, there'll be an error message in there saying "Driver HP LaserJet 3500 series required for printer HP LaserJet 3500 series is unknown. Contact the administrator to install the driver before you log in again." (or whatever printer model you have).

If that's the case, all you really need to do is install the driver it's complaining about and that should be it.

If you don't see ANY message in the event log about a printer at or around the time you logged on, you're pretty much screwed. That means it's not even trying to redirect your local printer, in which case you might as well give up.

ydnamtnediserp · « **Reply #261 on:** April 10, 2008, 08:28:22 PM »

Quote from: reimero on April 10, 2008, 12:45:18 PM

Many and Wunderkind, did either of you post over at customerssuck? Because I could almost swear someone here did.

i've never heard of it. i'll have to check it out this weekend.

Wunderkind · « **Reply #262 on:** April 11, 2008, 12:39:24 AM »

I would just like to say here and now, who ever the fuck thought up the system we use here should be strung up by his feet tarred, feathered, and lit on fire!

I had suspicions that the (software?) was flawed from the very moment when they started teaching us how to use it. I thought at first perhaps that it was installed wrong when it first started fucking up. After being patted on the head and reminded that I am "just a night auditor" I am utterly convinced these people having no fucking clue what is necessary to execute front desk functions.

As of this moment you cannot walk in to our hotel and get a room. Oh, it's not that we're a fancy shamncy place that you can only get into if you have a reservation. No. I can't 'walk you in' BECAUSE THERE IS NO WALK IN FUNCTION! I can't even make a reservation at the front desk! I have to take your information, walk to the back, looking suspicious as hell, sit down at a reservationist's desk (because their's are the only computers on which this thing seems to work properly) make a reservation, then walk BACK TO THE FRONT DESK to check you in! What the fuck were these people thinking?

And yeah, I've been assured that it's been installed properly and 'works fine'. Fine my ass!

I'm done.

12AX7 · « **Reply #263 on:** April 11, 2008, 12:58:14 AM »

I feel your pain. I can't even begin to describe how fucked up every single application we use is. No exageration; at least two of the five apps we use crashes every night. E V E R Y night. Solution? Pepcid AC.

dcrog · « **Reply #264 on:** April 11, 2008, 07:16:23 AM »

Quote from: Demosthenes on April 10, 2008, 05:28:05 PM

...One way to troubleshoot this is to import the reg key I PM'd you...

OMFG!!!!!!!!!11111ONE What did that program do to my machine? All my desktop are FUXXORED!!!!! JOU HAXXXORED MY BOX111!!!

Seriously though. It is a Lexmark so I'm not even going to try. I think when they tried to make it work I still had the Compaq machine and they put the drivers on the server but it wouldn't work.

That said, the current laptop is an HP with Windows Vista Business 32 bit. Myself and one other unlucky person got Vista before they started refusing to buy a machine with Vista on it. It took me a few days with Lexmark to even get drivers for it when I changed machines.

Novice · « **Reply #265 on:** April 11, 2008, 09:47:06 AM »

To comment on the application thing . . .

Me (first one at work on Saturdays to supervisor when he shows up late to let me in): I can't check my backlog, is it down?

Him: Yes, it's all down today. We are going to work on webtickets now (gives url).

Me: Oh, well its just today I was supposed to help a customer run through some stuff as today is his only downtime. Also, I don't work after today until Tuesday. Is there any way to get to it?

Him: No, just don't worry about it. Take this web case.

Me: OK.

Flashforward to Tuesday . . .

Email I see as I log in: "Joey -- I noticed that you did not update your cases in 4 days. I have informed all the leads of this. You need to make sure to update your cases. BLAH BLAH BLAH I AM A TOOLBAG."

. . . he really said it.

Demosthenes · « **Reply #266 on:** April 11, 2008, 10:19:20 AM »

Quote from: dcrog on April 11, 2008, 07:16:23 AM

OMFG!!!!!!!!!11111ONE What did that program do to my machine? All my desktop are FUXXORED!!!!! JOU HAXXXORED MY BOX111!!!

Seriously though. It is a Lexmark so I'm not even going to try. I think when they tried to make it work I still had the Compaq machine and they put the drivers on the server but it wouldn't work.

That said, the current laptop is an HP with Windows Vista Business 32 bit. Myself and one other unlucky person got Vista before they started refusing to buy a machine with Vista on it. It took me a few days with Lexmark to even get drivers for it when I changed machines.

Aha. Vista, huh? So how do you like RDP6?

Myself, I fucking hate it. Nothing quite like complicating the formerly-simple process of remote desktop with a bunch of bizarre extra steps that serve nobody any real purpose, huh?

Yeah, you're best off with a cheap HP or Epson when it comes to printer redirection via RDP. Lexmarks have their uses, but most of them involve propping doors open or keeping papers from blowing off your desk. They do both of those functions perfectly.

Printing, not so much.

dcrog · « **Reply #267 on:** April 11, 2008, 11:36:40 AM »

Yes, dear old Vista. In a couple of years it might become an operating system instead of an in-operating one.

The only real difference I've seen with the RDP is when I go to log on it gives me a warning about the operating system (Server 2003 I think) is older than Vista and do I really want to connect anyway.

Just like all its other warnings that without hacking the registry or something they don't give you the chance to turn off. Plus no matter how many times you tell it to open the damn program/folder/device manager/whatever it never remembers what you did last time.

reimero · « **Reply #268 on:** April 11, 2008, 11:49:29 AM »

I'd like to point out that Lexmarks also make great theft-deterrent devices. Last I checked, most people weren't too keen on having Lexmark printers thrown at them.

xolik · « **Reply #269 on:** April 11, 2008, 12:13:37 PM »

- "Xolik, I need you to push out this patch right away. Think you can do that now?"

- "What's it for? Has it been tested?"

- "No time for logic! Just do it!"

- *puts on Happy Tree Friends theme and mashes the 'deploy' button*

BizB · « **Reply #270 on:** April 11, 2008, 12:17:33 PM »

GIS for "mash the button"

xolik · « **Reply #271 on:** April 11, 2008, 12:20:50 PM »

Sexual assault with a concrete dildo?!?

BizB · « **Reply #272 on:** April 11, 2008, 12:28:52 PM »

Is that an offer?

xolik · « **Reply #273 on:** April 11, 2008, 12:44:41 PM »

Of all the scenes in The Naked Gun, that one was most memorable.

dcrog · « **Reply #274 on:** April 11, 2008, 01:17:44 PM »

Here Wunderkind. I saw this and thought you could hang it on the front desk.

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Author Topic: The 'Let's Bitch About Our Jobs' thread. (Read 214006 times)

12AX7