scott wrote:
>> And where in this thread have I complained about having to do IT work?
>>
>> I complained about Acrobat not performing its intended function. I 
>> complained about Live Meeting not working properly. I complained about 
>> having to deal with people who can't speak English and can't work 
>> computers.
> 
> All of those seem like completely normal things that an IT person should 
> have to handle in the course of their day.  Software not working as it 
> should, dealing with people who can't use computers, having to do "IT 
> things" for people, all seems reasonable to me.

Well, you know, I fix things all the time. I don't usually complain 
about them. (Already today, I've fixed 4 seperate problems, and not 
complained about any of them.) It just exarsperates me when an extremely 
expensive peice of software doesn't provide the features you'd expect it 
to. Or when I'm expected to help somebody who doesn't speak English.

>> If anything computer-related goes wrong, this is by definition *my* 
>> fault. No matter how unreasonable that may be...
> 
> Did you try explaining your thoughts to these people?

Sure. You try explaining these things in a way that doesn't sound like 
you're just inventing excuses.

>> I gave up trying years ago. Nobody takes the slightest bit of notice 
>> what I say. Everybody seems to assume I just don't know what I'm 
>> talking about.
> 
> Why do you think that is?

I'm not really sure.

Historically, my boss always thought I was an amazingly smart guy, and 
the people across the pond always thought I was an idiot. There was a 
lot of friction over that. But hey, he's gone now. It seems the people 
at the top of IT are just so sure they know everything there is to know 
that anybody else can't possibly know anything. Or something like that. 
And our site manager is just a moron.

>> (Like when we leased that extra room, and Fathead had some contractors 
>> come in and lay a fiber-optic link between the two comms cabinets. We 
>> don't actually *have* any equipment which can interface with 
>> fiber-optics. But hey, who asked me? Fathead just comes to me one day 
>> and says "so all the comms are live in that room now, right?")
> 
> And what happened then after you explained to him the situation? And 
> what did he reply when you asked him why nobody consulted you first?

He said "oh" and wandered off.

To this day, that room still isn't live. But then, it seems it's become 
a store room anyway, so...

>> Well, my skiing trip was kind of different. I didn't have to go by 
>> myself, I didn't have to find where I was going, I didn't have to 
>> speak to anybody or pay for anything.
> 
> On business trips you don't have to pay for anything, and when you get 
> there either someone will pick you up or just simply tell a taxi driver 
> the address of your hotel.  It's a lot easier and comfortable when you 
> don't have to consider how to save money continuously while you are 
> travelling.
> 
> The other cool thing is that most companies will allow you to take some 
> holiday either before or after your trip to spend some leisure time 
> wherever you are going, in some cases this longer stay even makes the 
> plane ticket cheaper for them, so you can negotiate them to pay for your 
> holiday accommodation too :-)
> 
> But then if you're not interested in the slightest of visiting foreign 
> countries, then I guess that doesn't appeal to you at all.

I've always disliked travelling and being in unfamiliar places. It's 
something I sometimes do when there's a very large reward on offer, but 
generally I try to avoid it if possible. Certainly the idea of being 
stranded all alone in a country where I can't even tell what people are 
saying to me is rather intimidating.

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