Lazy days...

So I spent the morning sleeping on the floor in the corner at Tempus. Too tired. It's one of those days, I can tell already. Internal E-mail on Matt's machine: "We've been really shafted by (Major Company) today. Most of the T-1's are down, and the Internet too. Please be patient while I bitch at them." Mind, this means that all their customers who are on RetailNet can't access the database servers for backups and corporate office control. It's not their Internet access that's the big deal, it's the fact that their customers (for a tiny little business with seven people, they have a huge customer base) rely on being able to access their backup servers. Plus, they're accustomed to using PC-Anywhere, Remote Desktop, and the like to help them troubleshoot and fix call-in problems, rather than trying to walk the customers blindly through a process. Likewise, updates and patches. What a world. Overheard: "Yeah, these telephone guys from (Major Company) just showed up today, to do work, without calling ahead, so the T-1's down." Beat. "Sure, give me your number, and I'll call you back." David starts hitting buttons for telepone lines. "Three's down too? And seven and eight? This is not getting better; it's getting worse." Apparently there's one older phone number that still has access, but the RAS is on the T-1 that's down. Stupid (Major Company). "And...do you have a window up that says Tempus? Oh, wait, you don't have the System Manager. We've been through this already. Hmm...I might be able to mail you a floppy. How soon do you need this stuff?" Someone's tiiiiiired :) Ideas for the help desk software: A "Pend until:" status, where you could have it basically removed from the queue for the day/week/month, depending on the customer's wishes. So you call the video store back. "Oh, Bob's the only one who's allowed to touch the server, and he's not in until Monday." So you pend the item until Monday, and then you don't have to keep looking at it and going "Oh, I should...oh, wait. There's a note to call him Monday." 11:54 - They think the RAS lines are up, at least, so they can communicate with the servers. ...And Jerry just walked in with a network cable, Just For Me.