Wings Over the Pyre - February 7th, 2004

12:42 am - Necessary Arrogance

I'm having a Hell of a time with my co-workers tonight. There've been at least three or four calls to come "over the wall" from the high-metal TAMs (Technical Account Managers, generally neither first nor the last) from various parts of the planet. The TAM I'll refer to as "Isildur's Bane" tonight works from the Latin American side of the business, and has been my own personal nemesis for going on three years now.

Its not that he's incompetent -- though he is. He's the kind of guy for whom the phrase "I'm sleepy" is sufficient reason to pass a call off to the backline. No, the problem is that he's inconsistently incompetent, and when he actually does know something, he's afraid of actually telling the customer that, passing it off to us to actually give him some kind of immoral authority. This would be less irksome if, in fact, in the ultimate scheme of things he didn't have more authority than I do.

There are two decidedly important things I've picked up about technical support at all levels over the years:

• Firstly, the solution to the problem is almost 99% of problems can be derived not through study of the problem logs or the crash files, but a simple, straightforward, thorough explication and timeline of the problem, itself.
• Secondly, a good customer service technical support engineer oozes arrogance and confidence.

Current Mood: grumpy

12:54 am - I Knew Abdul Al-Hazred, And You, Sir ...

I'm horribly, horribly tempted by this, a contest to actually create a modern rendition of the Necronomicon. I want it. Hell, I want to contribute, but I fear I'm neither artist nor particularly adept at writing in pseudo-17th century pastiche.

But imagine the fun I could have with an effective-looking leather-bound copy of the Necronomicon. At a Vampire LARP.

"Why, yes, my child, I hail from the East of Europe. The old country, you might say. This? A family treasure only. I've written in the margins as my koldunic researches strike me, but largely it is pristine. Sell it? Why, child, I am no fool. This text has given me certain insights into the Abyss, and the creatures within that it would not be safe to share with you. No, no, not condescension -- merely concern. For you. Believe this, the Elders and Ancients of our line are not the only ones such as can eternal lie."

Current Mood: impressed

04:56 am - I Need a Lift

You know, there used to be a time when the whole world was terrified of short men from Germany. Now they only serve as good examples of what bad political choices can do to your reputation and, dare I say it, your standings.

Current Mood: disgusted

06:12 pm - Dirty, Filthy Man

I've done something which I should justly be ashamed of.

I reconfigured slrn on my Unix server.

Yes, this means my (triumphant?) return to UseNet. Fear it.

The funny thing is that when I left, the newsgroups I frequented were still getting hundreds of new posts a day. I resorted to filters and rankings to help me surf them, systems that actually learned what I liked reading as I plowed through ... and now, dropping by is like watching a dessicated digital wasteland. Conversation proceeded just as I predicted it would, off into private, more controlled mailing lists and on web fora, and multiplied like a hydra. But UseNet lies largely fallow.

I'm not sure whether to be saddened or gratified.

Current Mood: confused