[1]Magic switch then!

------->abra.cud@bra

[1] http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/magic-story.html

Surely this is a service provider which no longer exists, because the ones that last are the ones that nickel and dime you for everything. Even when they are wasting your time with failed fixes, they are billing you $300/hr for that service if it isn't covered under the normal contract/warranty.

At best if a replacement part doesn't fix the issue they won't charge you for the part, though I've seen them insist on putting the original part back to avoid such a charge!

I recall at one consulting gig the company I was working for had a few obsolete Clariion arrays that were under T&M support. I'm not sure of the details, but apparently IT typically did internal billing at a set price per gigabyte to the various departments, but these arrays were legacy arrays that had come when they acquired another company and the manager of that unit didn't have to pay the internal billing so long as they kept using the arrays they "owned".

So something went wrong and the IT support people called EMC, who sent out someone who said he hadn't been trained on hardware that old so he said they'd send someone else. Then he came back the next day because they didn't have anyone in the local field office trained on such outdated hardware! So he muddled along, running up huge charges, and finally and belated fixed the issue. IT of course made the "owner" of that array pay that hefty bill, and it wasn't long before those legacy arrays were gone from the floor! I imagine one big bill can wipe out months or even years of "savings" on that per gigabyte charge.

If EMC didn't charge for all the failed attempts at fixing it, I'm sure that bill would have been a lot smaller. But T&M is T&M, and EMC is legendary for making you pay every penny of that charge when you are not on a support contract!

Not hardware but...

When I took over my current role one of the things I inherited was a non-working, but critical, VAT report which was preventing sign-off of a major project.

The consultant asked if they could bring a trainee with them, which was fine by us, we're always happy to support youngsters and their development. After a day on site the report still didn't work correctly and was still preventing sign-off, yet they billed us for 2 people's time for a full day! I passed it back to the finance people who'd arranged all of this (before I started) stating, in polite language, where I felt the provider could stick their invoice but I suspect it was just paid.

In the mean time I'd fixed the report anyway - seeing *0.15 in a VAT report was a bit of a giveaway, especially as the rate had changed recently. Why the **** of a consultant had hard-coded the calculation when the database had a TAX field with the correct value is a mystery. It was never going to work anyway even if the rate had been correct as some items, e.g. fuels, carried a different rate.

”Surely this is a service provider which no longer exists”

My thought were that this story is improbable, if a service provide doesn’t even try to bill. Maybe there were some pre-emptive yelling by the company’s directors?

The article says: ”at least it didn't cost Kris's employer a cent!” but the server run a piece of important software. The incident probably cost the company quite a lot of money.

Depends on the size of the client. Some service providers won't bill if they know they've effed up and they know the client knows that. They'd rather take that small hit than risk losing someone who will definitely pay them more in the future,.

.... that this was an open and shut case!

-------> Never had an open and shut case!

You don't usually get quantum superposition on an object this large. I'm sure there should be a Nobel in that.

> Which is a fine idea because nobody should be electrocuted while working on a server.

'Elf and safety gone mad

“nobody should be electrocuted while working on a server”

Where has all the fun in the world gone?

Where has all the fun in the world gone?

It got electrocuted?

It has been sucked out of the world by a bunch of vampires that were rejected by HMRC for being 'too nasty and petty to be tax employees'!

-------> The AVERAGE H&S employee!

It died in a freak HVAC accident.

Surely the ones working on the server should be left alone, and the electricity supplied to all the shoulder-surfers and manglement interrupting to ask why it's not fixed yet?

Having walked in on someone doing the 50 Hz boogie, fortunately with no long term impact on the 220 V AC disco dancer, it's not a fun experience for anyone involved.

He (and I) were fortunate that there was a wooden-handled broom near to hand to allow me to nudge him free.

I still have the scar on my thumb that resulted from an inadvertent connection to the national grid. I'm just glad my Mum hadn't spotted me on the way into the house and demanded that I remove my wellies! If I hadn't been so well insulated then my feet (along with the rest of me) would probably be six feet under at the moment!

At the age of 9 I was flung across a room when my Dad asked me "just hold these multimeter probes in this socket while I figure out which breaker I need to switch off".

Some years later, while changing a light fitting with the power still on, I connected live to earth via my thumb. No shocks, but the smell of cooking meat. I had a small area of my thumb that was completely dead for several years.

I learned. Eventually....

I had a old dot matrix printer that wouldn't print. The interlock switch (just a leaf spring pair of contacts) thought the lid was always open. Fix was to bend the contacts a little.

I've got a dehumidifier whose "full bucket" sensor is like that. Every now and again I have to bend the contact strip out a bit, and the fault is resolved. Eventually it'll just go "snap", and that'll be it, I suppose, but it's done quite well...

I had many call-outs to an FM transmitter that was extremely reliable apart from safety interlocks and the airflow detector for the cooling fan, one of which had a tendency to switch the whole thing off at a very unsociable hour. So now I tend to think of interlocks first in any totally-off situation.

We supplied some equipment to a well-known process contractor in the food industry and their procedure was that all MCC's had to be commissioned by their own staff 'for safety reasons'. No problem, I had a trainee with me and it would be good to see someone else doing the job "with the highest regard for safety of personnel and equipment". We had to undergo a two-hour H&S 'induction' to cover the general, local and specific hazards, which included not carrying two cups of coffee and never carry a tray on stairs etc. as well as the usual hazards of electricity and the like. We were examined on the knowledge so transferred.

Eventually, suited, booted, gloved and glasses, we meet the 'Appointed Person' who would be doing the hands-on pre-checks etc. before starting the plant and after further words about safety he proceeds to open all the panel doors, then switch on the isolating circuit breakers using a spanner....... My trainee and I, stood well back...... Of course, nothing worked and after a frustrating half-hour or so where the expert would take no advice, I tentatively suggested that the door-switches might be causing, correctly, an interrupt in the circuit? He proceeded to by-pass the switch whereupon the breakers slammed in and the interior became live. It was mind-bogglingly dangerous. We couldn't work or even observe under these conditions so we went back to the project manager who sighed and said they had 'a bit of a problem' with this guy.

We returned the next week to repeat the exercise, albeit with a reduced H&S Induction, this time successfully, with a different 'expert'. I still have the first guy's name in case our paths ever cross again.

the server remained broken and that the motherboard must be the real problem.

So just take another guess then? and wait three days for parts to find out? (leaving customer without their "critical application" )

This is the difference between "Part Fitter" and "Engineer" , whatever type of hardware is involved.

Car dealerships often do this and charge you truly eyewatering prices for each wrong guess - despite being in a far better position than anyone else to do the job properly due to having all the knowledge and proprietary diagnostic equipment on hand.