I attended the wedding reception of a friend last Friday. Brad and Kristen were your typical young kids in love. Couples in Utah tend to marry young. Brad is 21 and his bride is even younger.
It was a beautiful reception with all the fixings. A Peter Pan theme, food, a PA system, italian soda (the families are non-drinkers), and of course a table full of gifts.
We decided to not give our “typical” family gift. We put some cash into a card. For family we tend to get a little more creative. We give a gift that generally the bride and groom’s parents think is great and the young couple are slightly offended by.
Yes, it’s a handtruck. A convertible one that turns into a cart. We think it’s the perfect wedding gift. We’ve given it to a half dozen nieces and nephews. I recently talked to my brother-in-law about it.
Oh, Janice hated it.
Really?
Absolutely, she was pretty mad about it.
Huh. . .
Of course, she got over it.
We often don’t appreciate what we are given at the time we receive it. I know I don’t. I was working for a large non-profit and my position had been eliminated. Rather than lay me off, they “put me on the bench.” They kept me on the payroll and looked for a spot for me. During this period I happened to be talking to Kent. He was in charge of our monthly data center maintenance.
He maintained these immense spreadsheets of minute by minute tasks that had to be performed in a specific order on the night of the maintenance. Just looking at them made me tired.
Kent, I’m sure glad you have this job and not me. I’d be terrible at it.
(You see where this is going right?)
Yup, a month later Kent transferred to another department, mostly because he hated doing the maintenance work. My manager called me in.
I’d like you to take over the monthly maintenance project. It’s a mess. But, I’m sure you can get it into shape.
Yeah, sure. Be careful what you wish for. Wait, I didn’t even wish for it. I said I DIDN’T want. it. So, I dove in and started to pull together a team. I started building my own spreadsheets. I improved on Kent’s sheet. And before you knew it I was looking forward to the maintenance projects. And as I started to love my job, the rest of the team started to respond. We cut down on our outages associated with maintenance.
Our customers started out seeing the monthly maintenance as an interruption of their work and after several months they were coming to me asking if they could include some of their own tasks into our maintenance windows.
And it became the best job I ever had. You never know how something that initially seems terrible eventually becomes appreciated.
So, what made Janice change her mind?
Ha, ha. She had to move. The first time they moved she told me how much she appreciated your gift. I’m kind of disappointed actually.
Oh? Why’s that?
I was kind of hoping she’d decide to leave it at our house.
Like I said, we think it’s the perfect wedding gift.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife and thirteen children and one grandchild.
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My dad told me a story one time.
Two guys were roommates. “Batching it” as my dad would say. They had an agreement; one would cook until the other one complained about the food and then the complainer had to take over cooking duties.
Well, one of the roommates simply wouldn’t complain. Day after day went by and he didn’t say a word about his friend’s cooking. Finally one day, in frustration, the roommate stuck with cooking duty dumped a whole handful of salt into the morning oatmeal.
He waited in anticipation as his tolerant friend sat down and took a big spoonful of oatmeal.
No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
– Eleanor Roosevelt
Have you ever worked with someone who didn’t like you? Someone who just honestly wanted the worst for you? I hope not. I have a couple of times and it’s kind of exhausting. You spend way too much time watching out for the traps they will lay for you. Or, trying to get the report they promised you. Or any number of things.
However, in addition to the stress it creates, it also can be a lot of fun. I’m serious. Having someone who hates your guts at work can be a blast.
Here’s how. When someone just despises you, they typically want to see you fail. If you are good at your job, your successes are going to eat them up inside. In fact, you don’t even have to brag about it. Just knowing that they have to witness your success is agony.
I once beat out a guy for a trainer job at Microsoft. It so happens that I was much more qualified than he was. I’d written courseware for WordPerfect. I was an expert on Microsoft messaging products. But, he was positive that I’d gotten the trainer position because I was friends with the hiring manager.
A couple years later, I wrote the best Microsoft Messaging course in the history of the company. I gave it a terrible name. It was called Microsoft Exchange Advanced Topics. What it really was was a course on network traces. I know that means nothing to the non-techies and even the techies reading it are saying, “Sure it was” without any real conviction. But, trust me, the course was awesome.
Eventually it came time for the support engineer I’d beat out for the job to take the course. At the end of the course, the class filled out anonymous evaluations. Typically I got 4’s and 5’s on this course on a five point scale. I’d occasionally received a hand written score of SIX out of five. One score came back as a 3, and a note that said,
All Rodney did was steal the work from Gary, the escalation engineer!
Even all these years later, that is one of the most enjoyable reviews I ever received. Because it was obvious from the other scores that the class loved the course. The fact that this person still held an unwarranted grudge years later was sad, but also somewhat funny. His ill feelings didn’t harm me in the least. If he tried to convince people the course was terrible, no one would believe him.
Business gets done best when everyone is on the same page and pulling not only for the success of the company, but for the success of each other. However, in those rare cases where you do manage to pick up an enemy. Just remember to continue to do a stellar job meeting your obligations and go ahead and enjoy watching them burn up with jealousy.
The moral of the oatmeal story I started with is this:
As the roommate took a big bite of the salt laden oatmeal he exclaimed,
Oo, this is salty!. . . Just the way I like it.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife and thirteen children and one grandchild.
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Back in February, I started posting Management Rules that Make No Sense. I started with 14 and then added a couple.
These are rules that I’ve adopted over the course of a 25 year career in IT. I’ve been a support engineer, an on-site troubleshooter, a trainer, and about 10 years ago I went into management. Currently I’m a project manager for a large telecommunications company.
I originally avoided going into management because I didn’t want to have to be a jerk the way I saw other managers do. It was a shock and a revelation to me when I realized you didn’t HAVE to be a jerk. (No, You’re Just a Jerk.)
I’ve used these management rules to set expectation and work with my teams. In every case, the team has seemed to appreciate them. They print them out and pin them up on their walls. Maybe I’ll put them into a book.
Here are the 16 management rules that don’t make a lot of sense.
1. In the absence of orders: ATTACK!
Make the decision and I’ll back you.
2. If it bleeds, it leads
In a meeting, Bad news first, not last… and not on a Friday at the end of the day. Augh!
3. Money is a lousy motivator
If you have enough. If not, it’s the only motivator.
Free soda is a much more effective motivator than the equivalent value in cash.
4. Company loyalty only ever goes one way
Not because companies don’t show loyalty, but because they cannot. As an employee, this is a very good thing.
5. The power of saying “I don’t know”
If you admit your mistakes, people will trust you more.
6. Remember Your Lines
I have a reason for EVERY decision I make at work. I assume that my employees are ALWAYS watching me.
7. I want the jacks not the balls
I want the guys who are GREAT at a few things, not merely good at a lot of things.
8. The art of the joke – Why you shouldn’t worry about your job if I’m teasing you about your job
I will never use humor to cover an awkward situation.
9. The danger of being the smartest guy in the room
If you are, you need to hire smarter people.
10. I saved my company $25K/month and all I got was this lousy t-shirt
Rewards can be demotivating as well. Don’t be cheap.
Tell them it’s all about you, make it all about them
11. Your company has a uniform even if it doesn’t have a dress code
You have to “dress the part,” no matter what part you are playing.
12. “It’s magic.”
First, “How can you maintain your reputation as a miracle worker if you give honest estimates?” –Montgomery Scott. Second, sometimes techy people will become distracted by the shiny bits in your answer.
13. Decide what you want and what you’re willing to accept. When you get one or the other, STOP!
A simple guide to win/win negotiations.
14. If you have to go anyway, it’s better to lead than to follow
Know when to cut your losses and embrace the “enemy.”
15. Tell them it’s all about you. Make it all about them.
Show loyalty to your team and they will more than pay you back.
16. If your customers can’t get to your services it’s your problem. . .even if it’s not your fault.
The most important rule of them all.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife and thirteen children and one grandchild.
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Hey it looks like we’ll be done a little early today. Is there anything you’d like to see in Washington, DC?
Oh, I don’t know Rick. . .
Ever been to Arlington National Cemetery?
No.
Pack up your computer and let’s go.
I was in Washington DC working on computers for the International Monetary Fund. This was a different trip than the story I told about the guy emailing his hard drive in The Snake That Ate The Centipede.
I was working with Rick Welshans, the IMF email admin. We headed down to his car and drove through the rain south toward the Potomac and the resting place of heroes.
Arlington has an interesting history. It was designated as a military cemetery by President Abraham Lincoln. He wanted a final resting place for the brave men who were fighting and dying in the bloody Civil War.
We pulled into the parking lot and wound our way past the tour busses that were collecting their tourists. The cemetery was about 15 minutes from closing. Rick didn’t pull into a parking space. He headed straight for the gate. As he approached he pulled out a faded piece of laminated cardstock and held it up for the Marine guard. The soldier glanced at the paper, straightened up and snapped a crisp salute. He held it as we slowly drove past.
Rick wasn’t in the military.
The iconic picture of Arlington is the rows and rows of square markers.
(Photo credit: MERCL)
These markers are the official government issue tombstone. And much of Arlington is devoted to them. But, there are other markers as well.
We wound our way through the drizzling rain as row upon row of markers slipped past. Finally, Rick stopped the car near a large tree with an impressive crown of leaves.
Give me a minute, won’t you?
Sure, Rick. Take as long as you need.
I sat and watched the rain trace rivulets down the window. Rick approached a grave under the tree and stood for several minutes. Finally, he returned to the car with eyes damp from more than just the rain.
My dad’s grave. If you have a family member buried here you get a driving pass.
We drove out in silence, surrounded by the ghosts of soldiers past.
I mentioned that Lincoln designated Arlington as a national cemetery. At the start of the war President Lincoln summoned General Robert E. Lee to the White House and offered him the job of leading the Union forces. Lee, who had not yet resigned his commission to join the South declined. He did not support secession, but said,
I cannot raise my hand against my birthplace, my home, my children.
During the course of the war Lincoln went through several generals before finally selecting Grant who would ultimately lead the North to victory. However, Lincoln didn’t forget the fact that had Lee accepted his offer, the war would have ended sooner and tens of thousands of lives would have been spared. It was not surprising then that when it came time to select a national cemetery, ground that would be as close to hallowed as a sectarian government could make it, he picked Arlington, the birthplace, the ancestral home of Robert E. Lee. Lee might not have fought against his home, but Lincoln insured that he would never get to live there again.
I’ve lost track of Rick over the years. The computer systems we worked on together are now ancient, WordPerfect Office 3.1, DOS 3.3. Computers have grown smaller, faster and prettier in the ensuing years.
But, obviously when I think of that trip, I don’t remember the computers or the systems. Today’s killer machine will be tomorrow’s laughing stock. It’s important sometimes to be reminded of what things really last.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife and thirteen children and one grandchild.
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I was once a pretty good interpreter for the deaf. I learned American Sign Language as part of a mission calling for the Mormon church. (The Day I Found Out I Was A Jerk.) By the end of two years of constant practice during literally every waking moment, I got fluent enough that I didn’t have an “accent.” In other words, I signed like a deaf person.
I had many opportunities to interpret. I interpreted for my missionary companions, I interpreted for people talking to government officials. I interpreted for the police, I even once interpreted a magic show for several hundred people. I’m not bragging (much) when I say I was really, really good. At the same time, I was terrible. Not through any lack of skill, but because the medium itself limited me.
Tell me what the picture is at the top of this column? You probably guessed violin. You might have guessed viola, but if you were aware enough to guess viola, you would have recognized the violin. The great performer Izak Perlman described the difference between a violin and a viola like this,
The viola takes lightly longer to burn.
Anyway, my point is that of course you recognize the violin. I would imagine you even know what one sounds like. Please, in the comments below describe what a violin sounds like so that I can interpret it for my friends who are deaf. And as an added bonus, please describe the difference between how a violin sounds and how a saxophone sounds.
If you can, you are a better writer than I. And yet, we each know what these instruments sound like. If I were to blindfold you and play one or the other you could instantly recognize the difference. If you really know what a violin sounds like, why can’t you tell me? Why can’t I translate it into sign language so that my deaf friends could understand it?
We suffer the same limitations in technical areas. Great programmers have an innate feel for their code. When they get into the zone the code tends to write itself. Those of you who are coders, how do you explain to a new developer what that feels like? How do you help them to get to that point?
This is also why it often feels like engineers or programmers are talking a different language. It’s not just the jargon that techies love to throw around. It’s an entire foundation of understanding.
As a project manager, I love analogies. My job often involves “interpreting” between tech-talk and biz-speak. Using an analogy helps me bridge that gap. Explaining the internet addressing scheme (256.256.256.0) would take me hundreds of words. But, if I tell you that it’s like a street address, every house having a unique number, then you can grasp enough to have the discussion.
I love to quote Dilbert’s Pointy-Haired-Boss (PHB) and claim,
Anything that I don’t understand must be simple.
It’s not always the case, of course, and the engineers I’m talking to understand that I’m using humor to acknowledge that I don’t have a clue what they are saying. But, in another sense, it very much is true. Internet addressing, also called IPv4 IS a simple concept to network engineers. It’s so basic to what they do that if you don’t understand it, there isn’t enough common ground to even have a discussion.
The opportunity to bridge that communication gap is why I loved being a corporate trainer, and it’s why I enjoy being an IT project manager. I get to talk to both techy and business sides and I get to interpret from one to the other.
So, the next time one of your engineers offers you an explanation that sounds like a dictionary that was chewed up by a blender, just ask her what a violin sounds like.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife and thirteen children and one grandchild.
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We’d like to invite our First Class passengers to board at this time through the doorway marked G12.
I picked up my bags, showed the gate agent my boarding pass and made my way down the jetway. It was Saturday morning and I was leaving Richmond Virginia, and I was flying First Class, and I was not at all happy about it.
I spent last week in Richmond opening our new site. I flew out last Sunday. You cannot fly directly from Salt Lake City to Richmond, Virginia. My flight out went through Atlanta. Of course it did. It was on Delta (Dang, Everything Leaves Through Atlanta.) When you count in the two hour time difference, it takes all day to get from here to there.
Traveling isn’t the exciting adventure it used to be. After September 11th it became more drudgery,, but I still don’t mind it. And I was especially excited about this trip. I’m going to be managing the launch of our Richmond site. I’ve seen the blueprints, but as a people-person, I really enjoy being onsite and getting to know the people involved. It’s not truly “real” until I’ve seen it for myself. (Yeah, I should probably get over that.)
It was a great week. Our client signed off on our training rooms on Monday. We brought new trainees in on Wednesday and officially started training on Thursday. There were ups and downs, but overall, a very successful trip. My return flight was Friday afternoon.
I returned my rental car and said good bye to my coworkers. One was headed to Ohio, the other headed back to Salt Lake, but their flights were not scheduled to leave until 6:00pm.
Oh, did I mention it was Friday the 13th, AND there was a full moon and my connecting flight did NOT leave through Atlanta? Yeah, that stuff apparently was important.
As I walked in I noticed my 4:00 pm departure had been delayed to 4:30. As I walked toward my gate, I noticed a lot of cancellations. It seemed like just about every flight into New York City’s LaGuardia airport was cancelled. I wasn’t flying into LaGuardia. I was flying into New York City’s Kennedy airport.
As we were waiting our flight was pushed back another 20 minutes. I had been somewhat annoyed when our admin scheduled me for a two hour layover in New York. I was thinking I should send her a thank you card instead.
Of course there was a chance we wouldn’t make it, but I figured if they hadn’t cancelled it by this point, the odds were good we’d make it out tonight.
Finally, the suspense was broken as they called our flight. I was part of group 3, but at least I’d upgraded to a window seat with more legroom. We all crammed into the small jet and I gratefully collapsed into my seat. My plan was to sleep the entire way. I pulled out my headphones and iPod, arranged my neck pillow and waited for the chance to lean my seat back.
We taxied out onto the runway and waited for our turn to takeoff.
. . .and waited
. . .and waited
. . .and FINALLY. . .turned and taxied back to the terminal.
Air traffic control had decided it was too dangerous to fly. They were pushing our flight back to an 8:00pm departure.
We filed off the plane and got in line to reschedule. The woman in front of me was on her way to Europe to see her husband who was stationed in Germany. They’d been apart for four months. Wow. I REALLY hoped she would make it out.
Sure enough, the ticket agent assured her that her layover in NYC was long enough to catch her International flight.
You’re not going to be be able to make me as happy as you just made her.
Well, let’s see what we can do. . .Nope our flight will get to NYC too late for you to catch your connecting flight to Salt Lake. I’m afraid the best we can do is a flight tomorrow morning. It leaves at 9:00 am and connects through Minneapolis.
So, can I get a hotel voucher?
Well, since your flight was just delayed and not cancelled and it was weather related, we can’t comp the hotel. But, tell them you are a “distressed passenger” and they’ll give you a break on the price. However, I can upgrade you to First Class for both flights tomorrow.
A short cab ride later and I’m checking in at the Comfort Inn. I’m not particularly picky when it comes to hotels. It’s a bed and a TV. But, as I checked in there was a man in a hospital gown in a wheelchair at the checkin desk. His “driver?” was pointing out to him where to sign to get checked in. . .Okaaay.
I decided if I had to spend an extra day, I was going to have a GREAT dinner. My choices within walking distance were Burger King, Taco Bell or a Mexican restaurant. Not exactly 5 star fare. Oh well. It’s food.
As I came back from dinner there was a police car in front of the hotel and two cops were talking to someone on the first floor through the door. . .Okaaaay.
Anyway, all of that brought me to the airport on Saturday morning boarding a plane for Minnesota and sitting in seat 1A. And all I could think of was, I’d trade the first class seat for my rocking chair and my kids on my lap. The Minneapolis to Salt Lake flight served lunch. (I had no idea that they still served lunch in first class.) But, I would have much rather been eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with my family.
So, sure I was flying First Class, but I wasn’t happy about it.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife and thirteen children and one grandchild.
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It’s called the happiest place on earth, but my neighbor found out that in the eyes of his three kids there was someplace even better. For many families the trip to Disneyland is a pilgrimage. Often taken annually, but attendance at least once in your life is almost considered a rite of passage.
My neighbor Carl tried to take his kids every couple of years. A few years ago he loaded his family into the minivan and made the trek across the desert from Northern Utah to the Mecca of Southern California. The three days he was planning to actually spend in the park was nearly as long as the drive back and forth. So, to fill out the week, he and his wife decided to take the kids to the beach for the first couple of days. They had a great time, but the real attraction was coming up.
On the third day they headed to the land that Walt built.
My parents took my two brothers and me on a two day trip to Disneyland when I was about 12. They put my 14 year old brother Richard in charge of watching my eight year brother John and me, and then they turned us loose on the costumed characters and concession workers.
Of course, the first thing that John and I did was promptly ditch Richard on Tom Sawyer island. I knew better than to ditch John. I’d get in enough trouble for ditching my older brother. Leaving my 8 year old brother to wander alone would be too much to hope to get away with.
We ran all over the park and stood in lots of long lines for comparatively short rides. By the time we met back up at the predefined rendezvous spot, we were as exhausted as you would expect after a day of running all over the park and avoiding my brother and my parents.
As we got off the bus from our hotel on the second day my parents wisely separated me from my brothers. Richard was back in charge of John and I had permission to keep out of trouble on my own.
I tried to think what I wanted to do: Matterhorn? That line was going to be really long.
Tom Sawyer Island? I’d pretty much covered the entire island yesterday.
I kept trying to decide what attraction I’d missed or was worth the line for a second go around.
Disneyland features a horse drawn streetcar that makes a simple loop up and down Main Street. I liked horses, so I caught the street car and sat as close to the front as I could. Eventually I was seated next to the driver.
He apparently wasn’t used to twelve year old boys choosing to fore-go the speed and excitement of the signature attractions for the relaxed pace of the street car. He loved to talk and I was a good listener. I sat on the bench for hours as he gave me a history of the early days of Disneyland. He’d been hired personally by Uncle Walt. He pretty much had a job for as long as he wanted at this point.
At the end of the day I said goodby to my new friend and headed off to meet my parents and my bothers who had done another round of rides that day. I’m sure my parents were annoyed at some level that they’d blown $75 for an all day pass and all I used it for was sitting in a streetcar and talking to what was admittedly a stranger.
But, this post is titled “Better Than Disneyland.” My second day was still at Disneyland. That brings me back to my neighbor Carl and his family. As Carl and his wife Aubry shepherded their brood from ride to ride, the kids eventually got bored with standing line. They didn’t go hang out on the streetcar, instead they went one better. . .”Can we go back to the beach?”
I know Carl was somewhat annoyed. He was putting down big bucks for the full experience and here all his kids wanted to do was go back to the public beach. . .which didn’t cost a dime.
I’ve seen similar experiences in business. Corporate retreats have somewhat fallen out of favor thanks to excesses like Enron. Still, sometimes you need to get your people away from the office. Think twice before you book them through to Hawaii or Telluride, or really anywhere that you have to fly to. I’ve never found a hotel bed as comfortable as the bed at my house.
You don’t want the experience to become counterproductive. I talked before about having “Christmas Dinner In June.” Remember that if you’re the boss and you “invite” your people to an event, they will feel obligated to attend. Our department was once “invited” by my boss’s boss to attend a Christmas play. My wife was invited too, of course. Which really meant that my boss’s boss had “invited” us to get a babysitter for several hours and drive an hour each direction to Salt Lake, and fight for parking with the Christmas shoppers, for a play that he really loved.
I was relieved when I discovered that the date of the performance conflicted with previously scheduled maintenance that I had to supervise.
So, doing things for your team is great. It’s a way to build unity and show appreciation, but like my friend’s kids and my own experience, don’t assume that the only way to accomplish your goals is to spend a lot of money.
BTW, Carl took his family to Disneyland again this year and they seemed to have a great time. My parents decided once was enough for me. . .and they were right. Realize that for your teams there may be destinations that are better than Disneyland.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife and thirteen children and one grandchild.
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Rodney, Val, the VP of our Salt Lake group reported he couldn’t log in on Saturday. I told him I’d look into it.
Jeff, our reports said we were available all weekend. I’ll figure it out.
I was managing the email team at a large non-profit. We had just installed a new Microsoft Exchange email system. We tracked the availability stats very closely. As I pulled up the reports for the previous weekend, it was green all across the board. Every one of our reports showed that our systems had been up all weekend.
I pulled my engineers into a meeting.
We need to figure out why our reports show us up all weekend and Val, who I’ll remind you doesn’t trust our team anyway, couldn’t log into Outlook Web Access over the weekend.
It was true, Val and Jeff were rivals for project dollars. Jeff owned the messaging system and Val wasn’t happy that his group had to rely on our team for his messaging needs.
Like many large organizations we had technology silos. I owned messaging. One of my peers owned Networking. Another owned the Directory. While we of course had to work across multiple teams, each team maintained their own goals for availability. We each wrote our own tests and tracked our own outages.
By Tuesday afternoon my team had an answer and an explanation.
It’s not our fault.
What do you mean?
Well, Val was trying to come through the web, the OWA gateway, right?
Yeah, but the OWA gateways said they were up all weekend, so what gives?
The gateways were right. Well, our gateways were right. It was actually the web gateways, not the OWA gateways that had an issue over the weekend. So, Val’s request never even reached the OWA gateway. It was blocked at the edge.
So. . .
So it’s not our fault. Our reporting was accurate.
So you are saying we were actually up all weekend?
Sort of. . I guess.
You want me to go tell Jeff that the email system was available all weekend even though no one could access the email system?
Well, when you put it that way. . .
I don’t blame my team. They had checked the systems they had control over and found that everything within their power to fix was in fact fixed. It wasn’t really fair that they should be dinged for someone else’s failed systems. Their stuff was working and they had the reports to prove it.
But, look at it from Jeff’s point-of-view. Jeff was the CIO. The people he was talking to and reporting to weren’t engineers. They didn’t care that the edge gateways failed but the email gateways were up and running. All they cared about was that they couldn’t use email over the weekend.
So, what do you think? Were my system up or not?
To answer that, you have to consider what my systems were designed for. Were they designed to run availability tests. . .or were they designed to deliver email services?
No. We were NOT up over the weekend. I want you to find out from the network guys when their systems were down. Then, I’ll update our reports to reflect our outage.
Wait, but we weren’t out. It was networks.
Tell me, could our customers get to email over the weekend?
. . .
Nope. We were down. The problem was we didn’t even know it. So, I also want you to work with the network team to modify our OWA gateway availability tests so we know the next time we are down.
Okay. What are you going to do?
I’m going to go talk to the network team lead and find out why he kept our customers from access email over the weekend.
If your customers can’t get to your services it’s your problem. . .even if it’s not your fault.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife and thirteen children and one grandchild.
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What do you need boys?
Poppie, what do you got?
I got what you need. I got two. . .lower bowl. . .third base side. Face value is $39.
What do you want for them?
I was hoping for $40.
For both?
No, man. Why you do that to me? I was hoping to get $40 each.
What are you trying to do to us? There have already been two rain delays. Already third inning? They might not even play tonight.
Ever bought a scalped ticket? It’s an interesting experience. My friend Manny was an expert at it. He looked looked like he and “Poppie” might be at it a long time. I was pretty sure when we got done, the scalper wasn’t going to get “$40 each.”
I was in the San Francisco Bay on business. My meeting on the American River ended early. If I hurried, I figured I could make it by the top of the 3rd. I pulled into the AT&T ballpark parking lot, and realized it was a perfect day for baseball. I wasn’t halfway across the parking lot before he made me.
Yo, bro. Whaccu need?
What have you got?
I got a single. Upper deck. Twelve dollar face, but I’ll let you have it for $9.
Interestingly, this wasn’t a great seat. He was serious, it was upper deck. . bench seating. Oh, but the view was fantastic. I was straight behind home plate, and I had an awesome view of McCovey cove.
What made the Giants’ ballpark exciting was two things. First, as you walk into the park you are greeted by a huge wall that bears a “famous” quote. Not really famous since it’s not a real quote.
(Photo Credit: 30 In 38 Blogspot)
Ray. People will come, Ray. . . for reasons they can’t even explain. They’ll walk out to the bleachers; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They’ll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they’ll watch the game and it’ll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they’ll have to brush them away from their faces. This field. This game. It’s part of our past. It reminds us of all that was once good and it could be again. Oh people will come.
People will most definitely come.
The second great part of the visit was the company. Who goes to a midweek game? Real baseball fans, that’s who. The family I sat next to was three generations of baseball fans. The youngest was a boy of about 7 years old. His dad was an enthusiastic fan, but his grandfather was a veritable walking history book of Giants trivia. It was the most enjoyable three hours I’d had in a long time.
My friend Manny finally settled at $20 per ticket. He could have probably gotten Poppie to go lower, but I asked him to take the deal.
(Photo credit: Manny Sosa)
I’m not sure if scalping tickets is illegal. I’m not sure if it should be illegal, but I’m glad I got to keep tickets from being wasted.
Yes, people will most definitely come.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife and thirteen children and one grandchild.
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or email him at rbliss at msn dot com
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Let me add slightly more bitters. Now what does it taste like?
I’m still not sure. Can’t you give me a hint?
Let me add a couple more drops of bitters and I think you can get it.
The bartender really wanted me to guess what drink he was concocting. My wife and I were sitting in the bar at Robert Redford’s ski resort, Sundance. Neither one of us drinks, and we don’t normally go to bars.
But, we were waiting for our table to be ready in the Tree Room restaurant, and preferred to sit at the bar. It was kind of slow and he offered to create a custom drink for us. I was having a terrible time trying to guess.
One of the fun things about large cities are street musicians. I’ve always enjoyed live performances. Like the cracks and pops that you get from a vinyl record, I enjoy the slight imperfections and rawness of a live performance.
A couple years ago there was a story about a violinist who performed one day in a New York subway station. The violinist was good, but the tune was unfamiliar to most of the people rushing on and off the trains. Several people tossed a few dollars into his violin case, but most people simply ignored him.
The violinist wasn’t just good, he was better than good. In fact, he was Joshua Bell, one of the finest musicians in the world, playing on a $3.5M violin. He had recently played to a sold out show in Boston. Tickets were hundreds of dollars but hard to come by. The unfamiliar piece he was playing was by Bach and was one of the most technically difficult pieces ever written. Very few people could even attempt it, let alone play it from memory in the middle of a crowded subway station.
So, why didn’t people recognize him? Why did the New York subway riders not appreciate him? Initial reaction to this story was to be horrified at the lack of cultural awareness of the ignorant Americans.
I think that reaction is misguided.
One final example. The great actor Jack Lemmon made a movie decades ago where he played a low level employee in a major corporation. In an early movie version of under cover boss, the elderly owner decides to go to work as a janitor in his own company. He gets invited to a party with and tasked with bringing the wine. He asks his wine steward to retrieve the most expensive bottle of in his extensive wine cellar.
Only twenty four bottles were made sir. You bought twelve and the Royal Family bought the other twelve. The undercover janitor shows up at the party with a bottle of wine that cost more than his coworkers combined annual salary.
Guess what his coworkers thought of the wine
This is awful!
Boy did YOU get taken!
They really saw you coming.
And his coworkers take this nearly priceless bottle of wine and pour it out on the sand.
Why?
Why did I not recognize ginger ale? Why did no one recognize a virtuoso in the. New York subway? Why did the pic nic goers not recognize the fantastic wine?
Context.
When we lose the context of a situation or a person, it’s hard for us to place that person. This happens in business of course. It’s why people have such a hard time being promoted in their own team. Once someone decides that “You’re just not technical enough,” or “You aren’t really management material,” it’s nearly impossible to overcome that perception.
So, don’t be too quick to dismiss an idea because it comes from the mailroom. Don’t assume that the person working as an administrative assistant doesn’t have the potential to move up.
Oh, and if the bartender offers you a virgin drink made of Sprite and bitters. . .it’s probably ginger ale.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife and thirteen children and one grandchild.
Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com