It's not even noon yet and I'm ready to go home

First problem of the day: an e-mail message was bounced because it exceeded the maximum message size limit. The user complaining about this has had this problem regularly for the last few years now. I've never changed the limit. And somehow, it's always my fault^[1].

Second problem of the day: A printer needed a new part, so I called the supplier yesterday. "I need to order a new black photoconductor unit," I say. "You're under contract!" the phone rep tells me. "A repair tech will be out to deliver a new part in the next day or two." OK. This morning, I get a phone call from the director of the department who owns the printer. "I got this voicemail from this guy about a printer and something about not coming out," she stammers. Eventually, I get her to forward the voicemail to me. It's from the repair tech (who should have just left it on my extension, but whatever), telling me that he can't deliver parts unless the machine is nonfunctional. OK. The rep made a mistake. So I call again today. "I need to order a new black photoconductor unit," I say. What does the rep say? "You're under contract!"

Yes, I explained the situation to her. No, I don't think I'll ever get the part I need.

Third problem of the day: A woman from upstairs calls me. She wants me to "oil the third floor printer". Couple of things wrong with this statement: a) there are plenty of printers of the third floor, and b) did you say "oil"? She had to repeat herself for me it was such an unusual request. Apparently, the printer is making a squeaking sound, and she thinks that some oil would fix it.

This upsets me, since it implies that a) I just happen to have a can of oil sitting around that I can douse on anything that might start making noise and b) oil is a perfectly normal thing to squirt haphazardly into a laserjet printer that cost more than your life is worth.

Yeah, I can place a service call, but that's not the point. The point is that this woman's first thought was "Squeaking? Needs oil." And her second thought was "I should have Toby do that." Neither thought seems so absurd to her that it kept her from picking up the phone and asking me to do it for her. Twice.

1. "Where do sysadmins rank as a profession? Apparently held in considerably lesser regard than building maintenance, because no one goes complaining to the janitors saying that it's the janitors' fault that they can't manage to throw garbage into their garbage bin from across the room." — alt.sysadmin.recovery FAQ section 2.3.