We all have war stories

Every Technology Director, Coordinator, Facilitator whatever the title du jour is at the moment has several 'best of' war stories. A different post will be about the titles we have.

So I figured that I would get the ball rolling and put one of my all time favorites (even though it is less than six months old).

Please keep the momentum and post up one of your favorites.

Faculty member calls up and says that they need their laptop replaced because it is broken. We go take a look at it and see that the chassis is cracked right down the middle. Unusual. We ask how it happened and the staff member says that they were using the laptop as a door stop to keep the door closed. A person wanted in the office and kept pushing on the door until the laptop broke and the person gained entry.

Tells us the story with a strait face like this must happen all the time in our world of hardware support. Then when finished with the story they demand that a new laptop be given to them asap because they cannot complete their job without one. Again said with a straight face.

So here is the dilemma I had with the situation:

In the back of my mind I know that we purchase all laptops with CompleteCare damage warranties so I know that it CAN be replaced (for any reason including this one) but SHOULD it be replaced? If the faculty member placed a stack of 10 $100 bills in front of the door and the money was suddenly missing is the district responsible to replace the lost money? If we replace the laptop easily will be faculty member do it again? Becasue I was still beside myself with processing the story at the moment, I took the broken laptop back to the Tech Office and invoked my 24 hour rule. Let the situation settle in and do not take any action or decision on it for at least 24 hours.

End result. Called in laptop under warranty to company. Company sends new (refurb) laptop to me and I place broken unit in box and send back to company. I take new laptop to faculty member and tape a copy of employee Acceptable Use Policy on top highlighting the section about destruction of property and equipment.

First Post - Thoughts for the Week

This week was all about the budget for next year.