Client defended engineer after oil baron-turned tech support entrepreneur lied about dodgy dealings
Reputations earned over years of service can work wonders
On Call Welcome once again to On Call, The Register's weekly reader-contributed column that shares your stories from the frontlines of tech support.
This week, meet a reader who asked to be Regomized as "Xander" and shared a story from his time as chief engineer of a managed services provider in the US southwest.
Xander had served in that role for nine years when a chap named Randy, who'd previously managed an oil company, acquired the company at which he worked.
Despite the oil and managed services industries having little in common, Randy declared he knew how to turn the business into a gusher – by running it the same way he ran his oil business.
"He had delusions of grandeur," Xander told On Call, and Randy soon proclaimed he was "going to turn the company into a multi-million dollar organization."
Within a few months, Randy's growth strategy revealed itself when a customer checked an invoice and noticed the service provider had sold it substandard equipment at a premium price.
"The customer confronted Randy, who denied doing anything wrong and said the error was my doing," Xander told On Call.
Thankfully, Xander had worked with this customer for seven years, and built strong rapport.
"The client instantly knew Randy was lying," Xander told On Call, leaving the customer vastly unimpressed and the oilman looking like a snake oil salesman.
- Don't shoot me, I'm only the system administrator!
- Techie traveled 4 hours to fix software that worked perfectly until a new hire used it
- User demanded a ‘wireless’ computer and was outraged when its battery died
- Techie traced cables from basement to maternity ward and onto a roof, before a car crash revealed the problem
Randy continued lying and cheating. Xander felt he had no option but to leave the business. He kept an eye on the company and learned it collapsed a year later, before being acquired by a tech services company that turned it around within a few months, then grew it to become the multi-million dollar powerhouse Randy imagined he could create.
"It goes to show that the same mentality that works in the oilfields does not work on the IT world," Xander observed, before musing "I'm still scared by the thought of what Randy did on the oil fields."
Has new management made your life miserable? Get your experience of corporate double-crosses off your chest by clicking here to send email to On Call. ®
Biting the hand that feeds IT
