The miracles of modern technology...

I am not IT. I have never been, nor will I ever be a computer expert. But there is one thing I know, and that is the basic concept of a network connection. In my company you can have two email profiles - one for your branch and one for the main corporate entity. Because of server limitations on this campus that inhibit certain types of calendar sharing, most people have shifted to having their branch email refer directly to their corporate email so that Outlook's calendaring functions can be fully utilized. That means that almost everyone's main email accounts are connected to the corporate network, which stores the data from a server located at the headquarters in another city. The server "hiccups" several times a week, which causes Outlook to essentially go offline, sometimes for as little as a couple of minutes although it has in the past been down for days at a time. Even though these events happen quite often - and have since I can remember - the connection problem causes some kind of mass panic every single time. So I just had the following conversation:

*General rabble from the HR warrens about having trouble accessing email and contacting our campus IT to fix it*

Me, stepping out into the hall and addressing the receptionist: "The server is down. Our IT can't fix it - it's not their server".

HR manager, looking confused: "What does that mean?"

Me: "The server for the corporate email is physically located at headquarters. They'll restore the connection once they realize it is down. Our IT can't do it."

HR manager, still obviously confused: "Oh"

No sooner than I step back into my office than the phone rings. When I answer it, I am told - not asked politely, but ordered - by a member of the support staff to open my email. When I politely explain that I cannot because the server is down, I get grilled on why and how and within the span of about five minutes, I have explained twice how the connection to the server glitches and people can call corporate to complain if they want, but our IT here is powerless to do a thing. I'm sure this will not be the last time I have to explain that to someone.

I'm sitting here listen to someone who makes a considerable amount more than I do with a nice sounding title complain to HR about how overworked they are and they don't have time to do this and that...my new boss has already begun giving me work that this person is "too busy" to do. Like faxes to request to set up a new account that would take less than a minute to send. Once it is faxed it gets taken care of by corporate in a matter of days - if the information on the form is correct. It wasn't, which I spotted as soon as I saw it. But because for whatever reason people who get paid to know about these little details don't bother, it took a number of days of me taking the time to make phone calls back and forth to get it straight. There are rumors flying around that people are getting raises. The gossip is being perpetuated by the people supposedly getting said raises, who have supposedly been informed by their bosses. One of them is my former boss's assistant, who is also getting new furniture, chair and computer, and got employee of the month for "answering the phones". I'm being told by my new boss that without a degree, no matter the level of work I'm willing to do, her hands are tied. "The system" won't allow a promotion or a pay increase as compensation. Ooookay. So my motivation to take on more is what exactly, when others are seemingly going to be compensated for basically just bothering to show up every day? And she's baaaack. The boss's old assistant has an appointment scheduled with him this afternoon. I wonder what deals she's got up her sleeve this time around...

The HR manager just announced that she got her email back. Oh thank GOD! I can relax knowing that parties will be planned and meaningless morale initiatives will be organized.