contributed by the_highwayman
At last the banging stopped, and the field tech came back on the line, told us he’s finished, and asked if everything was all set on our end even as audible alarms were going off behind him. After he turned off the alarms, we asked him what the loud banging sound was, not actually sure we wanted to know the answer. He calmly and proudly told us that the cards would not go in properly so he had grabbed his ball ping hammer and “got’em in real good!” Not just one, but both of them. Now, there is usually a right tool for a job, and there are wrong tools, and knowing which is which when dealing with this kind of equipment is what being a tech is all about. But a ball ping hammer is in an entirely different class of wrong.
Of course, both the cards and router chassis were a total loss – and these aren’t cheap, and the field tech’s supervisor wasn’t happy about the 2am call. Interestingly, one of the replacement routers managed to execute a perfect foot stomp on the field tech when he went to installed. I guess it had heard what happened – whoever said there was no intelligence in routing. I never heard back from that field tech again after that. I hope he landed somewhere safe, somewhere he can go nuts with tape, maybe even a stapler. Supervised of course.
Tales from the Field will hopefully be a recurring segment on this blog, offering a voice to the folks who install the gear, flip the switches, and do all the real work holding the internet together that we don’t hear about in the press. Do you have a story from the field to share? Contact me
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Categories: Datacenter · Guest Posts · Tech Stories
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Sort of reminds me of my early training as a pipe-fitter. It all boiled down to two things you had to remember.
1) Shit flows down hill.
2) Don’t work with your mouth open.