Things IT and Helpdesk People Really Should Know
Things IT and Helpdesk People Really Should Know, #152: You cannot have apostrophes in e-mail addresses.
So we had a call regarding a user (whose name has an apostrophe in it) who hasn't been receiving e-mail reports from one of the systems we use. Posting this call to the third-party help-desk, we get the following call. Condensed to reduce dialogue ("Them" being the third-party help-desk, "Us" being, at separate times, my co-worker and myself), translated from French, all the stupidity retained:
Them: "We looked into it, and the problem's with your mail server. When we send out the e-mail, it gets rejected."
Us: "Really? He's had this e-mail address for a while now, and nobody else has a problem with it."
Them: "I personally tried sending him an e-mail, and it doesn't work."
Us: "What address are you sending it to?"
Them: "Your policy tends to be 'lastname@[company],' so I tried that ten minutes. It gives us a Deliverance Failure."
Us: "Could you spell it out for us?"
Them: "[starts spelling out name letter by letter, including]-apostrophe-[continues spelling out name]--"
Us: "You can't put an apostrophe in an e-mail address."
Them: "...there's one there."
Us: "In the e-mail?"
Them: "In the e-mail."
Us: "And so all the reports are being sent to the address with an apostrophe?"
Them: "Yes."
Us: "You can't have an apostrophe in an e-mail."
Them: "I thought that was weird."
Leading us to Things IT and Helpdesk People Really Should Know, #153: Learn basic logic.
Us: "So, can you change the address?"
Them: "No, you need to do that."
Us: "What processes do we need to modify the e-mail address?"
Them: "I don't know. Ask your IT department."
Us: "We ARE the IT department."
Them: "Well, you need to reconfigure the e-mail address on the server."
Us: "...I don't think you understand. We want to change the destination address on the e-mails YOUR system is sending out."
Them: "Okay, okay, we'll look into it and call you back."
Hours later, they call back:
Them: "Look, you need to change your e-mail address to one that doesn't have an apostrophe in it."
Us: HEAD. DESK. FLOOR. "No, we are not asking you to administrate our e-mail servers. Lemme spell it out for you. YOU are sending US e-mails, but YOUR e-mails are being addressed incorrectly. Is there a place where WE can change the e-mails that YOU are sending them?"
Them: "Okay, I think we get it now."
Did it ever occur to them that if the problem is that they're trying to send an e-mail to an address that not only doesn't exist, but CANNOT exist, that the solution isn't for us to change an impossible e-mail account?
Normally these people are on the ball and are pretty good to deal with, but I think they woke up with their "I'm with stupid" shirts pointing upward today.
So we had a call regarding a user (whose name has an apostrophe in it) who hasn't been receiving e-mail reports from one of the systems we use. Posting this call to the third-party help-desk, we get the following call. Condensed to reduce dialogue ("Them" being the third-party help-desk, "Us" being, at separate times, my co-worker and myself), translated from French, all the stupidity retained:
Them: "We looked into it, and the problem's with your mail server. When we send out the e-mail, it gets rejected."
Us: "Really? He's had this e-mail address for a while now, and nobody else has a problem with it."
Them: "I personally tried sending him an e-mail, and it doesn't work."
Us: "What address are you sending it to?"
Them: "Your policy tends to be 'lastname@[company],' so I tried that ten minutes. It gives us a Deliverance Failure."
Us: "Could you spell it out for us?"
Them: "[starts spelling out name letter by letter, including]-apostrophe-[continues spelling out name]--"
Us: "You can't put an apostrophe in an e-mail address."
Them: "...there's one there."
Us: "In the e-mail?"
Them: "In the e-mail."
Us: "And so all the reports are being sent to the address with an apostrophe?"
Them: "Yes."
Us: "You can't have an apostrophe in an e-mail."
Them: "I thought that was weird."
Leading us to Things IT and Helpdesk People Really Should Know, #153: Learn basic logic.
Us: "So, can you change the address?"
Them: "No, you need to do that."
Us: "What processes do we need to modify the e-mail address?"
Them: "I don't know. Ask your IT department."
Us: "We ARE the IT department."
Them: "Well, you need to reconfigure the e-mail address on the server."
Us: "...I don't think you understand. We want to change the destination address on the e-mails YOUR system is sending out."
Them: "Okay, okay, we'll look into it and call you back."
Hours later, they call back:
Them: "Look, you need to change your e-mail address to one that doesn't have an apostrophe in it."
Us: HEAD. DESK. FLOOR. "No, we are not asking you to administrate our e-mail servers. Lemme spell it out for you. YOU are sending US e-mails, but YOUR e-mails are being addressed incorrectly. Is there a place where WE can change the e-mails that YOU are sending them?"
Them: "Okay, I think we get it now."
Did it ever occur to them that if the problem is that they're trying to send an e-mail to an address that not only doesn't exist, but CANNOT exist, that the solution isn't for us to change an impossible e-mail account?
Normally these people are on the ball and are pretty good to deal with, but I think they woke up with their "I'm with stupid" shirts pointing upward today.