Excrutiating experience...
So yesterday I was compiling information regarding one of the water scheme we're implementing so that we can meet our minimum admiistrative requirements. One thing we needed was AutoCAD designs with technical specifications. So off me and my colleague go to the government office the other side of town, only to find it empty. After waiting around for 30 mins for the officials to come back we eventually went looking for them and found them in the coffee shop. So we sit and drink with them while they natter on, and finally we persuade them to go back to the office and give us what we need.
So the lady boots up her computer and sits there opening, zooming, closing, re-opening, rezooming and re-closing the same file over and over, whilst chatting to my colleague. She didn't actually change the file at all, just messed about with it. Finally after having read every map and poster on the wall I turn around to see her remove the CD from the computer, and we head back to the office.
5 minutes after we arrive, Semachew comes to me and says "The files aren't on the CD!". Irritated I check it out and sure enough they aren't. On the other hand, there are some other files. I take a look at the box... CD-R. "Tell me Semachew, did this CD have data on them before we left?"... obviously the answer was yes. So we go back to the government office with a fresh CD and go through pretty much the same rigmorral as before with opening and closing. By this time most of my day is gone and I can feel the admin piling up on my desk.
So we get back and again 5 minutes later Semachew comes in to my office and hands me the disk... The files weren't there... AGAIN! So... after lunch, we go BACK to the water office and this time I sit and watch the lady's every move (yes, including more opening, zooming and closing). Finally, she goes to the folder we need, copies and pastes it onto the CD... *facepalm* To her credit, it appeared in the queue to be burnt, and I assumed she was going to click burn, but then she removed the CD *re-facepalm*. So I explain why that didn't work and after narrowly averting an argument I take over the keyboard. Ah, at least now I can do it quickly and efficiently I think to myself. So after setting it up, I click burn... there was no CD burner in the fecking computer...
So I ask Semachew if he has his USB key, and of course he doesn't. By this time it's 4pm which for some reason means that the lady was going home, and since we've taken so much of her time can we give her a lift home...
Next Day:
We go bright and early with Semachew's USB key and again the office is empty (at 8.45am). We find the lady in the coffee shop again, and plead with her to come back to the office. After succesfully transferring the files (in a matter of seconds) we triumphantly head back to the office.
Another 5 minutes later Semachew walks through my door and says, I can't see it on my computer, you try *inserts USB before I can yelp*. Indeed. No possible access to the USB key. Looking up the symptoms I find it's a virus called Removable Disk.exe... and now I have it. Thanks Semachew! On his way out I ask him if they can't just email it to us? But as you would expect of a government office... they don't have email.
Result: 1.5 days wasted, 1 virus, no files, high blood pressure.
So the lady boots up her computer and sits there opening, zooming, closing, re-opening, rezooming and re-closing the same file over and over, whilst chatting to my colleague. She didn't actually change the file at all, just messed about with it. Finally after having read every map and poster on the wall I turn around to see her remove the CD from the computer, and we head back to the office.
5 minutes after we arrive, Semachew comes to me and says "The files aren't on the CD!". Irritated I check it out and sure enough they aren't. On the other hand, there are some other files. I take a look at the box... CD-R. "Tell me Semachew, did this CD have data on them before we left?"... obviously the answer was yes. So we go back to the government office with a fresh CD and go through pretty much the same rigmorral as before with opening and closing. By this time most of my day is gone and I can feel the admin piling up on my desk.
So we get back and again 5 minutes later Semachew comes in to my office and hands me the disk... The files weren't there... AGAIN! So... after lunch, we go BACK to the water office and this time I sit and watch the lady's every move (yes, including more opening, zooming and closing). Finally, she goes to the folder we need, copies and pastes it onto the CD... *facepalm* To her credit, it appeared in the queue to be burnt, and I assumed she was going to click burn, but then she removed the CD *re-facepalm*. So I explain why that didn't work and after narrowly averting an argument I take over the keyboard. Ah, at least now I can do it quickly and efficiently I think to myself. So after setting it up, I click burn... there was no CD burner in the fecking computer...
So I ask Semachew if he has his USB key, and of course he doesn't. By this time it's 4pm which for some reason means that the lady was going home, and since we've taken so much of her time can we give her a lift home...
Next Day:
We go bright and early with Semachew's USB key and again the office is empty (at 8.45am). We find the lady in the coffee shop again, and plead with her to come back to the office. After succesfully transferring the files (in a matter of seconds) we triumphantly head back to the office.
Another 5 minutes later Semachew walks through my door and says, I can't see it on my computer, you try *inserts USB before I can yelp*. Indeed. No possible access to the USB key. Looking up the symptoms I find it's a virus called Removable Disk.exe... and now I have it. Thanks Semachew! On his way out I ask him if they can't just email it to us? But as you would expect of a government office... they don't have email.
Result: 1.5 days wasted, 1 virus, no files, high blood pressure.