Whenever you get a chance, no rush

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Redhawks83@reddit

I had a user tell me this and then call 10 minutes later to ask what I'd found. I once told this same user to hold her power button in and count to 6 and her PC would shut off. When it didn't, I walked down, gave the button a push and 6 seconds later the PC was off. I looked at her and said, "count to 6 for me" ... And she said "onetwothreefourfivesix." I told her if she counted that fast she had to count to a million. (That was all my fault ... I should have said six, or even better, 10 seconds.)

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narcissisadmin@reddit

"Hold the power button down until the PC turns off..."

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Valkeyere@reddit

I normally use: "Can i get you to hold the power button down for me. Keep holding until you see the light die in its eyes. Okay now Turn it back on for me" Usually gets me a chuckle.

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Reedy_Whisper_45@reddit

I tell them this, then tell them it could be as little as 5 seconds and as much as a minute. Depends on the device. Then discuss the vagaries of PC manufacturers.... Oh, look. It's off.

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Frothyleet@reddit

You figured that she would infer "I need to hold this for 6 seconds" from your request. But you were ambiguous, and the user decided to infer "The issue is resolved as a result of me counting, and I sure don't want to wait, so I'm gonna count fast"

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Grouchy-Western-5757@reddit (OP)

Yeah I was about to say, should have just said 10😂 Too exact

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ImmediateLobster1@reddit

As a former IT guy, now someone who occasionally needs help from IT, when I say this, I mean that I don't have a particular deadline waiting on my request. When I don't create fake emergencies, people I rely on take me seriously when real emergencies happen. If my request has a time-critical element, or some implied urgency, I'll state it. Examples include: "vendor X is here to fix $important_production_machine, they need to download some drivers and their hotspot gets poor signal, can you give them temp access to the WiFi?" "I have a new hire that will need a laptop with a standard image. We're interviewing now, hoping to onboard on the 18th, can we get one by then?"

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Klutzy_Possibility54@reddit

Agreed. When I say this I generally mean it to be a concise way of saying "I need something from you and I am telling you upfront that it's not so urgent that you need to drop everything and do it right now, please work it into your schedule when you are reasonably able to make time." There's no secret double meaning or anything, but there is some trust that they'll understand that I need something from them without giving them a hard deadline and will use some judgment on how quickly it needs to be done compared to the rest of their work (and in my experience, most people are actually pretty good about that).

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PlumpoLumpo@reddit

Hold on, are you saying it's NOT illegal to give IT advance notice when hiring new positions?

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siltonpaul@reddit

This shit drives me insane. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten this message: “Hey guys, John Doe our new employee is here, can you please come up asap to get him setup” This is the first time I’ve ever heard of this person and have no idea what they need access to, what equipment they need, etc, yet they need assistance ASAP. Just insane.

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stonecoldcoldstone@reddit

all that needs to happen is someone having some backbone to say "well no one informed us, the automated account creation takes 48 hours and we have to source a laptop. I guess the new hire will be reading paper copies of policies and procedures for the next couple days"

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syntaxerror53@reddit

And then the MBA overrides it all and says it gotta be done NOW!! Like there is literally no free desktops available, and the network team have finished for the week and we don't know if there are any spare phones available. And its 16:59 on a Friday, and finish at 17:00.

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stonecoldcoldstone@reddit

let them have a chat with finance for expedited procurement

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fys4@reddit

"Tough, I've tried clicking my heels together but no laptop appeared. Next time, give us advance notice" If they get what they want by being unorganised they have no incentive to change

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davidbrit2@reddit

Troubleshooting steps: Already attempted wishing in one hand, shitting in the other still pending resource availability

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siltonpaul@reddit

You’re preaching to the crowd. I’ve tried, and it falls of deaf ears. If it were up to me, this would be the process.

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stonecoldcoldstone@reddit

keeping your cool and not breaking into stress is part of it "can you have a look for a device in storage?" - "sure" *opens spreadsheet with asset register, takes sip of coffee* "don't have anything in storage, the last device broke when Steve slipped on the ungritted parking lot and landed on the laptop, of which the repair is being delayed by me looking for nonexistent devices" Of course you pick your battles but nothing is as effective as a hard NO

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maglax@reddit

Personally, I loved getting " hey, we have a new hire class of 20 starting next week, and then again week two weeks after that. Please be ready for this." No matter how many times I don't have the laptop stock for it, nor the time to drop everything else I need to do for the next month to rush this stuff out, it was always somehow a business emergency and that there is no possible way for me to have any earlier notice.

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Asleep-Bother-8247@reddit

"What do you mean you haven't set up a desk for the new hire? No I never sent a ticket to have a desk set up for them!"

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Ubera90@reddit

In my experience we get post-notice. Hey, we hired this guy a few days ago, he needs a laptop so please get this sorted as it's extremely urgent he's able to start working

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alwaysdnsforver@reddit

or my favorite. "What's john doe's login and email?" me: who??

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ImmediateLobster1@reddit

Oh shit... I've said too much.

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Meowmixalotlol@reddit

Wait you full the ticket with actual info? It’s just supposed to say “do the needful”

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IllegalButHonest@reddit

Wdym. I always take everything seriously emergency or not. I might gripe about it if its not really serious but when they ask I have to lock in. I thought everyone was like this, we do what we are told by our superiors. What I do like is when they give me a time lie " I want this done by x date ". As it should be. None of this guesswork. Thats what I usually do when I am communicating back to neone.

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Levhappy@reddit

Honestly, when people tell me that, I️ actually want to help them more. I’ll prioritize their issue lol

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TertiaryUnimatrix@reddit

Exactly, with ASAP demands losing priority.

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Robeleader@reddit

"It's URGENT" "Ahh, but I'm busy at the moment..."

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VexingRaven@reddit

"When you get a chance" means I'll finish what I'm doing it and do it, probably. "It's urgent" means I'm going to tell them to go bug someone else because I don't have immediately availability for them.

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syntaxerror53@reddit

......and you are number 17th in the Urgent, need it done now, Queue. We will respond to your request as soon as possible.

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Robeleader@reddit

> as soon as possible. Tomorrow maybe.

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syntaxerror53@reddit

"Day after tomorrow" or "Tomorrow never comes" as some people say

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ThrowRAcc1097@reddit

Totally agreed

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nealfive@reddit

Nah whenever someone says that it get to the bottom of my queue. Sorry not sorry

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Unable-Entrance3110@reddit

Yeah, for me, that translates to "It's not important to you so it's not important to me"

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Unable-Entrance3110@reddit

"Did you get my e-mail?" -Person standing behind you 2 minutes after they sent said e-mail

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IllegalButHonest@reddit

I always give time frame or ask for one. None of this guesswork shit. I take every task seriously, lock in do the work and then bitch and moan after.

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Continuum_Design@reddit

Dates and times or it’s not happening.

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Jeff-J777@reddit

That translates for me, I can put this task on my back burner list. Three weeks later User: how is it coming along I need it by next week. Me: Well, you said when I get a chance, you did not give me any time for when this needed to be done so it went to my when I get time list. User: I need it next week. Me: Oh well. If you don't give me a time frame its not my fault.

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Frothyleet@reddit

>If you don't give me a time frame its not my fault. If you want to actually be successful from a soft skills perspective, if someone gives you a request without an explicit timeframe, you'll learn to press them and find out what their actual expectations are.

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Jeff-J777@reddit

OH trust me they get asked all the time. After our conversation of what needs to be done the next this is when does this need to be completed by. I always ask because sometimes their timeframe of when it needs to be done might not be realistic or I could be swapped and might need to rearrange my priorities or tasks. But after I ask the timeframe question if I get a response of when you get around to it, well then, I will get it when I get around to it. Do 70% of the requests get done in a reasonable time, yes. The other 30% well I had more urger things to do.

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Hg-203@reddit

Honestly I do this with other peers a lot, and them to me. It’s usually a mild annoyance that I can put up with. A few months later I follow up, it’s an oh crap that fell off the queue. If there’s time then fix it now, or if not it goes back onto the back of the queue to fall off again. My peers and I know if it’s urgent we say so. If not then “when you get a chance”. Like all things, it’s about building relationships and trusting each other.

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Noyan_Bey@reddit

You're fired. Now get the hell outta my office!

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Jeff-J777@reddit

For me my bosses boss told users, if you told him whenever that is on you. If you two agreed on a time frame, then it is on me. I am at least lucky to have higher ups who have my back.

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N945LA@reddit

There’s no pleasing you sysadmins is there

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infinitepizzapockets@reddit

Nah fam. No rush is no rush tf is this manipulative bs lol

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hivemind_MVGC@reddit

** points at his flair **

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Altusbc@reddit

>Whenever you get a chance, no rush. That is just another tiresome way of saying "have time for a quick question?"

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MyThinkerThoughts@reddit

Take your time but hurry up

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hkzqgfswavvukwsw@reddit

The choice is yours don’t be late

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kubrador@reddit

whenever you get a chance no rush = i'm about to walk away and come back in 3 minutes expecting it done

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noc-engineer@reddit

I said this (and meant it) a few years ago (we have separate organizations for operational and administrative IT, so we sometimes have to make tickets to our less-critical collegues) and that ticket hasn't been updated in 9 months (when my boss tried to get it pushed through after we had already waited 6 months). Our Roborock vacuum in the contingency NOC is still wifi-less (and for some fucked up reason it won't do scheduled cleaning without WiFi)..

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Common_Reference_507@reddit

Now you'll need two tickets. One for the issue, the other for approaching me. Those will be auto assigned to my boss for delegation. Your queue status will depend on how you crawl away. You may say thank you now.

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Secret_Account07@reddit

Na I say that when there’s something that needs to get done but whenever. But you’re right, many ppl mean it differently. They are trying to be polite despite the polite thing to do would be to chill.

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DB-CooperOnTheBeach@reddit

I say this all the time and I mean it. Then I thank them when they get to it on their terms. That's me delegating to juniors and less seniors to get something done that isn't urgent.

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mister_spunk@reddit

>Translated means: Do it right now, right away, while I'm standing behind you. You should really take people at their word when they say 'no rush'. Making this assumption that they're lying to you is going to speed up the burnout and disdain you'll eventually get for users.

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