End Users

It never fails. Every day at least one person accuses me of "standing in their way" and "stopping them from doing their job". What they don't understand is that it's my JOB to get in their way. The tools and devices I manage are DESIGNED to stop certain things from happening until requested, justified, approved and implemented. Sadly though, end users are incapable of understanding the larger picture. They expect the Internet to be as open to them at work as it is from their virus-laden, bot-net participating, busted ass home PC. When they hit a block to a restricted category they immediately start the accusations and bitching and whining. When I see their little rant-fest this is the only image of them that comes to mind

Waaaaaaaa I can't hit Facebook!!!

You're stopping me from doing my job!!!!!!

Some users go to extreme detail explaining to me what Facebook is. They explain it like I've never even heard of it. They detail why its important to the company and why they need access "to contact customers" or "get important contact information". Yet many times, the URL captured by the block page (yes we see EVERYTHING you morons) is a link to the Farmville Facebook App or some other useless Facebook GAME. They actually think we're stupid and can't see what they were doing when they got blocked. One mental giant actually accused us of "holding up Millions of dollars of potential revenue" because he couldn't get to Facebook. He got his access but I'm still waiting to hear about the "Millions of dollars" he was going to bring into the company.

Facebook and Social Networking is the New Frontier for businesses these days. In the current social environment, a business that isn't on Facebook or Twitter is really missing out on many customer service opportunities. Society, via the Internet and Social Networking, has evolved to a state of instant news and information and people expect more from the companies they choose to do business with. Companies that once ignored and banned access to Social Networking are now beginning to embrace it so they can take advantage of those opportunities. This is a good thing. Its about time that businesses caught up and figured out what us geeks have known about for years. Just don't go around acting like its the only reason you have for being in your position and the world will end if you can't get to Myspace. Your screaming little rant-fest just makes me laugh and gets you pushed to the bottom of the queue.

Be nice or be last