Okay, so I try to avoid doing this, because I know my problems are petty compared to those of most everyone.
However, I'm going to rant a little here on how irritating some aspects of 'corporate' pisses me off.
Feb 2010, my laptop, Dell D820, took a dive. Since day one, its blue screened, errored and other issues. We replaced nearly every part. Back to Feb 2010, it completely wiped out everything. Well, I did. It would not start up at all, no matter what we did. I took the majority of my files and rebuild the computer, software wise. It took me over two weeks.
I contacted my manager at the time, Jeff, told him of the issue. He says we're not issuing new laptops, we're recycling the ones from staff reductions. Help Desk says they are prepping me a different Dell D820. It took them three weeks ...THREE FUCKING WEEKS, to get it to me and it was NOT set up at all! It didn't even have visual studio on it.
Keep in mind, at the time I was the ONLY person supporting the entire Green Bay plant's internal software. Three of those programs were running off VB6. I need that program to support the plant in case of any issues or changes. I had a Visual Studio 6 install CD, they took it and sent it to Greeley, CO. So I asked them if they can send me an ISO on the share drive or if they can copy the CD and send it to me. They COULDN'T FIND THE DAMN DISC THEY TOOK! I, pissed off decided to use my College edition until they found it. (btw, they still haven't found it).
So after my laptop died, and they said they'd send me one, I got impatient. Big surprise huh? I kept tinkering with my d820 until I got it stable, then proceeded setting it up. This bit me in the ass, but really I had no damn choice. If the plant went down and I needed to make a change, what the hell was I gonna do? I absolutely hate being unprepared with a passion unmatched by anything.
I've been using the same d820 the last year, with no real technical issues. It does tear when I move boxes, it starts up slow, takes 6-7 minutes to shut down, opens programs slower than a 98 yr old woman crossing Main St and does some goofy things that I just can't explain. It's a solid laptop for a regular user. Unfortunately, and I don't mean to sound arrogant here, but I push the shit out of my machine as do most programmers. I need something that will keep up with me.
Get this ... I've been with the company over three years, moved my family 1000 miles to continue working for them. Yes, they paid me so I am not complaining, its a great experience, minus missing Green Bay during the Super Bowl, of course.
This girl just out of college has been here six months, she's very attractive. She gets a new laptop after someone says whoa your laptop is old an slow. So she had to jump through no hurdles, no suffering from losing damn near everything and starting over and she's a web developer! She's not doing WPF, production applications, nah nothing like that. So I ask my manager, twice, can I get an upgrade?
I've asked in Feb '10, Apr '10, Oct '10 and Dec '10. The last time I asked because I was told what our budget SPENT this year, is what it will be NEXT year. So, common sense tells me we should spend money so we have more allocated to us the following year. "hey boss new laptop eh?" DENIED!
Now, that brings us to today. Green Bay had a position eliminated, happens the laptop is better than mine. HP 6550b ProBook. A guy there who knows my problems with my d820 sends it to me to use. I fearing castration go through the proper channels and I'm told essentially no. I have to submit a request and wait and wait.
One would think, hey submit your request and let it happen dude. Thing is, and again, not to sound superior here, but I am pretty good with computers and getting the most out of them and that's going to work against me. I don't complain to anyone when there's an issue with my laptop, I find ways around it, I make do with what I have. And that is going to be why I am denied ... I feel.
So I'm writing up my request, and I know I've gotten far too technical for the review team. Isn't that sad? A fricking programmer knows MORE about computers than the god damn help desk? I know this for a fact because I sat down there with them for an hour and helped THEM fix issues they could not do themselves! They wanted to pass the buck to the next person, I was like yo dude wait man, did they recently do an upgrade on their Office? If so, have them get the conversion tool for '07 or wait don't have them restart have them clear their cache and reopen the browser. Several minor things like that they just did not want to try. Oh, then on one issue they called an AS/400 fella about an issue and ironically enough he says "That's Kevin's issues not mine" ... POW, no bitch it is YOUR issue because it's Plainwell's AS/400 Combo! Do you think a BOX is going to have 2,196 fucking pounds in it you half wit? No, that's a COMBO and Plainwell uses a thin client with YOUR lame AS/400 program on it.
Okay, I strayed from the initial point. I need a better laptop and they won't give me one. I'm hoping I can be crafty enough with my words to convince them to allow me to keep the 6550b.
It's just frustrating man. I spend over 50 hours a week here, I spent a weekend writing a new program because the business failed in their discovery and was in the office past 2am on a Saturday. I'm the one of the first ones in IT (over 100 ppl) in the building and sometimes the last to leave.
Is asking for a better laptop really asking for too much? Maybe I should slap some lipstick on, shave my legs and giggle all fucking day long instead of pounding out RESULTS for the company.