"Sir, my internet connection has been cut for the last two months. I cannot send the email you want me to send" our clerk-cum-typist (CCT) said.
"But you did not say anything all this time!" I said.
"I was trying to get it repaired" she said. "Now the network engineer has told me that the Professor himself has cut it on his server."
"I will speak to the professor" I said. For the readers who don't know about it -'professor' is not professor of network. It is one surgical professor who spends more time with stacks, switches, servers and fiberoptic cables than with scalpel and patients for the fun of it. We have a swell network manager and since we are not surgical patients coming to the hospital, we do not complain about the division of time between work and hobby. I called that professor and asked him the reason for such an action.
"We provide internet services for academic purpose to staff members and resident doctors. We do not have manpower to provide it to clerical employees. The civic body should do that" came the answer.
"But when you had done this in the past, and I had written to the Boss, and he had made you connect us again" I said. "Boss retired two months ago. So you did it again?"
"....." He was afraid of the previous Boss, and did not seem to be afraid of the new one.
"We pay 10000 INR or more per year for our connectivity. The cables have been laid to all terminals" I said. "Staff members can log in from the CCT's terminal anyway. Your network engineer has to work on that terminal if required. All you have to do is to give the CCT a password to login. It makes sense, because the civic body has refused to give her a connection, and your insistence will not change that. You have stalled important work done by her."
"That cannot be helped. Our policy is not to give a connection to clerical people" he said stubbornly. There was no official policy, I knew. It was what he wanted to do or rather did not want to do. I wrote to the new Boss again. The Boss directed my letter to electrical engineer, who expressed inability to connect our CCT to the net. I have lost interest because the administrators do not seem concerned about this work.
"Why does he do such things?" a colleague asked me. "He had upgraded to Window 2003 server from older Windows 2000 server without knowing the consequences. We had to replace all hardware that ran Windows 98 but could not run Windows XP, and had to buy licenses for Windows XP, so that internet would run. It had cost us a bundle. When we complained, he said we should always get the latest hardware and software. As if money grows on trees."
I remembered too well, but I did not express my view on the matter. "This fellow wants importance, and he gets it by troubling other people" another colleague said. I refrained from saying anything on that comment too.
"But you did not say anything all this time!" I said.
"I was trying to get it repaired" she said. "Now the network engineer has told me that the Professor himself has cut it on his server."
"I will speak to the professor" I said. For the readers who don't know about it -'professor' is not professor of network. It is one surgical professor who spends more time with stacks, switches, servers and fiberoptic cables than with scalpel and patients for the fun of it. We have a swell network manager and since we are not surgical patients coming to the hospital, we do not complain about the division of time between work and hobby. I called that professor and asked him the reason for such an action.
"We provide internet services for academic purpose to staff members and resident doctors. We do not have manpower to provide it to clerical employees. The civic body should do that" came the answer.
"But when you had done this in the past, and I had written to the Boss, and he had made you connect us again" I said. "Boss retired two months ago. So you did it again?"
"....." He was afraid of the previous Boss, and did not seem to be afraid of the new one.
"We pay 10000 INR or more per year for our connectivity. The cables have been laid to all terminals" I said. "Staff members can log in from the CCT's terminal anyway. Your network engineer has to work on that terminal if required. All you have to do is to give the CCT a password to login. It makes sense, because the civic body has refused to give her a connection, and your insistence will not change that. You have stalled important work done by her."
"That cannot be helped. Our policy is not to give a connection to clerical people" he said stubbornly. There was no official policy, I knew. It was what he wanted to do or rather did not want to do. I wrote to the new Boss again. The Boss directed my letter to electrical engineer, who expressed inability to connect our CCT to the net. I have lost interest because the administrators do not seem concerned about this work.
"Why does he do such things?" a colleague asked me. "He had upgraded to Window 2003 server from older Windows 2000 server without knowing the consequences. We had to replace all hardware that ran Windows 98 but could not run Windows XP, and had to buy licenses for Windows XP, so that internet would run. It had cost us a bundle. When we complained, he said we should always get the latest hardware and software. As if money grows on trees."
I remembered too well, but I did not express my view on the matter. "This fellow wants importance, and he gets it by troubling other people" another colleague said. I refrained from saying anything on that comment too.
