The younger workforce.

[ultrarunner]

At the basic level you are 100% correct... it's not like I'm doing it for free.

We have been without an onsite Admin, HR and Clinical Supervisor for almost 2 years... the seasoned people we had simply said they saw the writing on the wall and retired... quietly... no retirement party, no goodbye.

I'm one of the two original Department Heads remaining and both of us share day to day operations... and we know how to pinch pennies...

 

[MossRoad]

The Cat5E should be right at home next to the 10BASE2 coax it replaced.

I was always tracking down connection issues... each floor had a loop and people would unplug a computer by accident or on purpose and the loop would go down.

I actually had to coach the person that would head IT for about 10 years... she was very good on the software side and programs we used... she didn't have a clue to mechanics of 10BASE2, power requirements, backup power and installing/removing hardware from the racks.

Hhahahaha.... I installed several 10BASE5 networks (thick net), vampire taps, DEC Desprs, Demprs, AUI cables, etc.. man, you'd want to smack people that were "just rearranging my office..." and took the whole building down! :laughing:

Then we converted to 10BASE2 thin net, backplanes and DEC hubs, then CAT3 hubs, then switches, then CAT5 and managed switches.

We also had a lot of data over POTs. Multiplexers, etc... to outlying offices.

Heck, we had a couple offices up in Michigan. At that time there were huge tarrifs to run phone lines across state lines. So we put a directional antenna on our roof, shot it to an omni-directional antenna 6 miles away on a tower where we rented space ($1 per foot of height up the tower per month), down the tower to a repeater, back up the tower to a directional antenna on the roof of our office in Michigan about 3 miles away. So, $150 per month to provide 11MBS data with 3 multiplexed centrex lines across state lines. :laughing:

Another thing we'd do to get local phone lines to remote offices that were long distance calls was this:
Its a local call to the next town over. But its long distance to the town two towns over where our office is, and vice-versa the other way. So, we'd rent "space" in a gas station in the town in the middle (usually above the ceiling in the restroom!) and have three local phone lines installed at the gas station. We'd put call forwarding on them, and program two as an inny to us and one as an outy to them. That way, we could set up a local number in the remote town for customer service to be automatically forwarded to our call center, and we could call the remote office and they could call the home office and only pay local, fixed, monthly phone bills, regardless of the call volume. At one time, I think we had 5-6 gas station locations around several counties!

 

[TomSeller]

I was always tracking down connection issues... each floor had a loop and people would unplug a computer by accident or on purpose and the loop would go down.

I wonder if it was often on purpose to slow things down.

Speaking of that, I was at city hall yesterday to take out three electrical permits. You sign in at kiosks if you know what you are doing or get in line with all the dummies that ask a bazillion questions if you don't. One kiosk was "down" when I got there.

By the time I double checked my customer info, I noticed all 3 kiosks were "down" with signs on them, leaving only the SLOW dummy line to sign in before going to the counter. I flagged someone I knew and asked about the kiosks, she motioned me to come over to one. She turned it on and had me sign in, then turned it off. She said the people behind the counter put the signs on the kiosks and turn them off to slow things down. Ain't our government great?

If this was the local grocery store they would have every register staffed to get people through faster and make more money.

 

[ultrarunner]

Hhahahaha.... I installed several 10BASE5 networks (thick net), vampire taps, DEC Desprs, Demprs, AUI cables, etc.. man, you'd want to smack people that were "just rearranging my office..." and took the whole building down! :laughing:

Then we converted to 10BASE2 thin net, backplanes and DEC hubs, then CAT3 hubs, then switches, then CAT5 and managed switches.

We also had a lot of data over POTs. Multiplexers, etc... to outlying offices.

Heck, we had a couple offices up in Michigan. At that time there were huge tarrifs to run phone lines across state lines. So we put a directional antenna on our roof, shot it to an omni-directional antenna 6 miles away on a tower where we rented space ($1 per foot of height up the tower per month), down the tower to a repeater, back up the tower to a directional antenna on the roof of our office in Michigan about 3 miles away. So, $150 per month to provide 11MBS data with 3 multiplexed centrex lines across state lines. :laughing:

Another thing we'd do to get local phone lines to remote offices that were long distance calls was this:
Its a local call to the next town over. But its long distance to the town two towns over where our office is, and vice-versa the other way. So, we'd rent "space" in a gas station in the town in the middle (usually above the ceiling in the restroom!) and have three local phone lines installed at the gas station. We'd put call forwarding on them, and program two as an inny to us and one as an outy to them. That way, we could set up a local number in the remote town for customer service to be automatically forwarded to our call center, and we could call the remote office and they could call the home office and only pay local, fixed, monthly phone bills, regardless of the call volume. At one time, I think we had 5-6 gas station locations around several counties!

If there is a way to save someone will figure out how to make it happen...

Not to get too far off track... see this happen with taxes... raise taxes and wonder why revenue is flat or goes down.

 

[ultrarunner]

I wonder if it was often on purpose to slow things down.

Speaking of that, I was at city hall yesterday to take out three electrical permits. You sign in at kiosks if you know what you are doing or get in line with all the dummies that ask a bazillion questions if you don't. One kiosk was "down" when I got there.

By the time I double checked my customer info, I noticed all 3 kiosks were "down" with signs on them, leaving only the SLOW dummy line to sign in before going to the counter. I flagged someone I knew and asked about the kiosks, she motioned me to come over to one. She turned it on and had me sign in, then turned it off. She said the people behind the counter put the signs on the kiosks and turn them off to slow things down. Ain't our government great?

If this was the local grocery store they would have every register staffed to get people through faster and make more money.

I believe it... was at Bank of America last night and the line was out the door... one teller and 7 windows closed... several managers in coat and tie that don't have teller access... they were directing people to the ATM... no one was going...

Come to find out two tellers quit that day and one was out sick...