The Customer is Always Right

I've been a bit busy lately working at a client site about an hours drive from the office. When I first started working on the many tasks they needed done, I found their server in a vanity in the woman's bathroom. The server has the complete inventory for their warehouse (approximately 30,000 parts), the company's accounting system, as well as e-mail and other databases for about 18 employees.

The first day there, I worked for several hours and was mid-way through a rather critical and complicated upgrade sitting on the ladies room toilet, when the lights when out. A transformer on a pole had caught fire down the street and it took them 3 days to get it the power back. In the mean time, in one of the warehouse buildings, the electric was still working as it was on a different meter and served from poles on a different street.

I quickly bought a computer rack on wheels, loaded the server on to it, and wheeled it down the block and across the street to the other building and after a bit of frantic work, got enough computing power back on-line for them to work while the rest of the company's buildings sat in the darkness.

When the power was restored, the server was wheeled back to the ladies room along with 5 other computers on the rack. I spent a couple hours re-wiring the network and provisioning some uninterrupted power supplies, as well as rewiring a circuit so that a portable generator could be used - I had some fun trying to ground this circuit in what is essentially a ceramic tile over cinder block powder room.

Through clenched teeth, I recited what became my mantra. "The customer is always right, even if they are crazy."

They are limited on clean, quiet, air conditioned, floor space and this is about the only place these computers can be put.

Most days, I think I'd rather test drive a boat. :)