SAP Upgrade: The Sound of Silence

 Posted on Fri, Apr 5, 2024  (Last modified on Thu, May 22, 2025)  |  Alan Pope

This is the seventh in an increasingly infrequent series of Friday Tales From Tech Support. Some stories from the past featuring broken computers and even more broken tech support operatives - mostly me. London. Summer 2002 In the early 2000s I worked as a SAP Technical Consultant which involved teaching courses, advising customers, and doing SAP installations, upgrades and migrations. This story starts on a typical mid-summer, warm and stuffy day in London. [Read More]
tfts 

You stole my lighter!

 Posted on Fri, Oct 13, 2023  (Last modified on Thu, May 22, 2025)  |  Alan Pope

This is the sixth in a series of Friday Tales From Tech Support. Some stories from the past featuring broken computers and even more broken tech support operatives - mostly me. Scene setting My first job out of college was for the auspiciously named “National Telecom” as a “Computer Operator”. Back then, this was a job, rather than something you just do day-to-day. I mean, it’s quite likely many of you have “operated” a “computer” in order to read this blog today. [Read More]
tfts 

Hand over the PCMCIA card, Sir

 Posted on Fri, Oct 6, 2023  (Last modified on Thu, May 22, 2025)  |  Alan Pope

This is the fifth in a series of Friday Tales From Tech Support. Some stories from the past featuring broken computers and even more broken tech support operatives - mostly me. Scene setting This is another story from my time working on the helpdesk for a large accounting & consulting organisation in central London. A slight difference though, this story is second hand, so take it with a pinch of salt. [Read More]
tfts 

Where's my hard drive?

 Posted on Fri, Sep 29, 2023  (Last modified on Thu, May 22, 2025)  |  Alan Pope

This is the fourth in a series of Friday Tales From Tech Support. Some stories from the past featuring broken computers and even more broken tech support operatives - mostly me. Scene setting Today’s story is another belter from my stint on the helpdesk for a large accounting & consulting organisation in central London. It’s around 1995 and I’m a happy-go-lucky, young, free and single tech support operative. Always happy to help, and generally enjoying the work. [Read More]
tfts 

You did something!

 Posted on Fri, Sep 22, 2023  (Last modified on Thu, May 22, 2025)  |  Alan Pope

This is the third in a series of Tales From Tech Support. Some stories from the past featuring broken computers and even more broken tech support operatives - mostly me. In the early 1990s, I worked as a contractor for a large, well-established accounting firm. In It’s MY monitor, I told the story of dealing with an angry Partner. Today’s story is worse, as I’m dealing with the Personal Assistant of a Partner. [Read More]
tfts 

Backup the caravan

 Posted on Fri, Sep 15, 2023  (Last modified on Thu, May 22, 2025)  |  Alan Pope

Second in my series of Tales From Tech Support. Some stories from the past featuring broken computers and even more broken tech support operatives - mostly me. In the early 1990s I worked as a Technician at a local college. I would set-up and tear down experiments for students. I’d also have to look for ‘booby-traps’ they’d set for us. But that’s another story. I would sometimes get called upon to perform technical support for external organisations. [Read More]
tfts 

It's MY monitor

 Posted on Fri, Sep 8, 2023  (Last modified on Thu, May 22, 2025)  |  Alan Pope

This is the first in (maybe) a series of “Tales From Tech Support”, which are true stories from my point of view. I’ll probably only post these on a Friday. In the 1990s, I worked as a contractor for a large, well-established accounting firm. We’d often buy new equipment and unpack it at the helpdesk, throw away all the packaging, and then take the actual kit to the user for deployment. [Read More]
tfts