Hang on, this MY machine -contract dilemma

[EternalOptimist]

Interesting problem reared it's ugly head today.

I am working from home, developing big sw for big clients.
I often have to vpn into the office and to the clients, and often use rpc to get onto remote machines.

not being an infrastructure guy, I get the support guy to talk me through making the connections, which is once per client. and we have six so far.

so its not a major burden, maybe a 20 minute job, to set up the icons.

Today, for client 7 he wants to install sw on my machine so he can remote in to me, to save himself 10 minutes, because he can set it up twice as fast as I can.

I told him to eat a big fat one. so hes whinged to the md and made it a big issue.

the last time i was talking to the fellow, he told me to disable my pc tools firewall, to get something else to work



so, am I right in telling him to do one ? or should i trust the 'expert'

[Gentile]

Do you want an honest answer, or just one that makes you feel good?

[EternalOptimist]

Do you want an honest answer, or just one that makes you feel good?

use your left hand to make me feel good, and your gob to give me an honest answer


no ..wait

[EternalOptimist]

I cant believe that scrawny festering malodorous plane spotting gangly homo cock-sucking absolute stupid sh!te , would ever believe for one tenth of a millisecond that I would let the cnt onto MY machine

sorry gentile, what were you saying ?

[Zippy]

You did the right thing. If he can't explain what to do then he's a tit and shouldn't be allowed near any system.

[Gentile]

use your left hand to make me feel good...

...and your gob to give me an honest answer

Right, leaving aside the fact that you can't set up a VPN on your own (really? - never mind...), this guy is spending his time helping you make up for a gap in your technical knowledge. Be grateful and just comply with his requests. Unless he's a complete twunt on a personal level, of course, in which case sod him. You decide.

There was another contractor on my last contract that didn't know how to use Git. Neither did I when the contract started (though I had used other source control systems, so it wasn't a completely unfamiliar concept for me to get my head around). The difference between us was that I made sure I made up for the gaps in my knowledge quickly. By contrast, he was still asking me and members of the client's staff to check stuff into source control for him three months into the contract. He was an OK guy, and I didn't mind helping him out (even though he did some things to make life difficult for himself, like having his own bespoke project structure on his machine that didn't match the Git Repository's structure for the same solution). But, if he'd made a song and dance about any reasonable request I'd made of him whilst I was trying to help him make up for the gaps in his knowledge, I'd have been less inclined to help him out, fellow contractor or not.

That's my honest opinion.

[vetran]

use your left hand to make me feel good, and your gob to give me an honest answer


no ..wait

You sexist, perverted pig

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to EternalOptimist again.

Doesn't matter how long it takes YOU to set it it up so long as you charge a reasonable fee - assuming they have decent documentation (they do right?). Does matter what information he sees from other customers when on your machine. would be the angle I take.

oi Mods how much do I need to spread before I give EO, BP and even MF good hard reputation again?

[EternalOptimist]

well thanks vetran, and even gentile.
I AM ignorant of some things , who isnt ?

but the idea that some manu supporting, spindley, scrotum slurping turd can DEMAND to be let onto an Evertionians machine is just a sin in the eyes of Avalon


and if i had a case, id rest it

[NotAllThere]

...

the last time i was talking to the fellow, he told me to disable my pc tools firewall, to get something else to work
...

If it hadn't been for that last bit, I'd have said - let him do his job. As it stands - tell him to get stuffed as he's clearly incompetent.

[Freamon]

Say you will allow him to remote into your machine. Switch off the network adapter so that he can't when he tries. When he asks questions like "can you still browse the internet", say that you can, and that the problem must be at his end. Then ask him if he can just talk you through what to do instead.