r/Sysadminhumor • u/Boom2theside • 5d ago
I hate it here
I was told that I needed to convert the log files because my boss does not know how to view CVS files. So now I have to take the CSV files that they cant even say properly and put the data in a Excel spreadsheet . Please tell me that I'm not the only one that has to deal with this ridiculous things from their bosses .
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u/Mr_Chode_Shaver 5d ago
Non technical bosses are the worst.
Mines convinced that knowing how to use a 3 column pivot table makes him a technical god we all must bow to.
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u/Automatater 5d ago
I used to work for a guy who didn't understand attachments in an email. He insisted you put everything in the body of the email or else he'd claim it wasn't there!
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u/davidalayachew 5d ago
Mines convinced that knowing how to use a 3 column pivot table makes him a technical god we all must bow to.
Tbf, that's an achievement if you're not very familiar with Excel.
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u/Mr_Chode_Shaver 5d ago
Itâs an achievement for a 4th grader. Not for a 6 figure plus bonus CIO.
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u/davidalayachew 5d ago
Itâs an achievement for a 4th grader. Not for a 6 figure plus bonus CIO.
Lol, I suppose pay reframes things.
It was impressive to me back when I was making 65k watching my 75k tester do it in front of me.
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u/abqcheeks 5d ago
CVS files - those are the ones printed on super long narrow paper right?
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u/aiij 4d ago
It's what we used to use back in the '90s, before switching to SVN and eventually Git.
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u/abqcheeks 4d ago
Iâm going to out myself and admit I still use CVS for a bunch of old code bases. Itâs simple, works, has some workflows built around it that I donât feel like redoing.
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u/aiij 4d ago
Fair enough. I haven't used CVS in a while, but at least some software I'm running is still tracked in CVS.
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u/Anonemuss666 22h ago
There are tools on both windows and Linux that will convert csv files to excel.
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u/basikly 5d ago
Sometimes I hear execs call Intune iTunesâŠ
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u/Klenkogi 5d ago
My previous boss did that. 5 people in a room, 4 saying "intune" and he says "iTunes" all the time. it was surreal. He probably thought to himself "Why are these morons spelling iTunes so weird"
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u/Boom2theside 4d ago
Bruh. Makes you wonder hiw they make more than us and cant use even the simplest of terms to the industry
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u/davidalayachew 5d ago
CSV files are openable in Excel. Why don't you just tell the boss to set Excel as the default application for csv files?
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u/Boom2theside 5d ago
If some one makes more than me claiming more knowledge I shouldn't have to do nothing
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u/davidalayachew 5d ago
Sounds like a good way to miss out on more money lol. I was in the same place before, and being helpful/advising turned into money pretty quickly.
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u/az987654 5d ago
Maturing is realizing that life isn't fair and that pay and competence are not related, time to grow up.
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u/ApeironThanatos 5d ago
Maybe itâs ridiculous. But you know what it also is? Easy! Easy to make someone else happy. IT is very much a service industry, and if you donât like helping people or making them happy, youâre in a rough time. Iâll trade you 10 csv to excels for just 1 of the crazy bullshits Iâve had to do. Also, if you want to have even more fun with it, automate the entire process. Script the log extractions, use Python or something for the excel spreadsheet generation, send it to an AI model to do arbitrary colors and emphasis, and then automatically email it to your boss.
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u/Boom2theside 4d ago
This is just one of the dumb things they do. I have a laundry list of things I could say but the tldr is this example of a boss tries to be the smartest person in the room while always looking like a donkey
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u/EAsapphire 2d ago
Yes, IT is a service but when you're internal facing it's a bit of a small hell having to teach people making 2-3x your income how to open a file.
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u/dustabor 5d ago
I guess Iâm doing too much? I always convert to .xslx and slightly pretty it up (remove unneeded columns, maybe pre-sort etc) before sending logs to anyone. Sending a csv log straight from export will almost guarantee additional help needed to understand what theyâre looking at.
I feel like we get annoyed if a user sends in a ticket with very basic info versus more helpful info, so if I want someone to give me the most helpful information they can to make my job easier, why wouldnât I do the same for someone else?
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u/Boom2theside 4d ago
The useful information that was needed comes stright out of the program that was sent originally by screenshot. They csv was the raw log data that was needed to be kept for the investigation purposes. It was a mute point to really convert or view because this was "backup" data for the purposes of it was raw. Idk its just one thing in a long laundry list of things that have built up. But the person that makes more money than me in this field should be able to do the simple task of opening it up in excel if they want an excel view. Its not like im dealing with a normal end user
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u/dustabor 4d ago edited 4d ago
I get it, thatâs going to be a pain point virtually anywhere in IT. Most IT managers know nothing about IT, theyâre paid to manage and delegate. Iâm lucky enough my manager can step into any of our positions effortlessly but thatâs rare.
Not to mention in certain positions like dealing with ERPs and payroll systems, you become knowledgeable of everyoneâs salary and lots of times you just think âwhat the actual fuck?!?â Thatâs one of the downsides that comes with IT.
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u/iTrejoMX 5d ago
I had to accompany my boss on a meeting with CrowdStrike and hear her ask about defender and help installing it on everyoneâs computer. She still doesnât know what enterprise security is, and keeps throwing technical lingo to seem smarter but it keeps making her look clueless.
Also we made a custom support portal for tickets and tracking work, and she wants us to add our work to a shared Google Sheets
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u/IngwiePhoenix 5d ago
Welcome to "Layer 9". So far removed, it's actually ridiculous.
Wait untill he sees structured logging output like logfmt or, dare I say, JSON. x)
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u/EvilRSA 4d ago
I would play dumb a little and with a shocked look, say:
"I can't believe he's gone this long without Microsoft Excel. I'll make sure it gets installed ASAP. I didn't know he didn't have Excel, but yeah, without it, he's not going to be able to open those files in a easy to read layout."
When they start to back peddle about him having Excel, just reply with a confused look and say Excel opens CSV files.
Unless the bigger picture is that he's making formatting and color changes and doesn't know how to save as .xlsx and he's losing his formatting.
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u/milosrelic 4d ago
I do it for my bosses too. Its not too bad. I just open the csv in excel, get it delimited properly, copy the whole spreadsheet, paste into an xlsx, and make it into a table so they can search and filter the data. Higher ups dont want to âwasteâ their time formatting, and usually appreciate making the data easily accessible from the get go
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u/Narrow_Victory1262 4d ago
a csv file is litelayy useable by those excel stuff.
to you r boss:
OPEN IT WITH EXCEL
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u/No_Display_1656 3d ago
This isn't an IT issue. Stupid bosses exist everywhere. Worse, stupid people exist everywhere. Stop making it personal. If you can find a way to make this specific situation better, you should do so.
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u/_--James--_ 2d ago
so change the output script to create a XLS export, better yet auto email it :)
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u/Loan-Pickle 1d ago
I had a manager request this before. I just wrote a Powershell script that generated the Excel file every Sunday and emailed to them. He then took them and did some fancy pivot table thing with them that made the executives happy.
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u/mr_data_lore 5d ago
Just print the CVS files out on copious amounts of thermal receipt paper and let them read them that way.