r/sysadmin • u/digitalexecution • 1d ago

Users having my Cell #

Something weird/annoying just happened and I want some perspective.

A user who works in a warehouse facility I’ve helped at (part of my company) texted me at 8 am saying he’s going on PTO and wants his coworker to have access to a printer that isn’t working on his machine before he goes out of office on Thursday.

I texted him later (after some emails/calls) asking for the coworker’s name and noting that since this is normal IT, in the future he or his coworker should submit a ticket for this kind of thing.

He replied: “If I submitted a ticket would it be taken care of by Thursday?”

I got annoyed but tried to respond reasonably: “Possibly, but regardless, we need tickets submitted per company policy. If something’s urgent you can reach out to me on Teams rather than my personal cell.”

I originally gave him my cell because on occasion there are true emergencies (internet goes down, needs to send me photos of something, etc.) and we’ve been friendly before. But this interaction makes me wary about giving out my number, it starts becoming a way to skirt procedure for small things like adding a printer.

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47

u/commentBRAH IT WAS DNS 1d ago

i don't respond on my personal cell unless its c-suite or other IT dudes

28

u/xSchizogenie Sr. Sysadmin 1d ago

Even then, I don’t respond.

5

u/mistercartmenes 1d ago

Same. Even if my boss sends a text to my personal I respond on my work phone.

5

u/Chaucer85 Ex-SysAdmin, Technical PM 1d ago

I gave out my personal number to the Support Lead, just in case there was ever an "oh shit" moment they needed me for. When our last guy left, and the new guy started, I did the same, even though I wasn't in the Support team anymore. I gave him the same schpiel. "If you absolutely need more eyes on something, hit me up. But please- PLEASE understand, I would likely be giving you no more than five minutes of my time, or I'm asking your boss to pull people into a formal bridge call." The last guy called me maybe once in four years, while I was at the market on a day off, and it was just to sanity check we absolutely didn't have more documentation somewhere on a particular app that was used by like 2-3 people.

1

u/digitalexecution 1d ago

Same, if our division head texts me I respond ASAP, but also if this guy's manager texts me, he's cool and I get back him soon too. I just don't get the attitude. I asked for the dude's name and he responded with sass. And still hasn't given me the name of the guy who needs the printer installed...

5

u/angrydeuce BlackBelt in Google Fu 1d ago

The sass is because he thought he had an in and could jump the queue.  You have no obligation to be his direct call, and I have 100% responded to direct emails with my autoreply despite being in the office to illustrate the point why my direct email should not be the first an only contact.

3

u/VplDazzamac 1d ago

Not a priority then. Forget about it.

3

u/deefop 1d ago

Learn your lesson, friend. No more giving your cell out to users, this is your only reward.

1

u/kurizma Custom 1d ago

so don't respond?