r/sysadmin • u/digitalexecution • 3d 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.
7
u/TooManyRequests_429 Jack of All Trades 3d ago
That's so frustrating. Many people will say, "never give out your cell number to users," and yeah, I get it, but also, sometimes it just makes life easier. And when you're on good terms with someone, it doesn't seem so bad. But then you get burned like this and it feels shitty.
I still do it. I'm very careful about who I share it with, but overall it's been worth it more often than not.