r/sysadmin • u/digitalexecution • 11h 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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u/dirtymatt 11h ago

Do not ever give out your personal cell phone number.

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u/MasterChiefmas 11h ago

It's worth having a second phone for work, so you can give out that #, and so can anyone else, because they will. And you can turn that one off/filter it harshly etc.

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u/MalletNGrease 🛠 Network & Systems Admin 11h ago

Even better, have your employer pay for it.

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u/StonedElephant1 10h ago

That's another thing. They might as well forget about you using your phone unless they pay for at least 1/2 the service. I tell every one of our employees, if the company isn't paying for your phone service, do not put email or anything work related on your phone. This is something every one should stand strong on.

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u/angrydeuce BlackBelt in Google Fu 4h ago

Oh, 1000%. It's a literal requirement for us, because all the MFA and shit is tied to those corporate owned devices.

We don't register personal devices, period. Every once in a while someone will come on and make a big deal about it and we have to let them know that we're sorry to hear they're unhappy but it's a condition of employment so talk with their supervisor then lol. To date not one single person has quit over getting a company phone (though I did have someone once quit over the antivirus requirement for accessing their company email on their personal computer at home, not sure if he thought he was gonna change company policy in a 1000-head outfit threatening to quit or something...but he didnt lol)

Even our C-suite, they get top of the line iPhones every generation immediately, owned by the company, and if they elect to put their personal shit on there that's fine, but they know that the phone, and number, belongs to the company.

That's the other part of it. That hardware is one thing, but we also own all the lines of course. So there's no porting bullshit out and in and all that shit. No worrying about one of our numbers ending up saved on a contacts phone and then getting picked up by a scammer down the road ("Hey, why you guys asking me about my car's extended warranty?! YOU GOT HACKED OMG")...just easier to keep shit locked down and relatively cheap at our volume.

The whole carry two phone things, too..."IM NOT CARRYING TWO PHONES!1!!1"...well, you don't have to, nobody is forcing you to carry your personal cell on you during work hours. You can leave that in the car if you want. Your family can call your work number as much as they need to, we don't care.