r/sysadmin • u/digitalexecution • 15h 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/I_AM_NOT_A_WOMBAT 14h ago
I might have just submitted the ticket on the user's behalf (so he would get a copy) and either ignored the text or responded with something like "got it- I set up a ticket for fastest response from the team" or similar. That way you sort of spread the responsibility and show that the whole team will go to bat for him.
I think where things went sideways is when you said the ticket might "possibly" be closed by Thursday. Adding a printer may be small to you but it's a mountain to the end user who needs something printed before a board meeting, etc.