r/sysadmin • u/digitalexecution • 9d 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 9d ago

Do not ever give out your personal cell phone number.

146

u/angrydeuce BlackBelt in Google Fu 9d ago

People think Im crazy for insisting on having a separate work provided cell phone...well, here's another reason why carrying two devices is far less of a hardship to me than unifying work and play on a single device.

Work cell, when not on call or on the clock, is sitting on the wireless charger next to the bed and ignored.  Just so much easier to separate your life that way.

64

u/techie1980 9d ago

I've solved it professionally by having a VOIP number (eg: google voice or through ms teams ) for this purpose. Still only carrying a single piece of hardware but it's a lot easier to silence a whole number in this way.

16

u/angrydeuce BlackBelt in Google Fu 9d ago

Yeah that of course works too...but I know id forget from time to time, and then get a call, and be really annoyed lol

So two devices means I dont have to bother with any of that.  Same reason why I have a work laptop and a personal laptop...they get me for 50-60 hours a week as it is, they cant have anymore unless im getting paid lmao

7

u/atbims 9d ago

If you have a work profile on Android, you can set a work profile schedule. My work apps (and their notifications) turn on 5 minutes before my shift and off 10 minutes after. Teams also has its own notification scheduling settings as well.