01-14-2010, 02:32 AM
There's an issue I encountered, yet again, as a willing violation of my personal boundaries. I wonder if this is a red ray issue.
My background involves work with custom computer applications - designing them, which I am very happy to do; and troubleshooting them, which I don't enjoy.
I know some things about computer system administration, but I'm not a professional Windows system administrator for a random assortment of consumer laptops, run by people who don't know what they're doing. And that's a role I don't want to have.
Yet I am frequently pushed into this role by people who won't take "no" for an answer. And that happened again today, taking hours that I would have preferred to read and write here.
I realized that I need to make some healthier rules in my life.
Might as well call them New Year's Resolutions, because astrologically the new year hasn't really started yet.
New year's resolutions:
I will not work on any other person's computer, if that person has not prepared a complete backup of any files they consider important. This rule applies no matter how anxiously the person insists that I work on their computer and also that I guarantee no file loss.
I will not make any attempt to take on the responsibilities of a system administrator for a computer which has the following issues.
On the software side: I did not get to set it up; it was not set up according to any particular plan; it has no documented baseline configuration or change log; it may or may not have any recovery or installation disk available; and it has executables commonly identified as malware.
On the hardware side: It is known to have a power supply problem and an overheating problem with no hardware diagnosis.
On the human side: The operator is unfamiliar with the basics of computer administration, such as the difference between the terms "download" and "install from CD-ROM."
No matter how anxiously I'm told that it's crucial I get some software to run on that machine, I will not try to substitute my time and effort for the absence of another person's adequate budget for their own professional needs.
Doing the work that violates my boundaries not only depletes my energy, it also has a serious risk that the other person's machine may become unusable in a way that I can't fix. This risk is typically dismissed as irrelevant unless it actually occurs, in which case I typically get addressed with fury that I let it happen. Fortunately, today's temporarily unusable machine was restored to functional condition, but at the cost of way too much stress for me.
This is red ray stuff, isn't it? The feeling of being pushed to deplete myself to overcome someone else's depletion, when I am not actually able to offer the help they seek?
My background involves work with custom computer applications - designing them, which I am very happy to do; and troubleshooting them, which I don't enjoy.
I know some things about computer system administration, but I'm not a professional Windows system administrator for a random assortment of consumer laptops, run by people who don't know what they're doing. And that's a role I don't want to have.
Yet I am frequently pushed into this role by people who won't take "no" for an answer. And that happened again today, taking hours that I would have preferred to read and write here.
I realized that I need to make some healthier rules in my life.
Might as well call them New Year's Resolutions, because astrologically the new year hasn't really started yet.
New year's resolutions:
I will not work on any other person's computer, if that person has not prepared a complete backup of any files they consider important. This rule applies no matter how anxiously the person insists that I work on their computer and also that I guarantee no file loss.
I will not make any attempt to take on the responsibilities of a system administrator for a computer which has the following issues.
On the software side: I did not get to set it up; it was not set up according to any particular plan; it has no documented baseline configuration or change log; it may or may not have any recovery or installation disk available; and it has executables commonly identified as malware.
On the hardware side: It is known to have a power supply problem and an overheating problem with no hardware diagnosis.
On the human side: The operator is unfamiliar with the basics of computer administration, such as the difference between the terms "download" and "install from CD-ROM."
No matter how anxiously I'm told that it's crucial I get some software to run on that machine, I will not try to substitute my time and effort for the absence of another person's adequate budget for their own professional needs.
Doing the work that violates my boundaries not only depletes my energy, it also has a serious risk that the other person's machine may become unusable in a way that I can't fix. This risk is typically dismissed as irrelevant unless it actually occurs, in which case I typically get addressed with fury that I let it happen. Fortunately, today's temporarily unusable machine was restored to functional condition, but at the cost of way too much stress for me.
This is red ray stuff, isn't it? The feeling of being pushed to deplete myself to overcome someone else's depletion, when I am not actually able to offer the help they seek?