13
Getting back into mywork laptop and the various accounts it connected to is a long process that only further illustrates why the IT guys hold onto a laptop for a week before they give it to new hires. There's too much to set up.
Yesterday after my meeting with Gwen had been close enough to 5pm that I just went home instead of dealing with it, leaving it for the morning.
Returning the next morning with fresh eyes did not make the process any easier.
It's a lot of entering the same password and email address into different accounts and applications. I know there's probably some IT protocol that I should have followed to make all the passwords unique, but I can't really bring myself to give a damn when this way just makes it easier.
I message one of my coworkers for the shared accounts' info, the logins that use the generic [email protected] address that everyone in the department can access.
It doesn't take all morning, just an hour or so. The tediousness of the task makes that hour feel like several.
Then I hit a wall.
None of the email addresses work on one of the portals, the one for approving PTO requests. I enter the department email again and again, and after I put the password in, it takes me to a page saying the account doesn't exist. None of my coworkers remember what the account information is because none of them ever bother to log out of it.
I stare at my screen a while longer, fingers resting tensely on the keys, willing myself to remember something that is just not there.
After I try the same email addresses a couple more times, hoping it was a small typing error that threw the process off, and all of my attempts getting the same screen of failure, I slouch down in my chair in frustration.
I can't do this on my own.
I dial the IT Department general number and try not to cringe at myself for knowing it by heart. I have to hang up and do it again when I nearly dial Khent's extension number.
It rings a few times, and I chew my lip hoping I don't get Khent. Hoping anyone else will pick up.
Am I really calling the IT Department over something so small?
I'm in the middle of contemplating hanging up when a familiar voice answers, and my heart sinks into my stomach.
“IT Department, how can I help you?” Khent says, his voice friendly as usual, though a little tired.
He doesn't sound particularly upbeat, not that I would have expected him to. Hearing him happy right now might bury me alive.
I'm quiet for way too long trying to pull some other insight from the tone of those few words.
“Hello?” He repeats.
“Hi! Uh, yeah. Um,” I fumble with the phone.
“Oh,” Khent says, a note of surprise and not much else I can decipher when he recognizes my voice.
“Yeah,” I sigh, sinking further into my chair, kind of acknowledging that I don't want to be calling him either. If only crawling under my desk would allow me to escape this moment. Maybe the floor could conveniently swallow me up like it does when the boss gets in a mood.