Day 6 - 178 -- In the Midst of a Communication Failure

For the most part, today went well. The worst part was dealing with the inability to login to a secure part of the site at work. I called the help desk and was told there had been a change to the procedure. I didn't get an email notice of this change, so was surprised at this response. I was sent a 'how to' sheet for installing a new software that led me to a page to format an external client (about step 16 and I had just begun). Now I am on campus and shouldn't need to deal with an external client to access something within the campus system. So -- I shut the process down. I checked with someone a couple doors away and they had never heard of the software that I had been told to install. They had been logged into the part of the site that I was trying to access yet without any new protocols. I went for a walk down the hall and found a friend in their office and asked the same question. There are now two log in screens using two different userid/password combinations. For some reason, I'd had these interchanged. Using these in the correct order made all the difference. I did not complete my planned activity today. By the time I got into the site, I had a headache and it was past when I should have been home to eat. Maybe tomorrow <smile>.


Communication is such a fragile thing that we often take for granted. Obviously how I asked my question of the help desk person didn't clearly state what I needed OR they assumed that I wasn't on campus for some reason. I said I was faculty in the department, but for some reason that wasn't enough to help them to tell me what I really needed to do.  He may have been very busy today with students registering online from places not even in town. His response then was based on what many others had been asking and not what I was asking. Intriguing how things can go so badly wrong.

A song came to mind with lyrics that state something similar to my feelings -- feeling let down by the communication process. The new wave group performing are from the UK. Enjoy!

Communication -- Spandau Ballet