Telecomiscommunication

This is a true story, and it happened in a telecommunications company. It happened to me some time ago. My head still hurts when I think about it.

A secretary sends out one of those emails which tells everybody to update their own details on the company’s intranet. It is the usual kind of thing: type in your phone number, upload your photo, and basically let people know things that are meant to help your co-workers get in touch and, hence, do work with you. The secretary’s email contains simple instructions explaining how to logon and change your contact details. I decide it is a good idea to have my contact details listed, and that it should only take a couple of minutes, so I start following the instructions.

To begin with, I need to get a password so I can log on and change my details. This involves typing my email address into a login screen and clicking “forgotten password”, and then an email will be sent to me with a password so I can log on. I type my email address in the box. An error message flashes up. I email the webmaster person and tell her what I did and that I got an error. She emails me back and tells me that I should type my email address into the box and click “forgotten password”. I email back saying for a second time that I did that already. She checks the database and my email address is missing, so she types in the email address into the database and sends me an email to let me know what she did.

I type in my email address, and click “forgotten password”, as before. I get the same error message. I try again, just to be sure, and I get the error message once more. So I look at the intranet and see what it says about me. An email address has now been added to my listed details, but the email address is wrong. My name is mispelled in the email address. So I type in the email address per the incorrect spelling. This time, there is no error message. However, no automated email arrives in my email box either. I deduce, pretty obviously, that the automated email cannot arrive in my inbox because the email is being sent to the wrong address. I try again, just to ensure it was not a fluke; again there is no error message but no email either. I explain everything that I did in an email to the webmaster. I also explain that she should just retype my email address and everything will surely be resolved. She emails back and tells me to type my email address into the box and click “forgotten password”. I reply and explain, yet again, that I did that. I explain, again, that she must have mistyped my email address and if she would just retype my email address correctly everything would be sorted. She sends me an email asking me what my email address is.

I give up.