Just Say NO

(part II)

Well, I've been here for a few months now and things are starting to flow a little smoother... Until last week...

I was walking through the squadron when the ADO corners me and tells me he's heard I can hold my own at web design and we need a new webmaster. Our current squadron page shows the former commander and it needs to be updated to the current commander's picture & bio IMMEDIATELY. Simple, 5 minutes work.

I talk to the computer guys in the squadron and am given the point of contact at the COMM squadron. I e-mail and tell her that I'm the new 9th web guy and I guess I need FTP access so I can retrieve, update, and re-post the squadron page as per orders of the ADO.

The reply essentially said "No. WE are the only ones who have access to those files." I reply, "Ok, well how do I get the original file? I can update it and e-mail it as an attachment back to you so YOU can post it". The reply comes back... "You CAN'T get to the file, only WE can get to the file."

Ok, I e-mail the ADO and tell him I've hit a brick wall. Here's what I told her, here's what she told me. Apparently he contacts her and finds out that I don't need access to the FTP, only to the files on the G-drive which are uploaded BY THEM to the web server every Friday. Ok, fair enough...

I send the next e-mail to ask how I get access to the G-drive. The reply comes back "I'm not showing you as the webmster for the 9th. What happened to the people I have listed here as webmaster?" I reply: "Look, I'm new here. I don't know who used to do it, and the only backup information we had is on a disk I have yet to see". What I need to know is what forms I have to fill out, what squares have to be filled, and which hoops I have to jump through to get access to the G-drive to do what I've been asked to do?"

Within 5 minutes of clicking the SEND button, there's an irate SMSgt on the phone with my scheduler, chewing his butt, telling him I CAN'T have access until I complete the HTML class. WHAT HTML CLASS???? Nobody mentioned that part to me!!

So now I've got an angry SMSgt gunning for me, a scheduler with half his butt chewed off, and the only answer I can come up with is that IF the initial reply from her was "I spoke with your ADO, added you to the webmaster list, BUT you can't access the files until after completing the class" all of this would never have happened.

Personally, I'm ready to chuck it all. By regs, a student will not be tasked with additional duties. I'm trying hard to be a team player here. By taking the job I'd be helping out my unit and taking the monkey off COMM's back, but we can't allow it to be THAT easy, now can we? Instead, I've got an Airman on the other end of the e-mail sitting atop the brick wall watching me bash my skull against it over and over without telling me that there's a door to get through the wall right over there. It would have been easy.... "I spoke with your ADO, added you to the webmaster list, BUT you can't access the files until after completing the class" was all she had to say and I'd be sitting in a classroom right now instead of trying to figure out WHY it was so much fun for her to JUST SAY NO.

The final outcome in MY mind? I'm a flight engineer, not a webmaster. I'm a student who can't be saddled with additional duties. You want someone to update your site, go find a qualified engineer who wants the job. I quit, having never made a single update to the site.