I've just had one of those mornings when an ostensibly simple task turned into a time consuming and unresolved pile of cack.
Task: Check a store's headset transmitter repeater, because staff are complaining of crackling noise on the headsets. A replacement repeater was provided in case the existing one is bust.
Method: Arrive at store, find the repeater to see if it's powered on or in a fault state and restore to service or replace it.
Problem 1: No repeater found in store in any of the usual places.
Solution: Call the hardware team as they have a database of the stores with locations of base stations and repeaters.
Problem 2: Hardware check the database and don't have a record of the location of the repeater for that store, but if I find it, can I let therm know where it is so they can add it to the database for future reference.
Problem 3: I search the store from top to bottom and can't find a repeater, so I install and successfully test the supplied replacement. I call the hardware team to tell them, but the phone rings once, then goes silent. I try again several times, same result. I'd mail therm to call me, but I don't have their address.
Problem 4: I'm trying to close the call on my tablet but it wants the serial numbers of both the old and new repeaters. I can bypass this, but should also record the serial numbers on the general parts database, but I can't do that as it MUST have both incoming and outgoing part serial numbers.
Problem 5: I call my manager, who I know won't be able to tell me how to proceed, but may know someone who can. She doesn't answer but texts me to say she's in a meeting. I leave her a voicemail message, outlining the problem. I call our engineering helpdesk, but they can't help as it's not a tecnicasl issue, although they suggest maybe installing the repeater and logging it as a chargeable call, because the store don't know where the faulty one is. But the stores never know because an engineer installs them and leaves no documentation or tells them where it's been put. The engineering desk then advise me to call the hardware team. If i could speak to them i wouldnt have called engineering, FFS. I call an engineering team leader who may know, but I get a text from him asking me to call back later. I mail him to ask if he has an email address for the hardware team. So far, no rep!y.
My manager contacts me on WhatsApp (she will do anything to avoid actually speaking to any of her engineers), to see if I got the problem resolved. I appraise her if the situation, but get no further response, as expected.
Problem 6: The parts system will expect me to return the faulty repeater, but all I have is an empty box. In a few days this will pop up on someone's report as an unreturned part and they will mail me to remind me to return it. I will reply, explaining the circumstances, but they won't know how to resolve it. Basically, they don't have a facility for supplying a part without one being returned. Their system can't deal with that. They will probably say I should have interrupted the original call, returned the good part, and told the store to raise a purchase order for a repeater. The store will not be able to do this as the repeater is a special order and is not on the company's purchasing system. Only the hardware team can procure them.
I move in to my next call.