As I entered the office this morning, one of my colleagues pointed out that his internet connection was not working. He’s relatively new and works out of the part of the office that lacks wired connections. So, I assumed that the problem was the wireless transmitter.
Crawling over boxes in our storage room, I soon determined that the wireless network appeared to be operational. I then plugged in my laptop, found that the network itself was operational and then tested the wireless network. I, too, could not connect.
As we continued to puzzle over this technological void, others arrived for work. Over a twenty minute period, we received a variety of reports on the network. No one could access the wireless and the wired connections were up and down with no explanation or reason. Eventually a call was placed to our technicians. Verification was made — our network was officially down. This was not merely a problem with our satellite location.
My colleague left with his laptop under his arm and headed to a nearby coffee shop and free internet. The rest of us meandered through the office suite, bemoaning the fact that no internet was available. Then unexpectedly, my connection re-opened. When I reported this to my co-workers, machines were re-booted. Strangely, two computers were connected and two were not.
Another call was made to the technicians. “No, we told you the network is down.”
“Then why are two of our computers connected and the other two aren’t?”
“Oh,” the beleaguered tech sighed, “actually, we know that some computers are connecting and some aren’t. We just don’t know why.”
I was glad that one of our kinder, gentler people was on that call. I would have been insisting on why we were being told something that obviously wasn’t accurate. Instead of passing on the news that some of us could conduct business as usual, the universal message was, “Don’t even bother trying.”
I suppose it was easier to speak conservatively than it was to try and explain. Yet trust is built on understanding. And a relationship of trust is worth investing in an explanation.
Am I making too big a deal about this? Most certainly.
Conservatively speaking.