Laptop Flop, Part 25

(I am an IT technician, and I occasionally get asked if I can lend laptops to other departments. If I have any to spare, I try and oblige in the short term, but this isn’t always possible, for example, if the new laptops we have in stock are already reserved for new employees starting the company soon, or for existing employees long overdue an upgrade. I have repeatedly asked my boss and our head of department if I can have some money from our budget to buy a couple of laptops to be kept as dedicated spares, a request that is always denied. One day I receive a laptop I have ordered for a lady in another department. She is a supervisor, and falls into the “long overdue an upgrade” category; her last laptop was about seven years old, and quite frankly I’m surprised she’s put up with it that long! I get her new machine ready, then phone her and arrange to call down later that day to swap it over for her. Soon afterward I get a phone call from a different user.)

User: “Hi, [My Name], this is [User] in [Department]. I need to borrow a laptop. I’m going to schools this week to work at careers events and I would like to have a laptop to take with me.”

Me: “Well, I’m sorry, [User] but I don’t have anything.”

User: “Really? You don’t have anything?”

Me: “No, I don’t. The only laptop I have is sitting in front of me but it’s already been allocated to [Manager]. She’s going to get it later today.”

User: “Well… I need a laptop!”

Me: “Well, I’m sorry, but I don’t have anything suitable. That is, unless you wanted to borrow one of the ones that we’re decommissioning, but I don’t recommend it.”

User: *getting angry now* “Well, what if I phoned [Head of Department] and asked him; would you be able to lend me a laptop, then?”

(Yeah, because he is going to reach into his a** and pull out a laptop for you.)

Me: “No, there’s no point in you doing that, because he’ll just ask me if we have any spares and I’ll have to tell him we don’t.”

User: “Well, that’s not very helpful.” *click*

(In the end, the user did borrow a laptop from one of the managers who was on holiday and wasn’t using it. At least one good thing did come out of it, though: when I told my boss and our head of department what had happened, they finally realised I was right about needing spares and relented. They bought three spare laptops and four spare PCs!)

Related:
Laptop Flop, Part 24
Laptop Flop, Part 23
Laptop Flop, Part 22