IJMC - Sysadmin Price List
If I didn't think that my boss would fry me, this would end up on my
office door. Perhaps I can put it next to the demolished hard drive...
regardless, this is priceless, thanks to all the contributors. -dave
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Courtsey of alt.sysadmin.recovery, where Sysadmins come to whine, it's
The Sysadmin Price List:
_________________________________________________________________
Regular (as it were) Prices:
* Calling me with a question --- $10
* Calling me with a stupid question -- $20
* Calling me with a stupid question you can't quite articulate - $30
* Implying I'm incompetant because I can't interpret your
inarticulate problem description - $1000+punitive damages
* Questions received via phone without first trying help desk -
$10.00
* Questions where answer is in TFM - $10.00 (this should have been
higher :-)
* Questions during Xpilot session - $20.00
* Calling me back with the same problem *after* I fix it once - $100
* Insisting that you're not breaking the software, the problem is on
my end somehow - $200
* Asking me to walk over to your building to fix the problem -
$5/step
* Asking me to drive to another town to fix your problem -
$50/mile+gas
* If you interrupt me while I was reading news - $25/hr
* If you interrupt me while I was trying to count all the xroaches
on my screen - $35/hr
* If you interrupt me while I was trying to actually fix somebody
else's problem - $45/hr
* If you try to hang around and get me to fix it now - $50/hr
* If you expect me to tell you how I fixed it - $60/hr
* If you've come to ask me why something isn't working that I'm
currently working on - $70/hr
* If you're asking me to fix something I fixed for you yesterday -
$75/hr
* If you're asking me to fix something I told you I fixed yesterday,
but never did fix - $85/hr
* If you're asking me to fix a quick patch that I made that didn't
work - $95/hr
* If you're bugging me while there's another admin in the room who
could have done it for you - $150/hr
* Making me trek to your office to fix your problem then leaving
immediately after hanging up the phone - $1500.00
* Calling up with a problem which "everybody" in the office is
having and which is "stopping all work." Not being there when I
rush over to look at it and nobody else in the office knows
anything about it. - $1700.00
* Explaining a problem for 1/2 hour over the phone BEFORE mentioning
it's your personal machine at home - $500.00
* Self-diagnosing your problem and informing me what to do - $150.00
* Having me bail you out when you perform your own repairs I told
you not to do - $300.00
* Not telling all of your co-workers about it - $850.00
* Figuring out you mean floppy drive when you say hard drive -
$50.00
* AFTER I order your replacement hard drive - $250.00
* Fixing your "broken" mouse with a mousepad - $25.00
* Fixing your "broken" optical mouse by rotating the mousepad 90
degrees -$35.00
* Fixing your "broken" optical mouse by taking off the post-it note
someone has put on the bottom. - $50.00
* Fixing a "broken" mouse by cleaning the rollers - $50.00
* Fixing your "broken" printer with an ink/toner cartridge - $35.00
* Fixing your "broken" ANYTHING with the power button - $250.00
* Fixing the "crashed" system by turning the external disk back on -
$200.00
* Fixing the "hung" systemby plugging the ethernet transciver back
in - $375.00
* Fixing the crashed nameserver by plugging back in the SCSI cord
someone accidentially yanked out on Friday afternoon when the
'real' sysadmin has just left for a two week vacation - $400
* Visiting your old university and fixing the broken PC by plugging
the monitor lead back in - $50
* Explaining that you can't log in to some server because you don't
have an account there - $10
* Explaining that you don't have an account on the machine you used
to have an account on because you used it to try to break into the
above server - $500
* Forgetting your password after it was tattooed on your index
finger - $25
* Changing memory partitions without informing me first - $50
* Installing programs without informing me /getting permission first
-$100 per program
* Technical support for the above programs - $150 per hour
(regardless of whether I know the program or not :))
* Spilling coke on keyboard - $25 plus cost of keyboard
* Spilling coke on monitor - $50 plus cost of monitor
* Spilling coke on CPU - $200 plus cost of motherboard swap plus
hourly rate of $150 per hour spent reinstalling the system
* Leaving files on desktop - $5 per file, $10 per day the file is
left unclaimed
* Cleaning the mouse with spit and sleeve - $50 plus cost of sleeve
plus cost of therapy :)
* Bringing in your own copy of the original Norton Utilities v1.0 - $300
* fix a brand new machine - $200
* Chewing on the end of the graphic tablet stylus - $25
* Putting feet up next to workstation after ten mile jog through NYC
streets - $50
* Spending 30 minutes trying to figureout what your problem is, and
another 5 explaining how to verify and fix it, only to hear you
say... "So that's what the little box that popped up on my screen
was telling me to do!" - $40
* Listening to your network troubles, suggesting that you check to
see if you are plugged into the network jack, hearing yes, trying
five other things, asking you to identify your plug type,
listening to you drag furniture, and hearing a sheepish, "Oops.
Nevermind." - $35 (including discount for polite apology)
* Dealing with tech support requests for obviously pirated software
- $25
* Dealing with "How can I get another copy of [obviously pirated
software]? Mine just died." requests - $45
* Having to use the "We're really not the best people to talk to
about that; why don't you try calling the number on the box in
which you bought it?" line - $55
* Actually needing to explain copyright law to you after you failed
to get the hint in the previous response - $95 (includes
instructions for getting freeware replacements from the public
file server)
* Having to point out anything that's on the wall in a typeface
larger than 18 points - $15
* If I wrote the sign - $45
* If it's in a 144 point font and taped to the side of the monitor
facing the door - $75
* Reporting slow connection by passenger pigeon packets to MPEG
archive in Outer Slobavia as a Mosaic/Netscape/Gopher/FTP client
problem - $25.00
* Reporting it more than once - $50.00
* Reporting it more than once and implying slothfullness on tech
support's inability to solve problem - $200.00
Beeper Prices:
* Beeping me when I'm out with the significant other - $50
* Beeping me when I'm out of town and I took pains to insure that
help files were left all over and that diagnostics had been run on
all machines before I left - $100
* Beeping me more than once to tell me that the printer's offline
and the fix is to press the On Line button - $200
* Beeping me more than once while I'm asleep - $50 per beep
* Beeping me and not identifying yourself within the first 5 seconds
- $25
* Beeping me and then changing your story / denying you placed the
call / hoped I would forget who caused the problem - $500
Special Rates:
* Dealing with user body odor - $75.00/hour
* Dealing with user not familiar with the primary language spoken at
site - $50.00/hour
* Dealing with user who is (self-proclaimed) smarter than you are,
but still calls every other day for help - $100.00/hour
* Dealing with computer hobbiests - $125.00/hour
* Questioning the other prices .................................$50
From posts from:
jam@philabs.philips.com
jlkinsel@engr.ucdavis.edu
dpeschel@u.washington.edu
msuzio@tiamat.umd.umich.edu
nhughes@umich.edu
harlan@oberon.cs.wisc.edu
uhajj@superdec.uni.uiuc.edu
the8thman@aol.com
emk@dartmouth.edu
itchris@dale.ucdavis.edu
d-farley@tezcat.com
akilpat@engr.ucdavis.edu
ilaine@panix.com
s138@cpcroh.cpc.uea.ac.uk
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