How Do You Deal w/ User Induced Stress? 171
Anonymous asks: "I've worked as a Network/System Administrator at a small company for two years now. It's my nature to remain calm and collected while trying to accommodate everyone, even when having a particularly stressful day. After two years though, I've recently found myself being stressed all the time and my calm, cool exterior is starting to show some cracks. How do Slashdot readers cope with the stress induced by a highly demanding job and being stalked by users asking for the same thing over and over (i.e. password resets, login problems, how do you...)?"
Define Stress (Score:4, Insightful)
Go on a shooting rampage... (Score:1, Insightful)
LET IT OUT! (Score:5, Insightful)
FAQ? (Score:4, Insightful)
If you have a large number of people asking the same things over and over again, you ought to have (as the name suggests) a FAQ. Keep it up to date and relevant to the problems people have, and it will save you (and them) time.
If a bunch of people are confused about the same issue, maybe the process they have to follow should be made more user friendly? Usually when a lot of people have the same problem, it is a genuine problem, and not them being idiots. If they *are* idiots there's not much you can do to fix that, so try increasing user-friendliness first.
Keep in mind there is a good kind of lazy. Any tools you can create to save work for yourself and others in the future, is the good kind of lazy. So spend a couple hours writing a shell script, so that you can save 20 minutes each time a problem comes up again and again. Eliminate mindless repetitive tasks as much as possible, and you'll save yourself time, and the time you do work will be more enjoyable.
Re:Easy (Score:1, Insightful)
To me it sounds like it is you who is the really obnoxious user.
Re:Here's what I do... (Score:4, Insightful)
No, they've learned to write down their passwords on post-it notes stuck to their monitors or elsewhere. Or, their password is "password" or their name or something similarly stupid.
They may stop calling on this because they think you're berating them (though I don't), or they may finally feel some guilt. But I can almost guarantee they are not learning anything useful from this.
Re:Wiki (Score:2, Insightful)
are you causing your own stress? (Score:3, Insightful)
If you're at work for X hours, does it really matter how you're spending your time? Just kill your ego a bit and don't worry about it. You are being paid for your time, so if people want to waste it, then complain to management the same as you would if they sit there reading a magazine all day instead of working.
If the problem is keeping track of your TODO list, then you just need to get organized. What would you do if you were a software developer and someone kept giving you new bug reports? You'd log them in a list sorted by priority. Can you do the same here?
If this "stress" is caused be being forced to work more than the original alloted hours, then that should be a different Ask Slashdot question: "What should I do when I get asked to work overtime when i'm not getting paid?"
hobbies? (Score:2, Insightful)
</dr phil>
go out and have some fun dude!
Re:Or your boss, for that matter? (Score:2, Insightful)
I have found that you can learn that the managers are actually smarter than you think. While it may not be technical smarts, they usually do have money smarts. People get the wrong impression that managers are there to make sure the technical work is getting done correctly. There actual job is to make sure it's getting done on a budget, therefore, technical expertise is not needed. Senior engineers/ITs are the ones responsible for correctness at my job.
Remember that next time your boss tells you something. Maybe try to talk to him about stuff that is not work related. This will open up your business relationship with him. The more your boss knows you, the more effectively he can manage you. If he knows the things you like/dislike, he'll be able to give you more of what you want. If your boss knows nothing about you, then how can he know how you prefer to do your job. No one can manage someone they don't know, just like a engineer can't design a system he knows nothing about. By getting to know your boss you are giving him the potential to be a better manager.
So what about that boss that just doesn't know how to handle people. Well, you have two choices, find a new job or try another approach to deal with the boss. It's very normal to quit a job because you can't deal with the management. If the company is big enough, just transfer. Do not be afraid of change. Some bosses, as soon as they know you are afraid to leave, will exploit you to the fullest. Being confident and flexible can be the key to getting the most out of your job.
One last thing. As an engineer, my job is to design/integrate systems and solve problems. After all, an engineering degree teaches you how to think, not how to do real world job stuff. Getting a project done at a certain time is part of a problem you must learn how to solve, therefore, you are actually doing part of your job by simply trying meet a schedule (that might be impossible to meet). Atleast you put your best effort to put out a quality product. If designing systems on a budget was easy, anyone could do it, but it's not, that's why they usually require degreed engineers to perform the tasks that we as techincal people do.
Re:Exercise! (Score:4, Insightful)
The trick for me was noticing that when I get stressed, I tend to stop exercising because I'm too busy. Now I tell myself that's bullshit; if I'm busy, the most important thing to do is to maintain my capacity for getting things done. And being relaxed and happy does wonders for my productivity.