I worked for a help desk one summer for the government in 2012. The user had opened a help desk about moving files from one location to another. It was extremely vague and not descriptive. Being the new guy, I got the ticket and grabbed an encrypted external hard drive and headed down to her office, ready to move some files.

I walk into her office and she says she has some files she wants moved onto her shared drive, so she can share with some coworkers. Simple enough. I asked where the files were originally.

She turns around and points to a bookshelf, about 7 feet tall, stocked full with 3-ring binders. She wanted all of the physical files in those binders on her virtual shared drive.

I told her something along the lines of, IT doesn’t do that, and that I can help move digital files but I won’t scan 100k+ files. But more politely

She was confused, then upset because “IT should work it’s magic and get it done.” She contacted my boss, who, upon me reporting it was fully aware that this call was coming, laid into her about being disrespectful towards her employees and having reasonable expectations. Did I mention my boss was a retired Marine Corps Sergeant? Because it was brutal.

I never did get an apology. But I never had to work with her again, so I’ll take that as a win.