We weren't allowed to assign blame to people because it created a bad working environment apparently. The company used The Dilbert Principle as the operations manual.
Ah, that sort of place. So probably loaded with buzz words, that half the people using them don't understand and don't want to admit they don't understand. Just get someone to sign off on a chit for "fostering improved staff training and understanding with a dynamic kinetic environment in trans-fenestral situations".
PHB: "You what!?! You threw him out of the window!?!"
BD139: "You signed off on it..."
I always wanted to have a job that would let me put "fenestrate" in my CV... closest I've gotten is doing some steel erection work, where I actually made some pretty high windows.
As an aside, I spoke with Simon a few times, back when The Register still had a UseNet portal that linked to the alts he still haunted from time to time. Much friendlier guy than the BOFH. Still pretty cynical though, which I fully understand given my own history working in corporate environments.
I have 2, they get new batteries every ~3 years and I've had them both for about 15 years - we get lots of little blackouts and and power sags so they keep my servers and comms gear from having the rug pulled out from them. In longer power loss scenarios they allow the servers to shut down gracefully.
Worth every cent to me.
Ps I only buy APC units, they are just bullet proof!
Every UPS I've owned was reclaimed hardware from a de-install. My current one is a first-gen APC SmartUPS 1500 XLM (made back when they didn't count on low-IR AGMs to make their VA ratings, so has a full-size battery cartridge); it is in the living room right by the bigscreen TV and the DOCSIS 3.1 MODEM, Router, AP etc and ONE lamp in the corner of the room with a 9W LED bulb in it. Client replaced the whole unit instead of just the battery; I took it home and found one crusty connector on a battery in the cartridge. Cleaned and retinned the lug, replaced the connector and now it operates showing 95% capacity again.
The headaches of not having a UPS come not from when my PC (or my MPC) in the corner of the room goes down; that happens pretty rarely as both have oversized power supplies with plenty of cap to keep it alive for a second or three. It's that the slightest flicker makes the damned MODEM go down, and then you have to wait for it to reboot, then bind the streams, and then half the time then you have to power cycle the TV and the MPC so they re-establish their connections to streaming video sources like Hulu/NetFlix, etc.
The UPS makes that a thing of the past, plus on the rare occasion the power actually goes out, I have light and TV in the room for hours if I turn off the PCs. Keeps me from having to eat my young in defense of my sanity because they get bored in a dark house with nothing to rot their brains. Next one I get is going on the freezer in the garage. :p
mnem
The moose is loose... Uhh, tighten 'im up a little, willya?