Monday Morning Stories With Mookie - Episode 79

The Time Mookie Had To Get A Password Reset At Work

To do what I do at work, it requires me to have access to many different systems and software on my computer. This is all well and good, but each one of these systems requires its OWN login AND OWN password. None of them are the same, and all of them have different schedules of when they will require you to change your password. On a given day, I log into no less than EIGHT different systems - so it is understandable that I will forget a password every once in awhile.

When that happens, you normally get three "chances" to get it right. If you don't get it right in those three chances, for security reasons - it locks you out and revokes your access. This is nothing short of a pain in the ass, because then you have to call "The Help Desk."

The Help Desk people are actually local I.T people, which is nice because they ACTUALLY speak English and are American.  It's nice knowing that I'm not talking to some guy in Pakistan that I can't understand and tells me his name is "Kevin."  Anyway.....

One day I got locked out of one of my various systems and had to call the Help Desk.  Some times my co-workers and I call them the "No-Help Desk" because - depending on the problem - they are little no help.  Password resets are right in their wheelhouse though, so I called them up.

Now, to verify who you are to the I.T. people, you have to set up OTHER passwords in advance - when you get original access to the systems.  So yes...you have to remember other passwords to get another password.  It's ingenious.  Thankfully they are generic questions you choose from and "should" know the answer to.  They are things like "What's your mother's maiden name?", "What street did you live on?", or sometimes they let you create your own questions and answers.  I usually opt for this because you can do things most people wouldn't figure out if they were trying to get into your stuff.  Plus sometimes I like to have fun with it.  I once created a question that asked "Who's house did you burn down in 1982?"  It really makes the I.T. guys stop for a second.

The I.T. guy answered, and asked who I was and what site I worked at.  Once we verified that, he started asking my security questions.  They normally ask two of the five or so you have to set up.  The second security question was the one that became unintentionally hilarious.  He goes:
"What is your favorite musical artist or group?"
I answered: "Van Halen."

"NIICCEE!" was the response I got from the I.T. guy.

This made me laugh, and while he reset my password, we had a lengthy discussion over our favorite VH albums, if/when we saw them live, an discussed who was the better lead singer - Sam or Dave.  After a good five or six minutes, he finished what he needed and we verified that my access was back on my side.

Once we were done, he did the usual "Is there anything else we can help you with today?"  To which I had nothing.  He then said "Thanks for calling," and I thanked him for his help.

He then ended the call by saying "Rock on."

It made me laugh.  Best call with the Help Desk ever.