Was working on an issue for a user; they called in using this program called ResWare. We're going to call this user "Rani".
In ResWare, they export documents and such to MS office. This is pretty standard with pretty much any LOB programs that do reports/finances en masse. Okay, cool, traditional problem. Here we go, boys.
So she calls in telling me that she's having issues with opening documents in office. It was hard enough to understand with a combination of accent and the phone being muffled, but I like a challenge so let's see. I remote in to the machine and see the issue, office is asking for creds when logging in. Okay, so the product is unlicensed. Simple enough.
At this point, I had Rani log in. No good. Wouldn't take creds. Well, there could be a number of reasons for this but I don't feel like digging into them so I just had her try a few more times, same result. Okay, fine. I see how it is. Site uses O365 though, so let's see if they can even log into that.
So I had Rani log into this and it didn't work. Pass or username is no good. Ha. So it's a password problem. But it's never that simple. Here it comes. You can feel it. I felt it as soon as I saw those dreaded red letters.
Me: "All right! So it appears your password is wrong."
Rani: "It couldn't be. It was just working the other day."
Inner Me: "no. Stop. Don't do this to me, Rani. Don't. You're gonna make me get greasy with you."
Me: "I understand it may have been working the other day but sometimes this happens with O365 systems. Passwords expire or, for some random trick of the ether, they just stop working.
Okay, we all know passwords don't just "stop working", but most users don't inquire after that. I wish it would've been that simple.
Me: "Let me check something real quick for you..." *logs into O365 admin* "We may need to reset your password." *sees that account is synced with Active Directory. Victory, so they're using SSO.* "All right! So it seems your password is synced with AD, meaning they should all be the same. Try your computer login please."
Rani: i shouldn't have to do that. The passwords have always been different.
Inner Me: "I'm gonna have to do it to her. I'm REALLY gonna have to do it to her."
Me: "I understand that, but as of right now your account is synced with the server. This means that every password that is like that will be the same. Almost like one, big, easy to use system. Makes life much more streamlined for you."
Rani: "but I never had to do this before."
Me: "Let's try something..." *locks computer* "Login for me, please."
Rani logs in, after saying something about it. I noticed she typed in a stupid long password.
Me: "What password was that? The one you said your email pass was wasn't anywhere nearly as long as that."
Rani: "Yes, because the passwords are different."
The inner me at this point is furious like that character from Inside Out.
Me: "They're linked together, so let's try that." After she logged in, this verified her AD account wasn't locked
Pass didn't work in O365, I'm guaranteeing she half-assed it but whatever. I'm going to beat this issue to death if it kills me. Tried it several more times, no good.
Rani: "I don't know why this is taking so long. A previous tech from last week was able to do it in 2 seconds and it worked. I don't know why this is so difficult."
Inner Me: "Okay, so you're flipping telling me a tech did this LAST WEEK and did it completely wrong, which is why we're in this boat. I wonder who that was."
At this point she was getting that "you don't know what you're doing attitude" and I wasn't about to put up with that because it wouldn't have been good for either of us.
Me: "Okay, you know what..." *goes into O365 admin* "I'm going to reset your password in O365 here... and it'll work. Watch." *reset pass to what she wanted, had her log in and it worked fine* "Now look, here's what's going to happen. This account is going to work for an hour or two, maybe even a couple of days, BUT this system WILL sync back up to AD and your password WILL NOT WORK. All right?"
I suspected at this point she didn't want to talk to me anymore because she wouldn't hang around to test her original issue; not being able to send files from Resware to office because her products were unlicensed.
Rani: "I'll call you back if there are any other issues."
Me: "Mkay, here's your ticket number for if the issue reoccurs."
Then I proceeded to put in the internal notes about this foolish interaction because I'm not falling on that sword and having my own competency called into question. Nice enough lady to talk to, but as stubborn as a brick.