The price of security is eternal phone calls

Credit to Author: Sharky| Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2017 03:00:00 -0700

This city government is going through an extended validation process with one of its IT security providers, according to a pilot fish in the loop.

“I got an email that said to call them, since they couldn’t reach me at the number they had,” fish says. “That’s no surprise, because the number isn’t mine — it’s our Human Resources main line.

“I’ve told them in the past to call me at my actual number for this, but they always insist that they need a ‘published’ number.”

After yet another round of this for the new security certification, fish calls customer support for the security outfit and suggests they replace the HR number with the number for the city’s IT department. That’s on the city’s official website, so it should qualify as “published.”

Can I put you on hold? support guy asks. OK, says fish.

While he’s listening to the on-hold music from the security provider, a transferred call lights up fish’s phone. But there’s no caller ID showing, so he ignores it and lets it go to voicemail.

Shortly after that, the support guy comes back on the line. He tells fish that he called the city’s IT number and had them transfer the call to fish — but he got fish’s voicemail.

“I told him yeah, I’m holding for you,” says fish.

“He got it, we both chuckled, and he said to hang up and he would initiate the callback again to be transferred to me. So we did, and I finished the validation.”

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