Ted’s Mail Server Woes

My brother’s mail server crashed. Crashed big time.

Let me back up. Ted hosts a large number of websites and he is host to a large number of mail customers (e-mail, that is). Most of the time, probably 99% of the time, things run just fine. Websites function as they should so his customers can run their businesses and e-mails fly through cyber space without interruption. Life is good, butterflies flit around and birds sing their cheery songs.

Then it happened. On Tuesday night the mail server crashed. Ted tried to fix it from his house. He tried and tried and tried and just couldn’t get it fixed. So he had to head up to Portland where the servers are stored.

He spent hours and hours there trying to get the mail server up and running. He just couldn’t get it to work.

He called me about 9:30 last night (Wednesday night). Now, I need to mention, I had been gone all day and I was unaware of the mail problems. When I came home around 9:00, I noticed the mail server wasn’t working so I texted Ted to tell him the mail server wasn’t working…completely oblivious to his struggles throughout the day.

So when he called me, one of the first things I mentioned was that I was wicked tired. His response? “Screw you!”. What????? “Screw you!” he said again. What in the world is his problem???

He then explained to me where he was, where he had been and what had been happening. Ah….ok I understand now. He only had four hours sleep the night before, had been trying to get the problem fixed all day and was still at it. Instead of being home, having a beer and watching a movie, he was stuck in Portland trying to fix a problem he just couldn’t get fixed. He really was completely unsympathetic to how tired I was and really didn’t want to hear it.

I really did understand. I let him know that I totally sympathized and, even though I wanted to go straight to bed, I would stay up for an hour or so in case he needed me to check things on-line from my end.

It was a struggle but I managed to stay awake and, an hour later, he called me and we checked it. I was able to send and receive mail so the problem seemed to be solved. Ted said he was going to head home and tackle the problem again in the morning. Apparently he had put a temporary fix on it that would take care of things for a while.

The next night, when we were having our usual evening phone conversation, I gently explained to him that I really had been tired last night and explained why. He said he understood and sort of, kind of, apologized for his rudeness the night before. But, as he has explained to me in the past, he can blow off steam with me because I am his sister. He can be rude and express his frustrations because he knows that I love him and will be understanding and forgiving.

I really wish he had told me what was happening. Then I would have known not to spurt out that I was wicked tired. I also could have been entirely sympathetic from the start. Because I really do understand his frustrations and how tired he was at the moment I talked to him.

I don’t fully understand what the problems were even though Ted has explained it to me. Sometimes these things really go over my head. But I can still sympathize and be supportive. I know that it isn’t just that the mail server crashed. It was also that it was inconveniencing all of his customers and people can really jump ship over things like that. Lucky for Ted, no one did. Everyone understood, was patient and waited for the problem to get fixed. That made me happy for him.

I hope that everyone will be understanding and patient when their e-mail doesn’t work. After all, these things happen. Not everything works perfect all the time and computers can crash very easily. And as frustrating as it is for the customer, it is so much more frustrating for the person in charge of fixing the problem. I understand this because I see the problem from the other side, through my brother. But, maybe in posting this, other people will see the problem from the other side and be as understanding as possible.

On that note, I am still tired from yesterday and am heading to bed. I really am wicked tired and that isn’t a reflection on the awakeness and tiredness of anyone else. Really…so don’t yell at me.

PS I must be tired when I make up words like “awakeness”. But I don’t have the energy to look for a better word so we will all have to live with that one.