I, in no way mean to point fingers, and am attempting to stay neutral in this account of what happened tonight. In no way mean to assign blame. I just want to make sure that this incident is well documented, should anything further arise from it. I also want to make sure that this can dealt with in the way in which you deem most fit.

While at work, around 10:30 tonight (10/11/2007) I noticed that there was a kind of confrontation between the manager, and a student who came to the desk for help. The student was getting more and more aggravated at the manager, so I walked over, and saw what was going on to see if I could help diffuse the situation. At this point I was able to overhear enough to gather that the student was attempting to connect a Play Station 3 (PS3) to the network, because he needed some form of firmware update before Sony would honor their warranty. The manager stated that he was not allowed to place his PS3 on the network, and was very conceivably rude in the manner in which he was doing so. He did not explain why this was the case, even when the user inquired specifically. When the manager did finally state why he could not, he was very sure to use the words "it was in the contract that YOU signed" (very heavily trying to place blame on the user in a very untactful and altogether rude way which, would have personally offended me). When the user said he didn't sign the form for network access, the manager did explain that he did so, even if doing so where by proxy, and in his housing contract. He then went on to state that the university connection was meant SOLELY for academic purposes, which further aggravated the student, because this was stated in a very condescending way. At this point I went over, and tried to explain some of the reasons that a personal computer was the only thing currently allowed on the network, that it was a security risk, etc. This calmed the user down greatly. The student then mentioned that he was having trouble with another computer (jokingly) I assume, trying to make light of the situation. The manager got more aggravated by this, and made comments about how the user should not be sarcastic with us in a somewhat sardonic manner. This frustrated the user even further, and he stated that he would not speak to the manager, but that he would only speak with me, stating that the manager was nothing but rude to him, and in no way helpful. The manager got frustrated and walked away from the desk (I assume to go calm down, as this obviously upset upset him). I told the user that the manager was the manager, and that what he said was, in fact, what had to be followed through with in terms of the network, and policy. I then stated that I could aid him in finding an alternate means to completing the task which did not involve the network, directly or go against policy. I honestly felt bad for the manager, as this was a somewhat unfair of the user, but very understandable response from the user at the same time. At this point I went on to help explain he may be able to download the firmware one some other media (CD, or flash drive) and transfer the firmware over to the PS3. He said he remembered something about that being stated in his interactions with Sony. I tried to point him in the best direction I could with information pertaining to this, but noted that this was not our area of expertise, and we cannot with any certainty follow through with support for this device, and we were in no way libel for anything that will, could, or would happen to his system based on his actions with it. He stated that this was fine, and that he was happy there was an alternative that he could try. He thanked me for listening to the problem before telling him no to a solution, and appeared to leave the desk happy. At this point the manager would not speak to me for the rest of the night within any real depth excluding one-word answers. I was personally offended at how the manager was treating the user, and just wanted to help him calm the user down, and help the user in the best way we could while following policy.

Signed,
Travis Seth