I hate days like this

Most days I work in the software development department, sitting here in front of the computer in my pjs (I telecommute), sippin’ on a soft drink (or more likely ice water since I was down with the flu in February), readin’ a little news here, a blog or two there, and incidentally getting some work done.
But two days a week I am seconded to the product support department. Thankfully our front line support is handled by email (and I have an agreement with the company that I will NEVER have to do phone support). But as I suggested yesterday, the Internet is quickly becoming populated by total idiots masquerading as sysadmins and net gurus, who wouldn’t know a bit from a byte or a Hayes modem from a DSL router, or a DNS entry from a hole in their head…and they ALL want our software.
The problem with this is that I have to help them two days a week. And frankly I don’t have the temperment to do so anymore. Back in the days when we were all mainframers (and I admit I was one more by courtesy than anything else, although I CAN program in REXX), people actually had to have a fair amount of knowledge, and life was good. Today, the Internet has become pedestrian due to the web making it so much easier to use. I don’t hate the web; I loathe it while using it a lot more than I used to think I would. (Well — here I am blogging, for instance.)
The problem is, that while the Internet has become pedestrian, the people who run it have seriously decreased in knowledge and ability — probably due to the fact that there are so many open positions for sysadmins these days that anyone who can run Word and write a macro can get a job running an Internet server. Back in the old days, you actually had to know what you were doing before they turned you loose to burn all the lights on the front of the IBM big iron.
I’m exaggerating the problem — I hope. There are a few good people left who understand how it ought to work. What will happen when we’re gone? One of these days the Internet is going to be left to the script kiddies, I suspect. I’m only 22 years from retirement so I guess I’ll live to deal with it…
I ought to write a book. I keep threatening to.