u/ActualFactualAnthony

A bit of a vent post about the worst PoS (Piece of Software... totally :P) I've ever dealt with: Genesys.

Holy cow. I worked for a northeastern cable company a little while back named Altice, and they used some version of the stuff that had a toolbar as part of the desktop. It sometimes worked. Other times it decided to not keep you in a status. Sometimes it wouldn't register at all. Sometimes you'll be on break or wrap, deliberately setting it in that status and it'll decide "mmmmmyes you're working now kbai" and put me into available. Worst experience, combined with management that took the data and criticized everything. Out of adherence or conformance? Immediately notified. 1 second too long in a status? OH NO CAN'T HAVE THAT, IT'LL ADD UP AT THE END OF EACH WEEK, 5 SECODNS TOO MANY.

Then I escaped. Or so I thought. Had some other jobs after I was let go for various reasons (not related to this POS software), and now I find myself in a non-call-center environment, but what did the company decide to do?

Implement Genesys Cloud company-wide. For Accountability, they said. Keep track of what we're doing, they say.

Doesn't matter the previous software we used (Verint) was actually good and actually kept an eye on what we did.

Nah, they want us to clock in and out, AND update our status. Good news: they only care about conformance, over adherence (that is, the total amount of time in a given status equals the total amount scheduled), so it doesn't matter when it's set - so 20 total minutes of break, 7hrs 40min total of shift time) but the claims they make defending using this stuff... disgusting.

What's worse, is while the new UI is nice, it's only nice when it works. Luckily it's not as often as my time working for Altice, but there are times it doesn't want to save our status. Sign out and close the app? Sometimes it keeps us on queue. Update our status? Sometimes as much as 5 minutes later it bounces us back to where we're work with no warning, except when my manager asks why I've been in break or meeting for two hours past the time we were supposed to have gone back on queue.

I don't know how a company producing such garbage has been able to worm their way into companies. I also don't know how companies see value in this trash. We've literally done better self-tracking (and weeding out bad eggs in the company) using Excel of all things, and the icing on the cake:

I don't work in the call center anymore! I used to at Altice, but in my current job, I've not done a single call center duty! There's a department that's a call center and I stay far away from it, but... Argh!

If a company must use Genesys, sure, fine, whatever. When it works it's nice. As someone that loves data, it's fascinating, and obviously it's on management to take that data and toss out the noise (or micro manage and act on anything that looks bad time-wise), and when it's integrated into other software, it's nice. It actually updates your status, can link with your time clock, etc.

But I'm not in a call center any more. Our time clock is a completely different service. We already track our work in a way that's far more accurate. We had software that actually monitored our time in other apps and idle time.

We. Don't. Need. This.

...But of course, I value my paycheck more than 'sticking it to the man', so alas... *clicks on queue*

...So, does anyone else have any experiences with this software? Bad or good (if the latter is even possible)?

Currently, I'm using Ubuntu Studio, and the issue is just... honestly, it's hard to pinpoint? It's honestly a bunch of small things that come together to annoy me. On their own, they're almost completely trivial, but the blend of them drives me up a wall.

A lack of support for my Creative sound card. I've got a Creative ZX card and I can't possibly recall the steps I took to make it work, but I needed to fiddle around with a few console apps to finally make it behave. Many times when a major update hits the OS, I have to reconfigure it, leading me to search for the text files with the instructions I wrote down, or google the process all over again. This might be more than just finding a "good distro" but still, small things combining into a big problem.

Discover is hot garbage. Microsoft store? Download an app, it just works, and it updates fine. Apple's App Store? Download an app, it just works, and updates fine. Android app store? Same thing. iOS App store? Lather rinse repeat. Discover on Ubuntu Studio? Dependency issue, dependency issue, dependency issue. I think only a single app ever installed through Discover. Use another 'app store'? No consistency. Apps released on one place are sometimes out of date or not clearly labeled as "no longer supported". It always boils down to using apt or some other package manager. Are there no GUI based versions that interface with this to make it a little user friendly?

Everything wants me to use command line. Okay, I went into Linux understanding I'll probably need to put on my "grown up nerd pants" and deal with learning the console/command line, but I'm sorry, I'm spoiled and having used macOS and Windows, I want GUI. I want an interface that gives me power and control over my app. And honestly, if the app gives me a GUI with the ability to invoke command line functions from a built-in command line (something like VS Code)? Beautiful.

The overall experience is very rough around the edges, and my god, there are "sharp edges" everywhere. Like seriously, there's a ton of distros that look really nice, feel really nice on the surface to use, but as soon as I sit down to start using it, even trying to just install apps to do day-to-day non-power-user things, it gets rough real fast. Google Chrome doesn't like to update, and keeps prompting me to reinstall it. Brave? Same thing. Haven't switched to firefox yet. Other apps I need to reinstall and it often seems

I switched from Windows to Linux because I'm tired of Microsoft's garbage turning Windows from a usable OS that I grew up with into a shell of it's former self. (Heh heh, shell. Pun not intended, I swear.) I've got a MacBook Pro, and pretty much anything I use on Linux seems to work there, but I'm not made of money and I'm not interested in taking time to hunt down a cost-effective Mac mini on ebay or amazon (I generally don't buy new apple products). That leaves me with a nice desktop and I don't want to use Windows.

I'm not against switching to Arch or an Arch-based distro, or any other distro that can give me a ton of performance (it seems really any distro will do that) while not making me have to go to the "stone ages" (no offense guys) with how I need to use the computer. I want to mitigate the need for command line, and ideally, any apps that give me a GUI should actually work instead of tease me, carrot-on-a-stick style (like with the Discovery App).

Ubuntu is nice, but it just doesn't seem to hit the mark. What are your suggestions to get as close to a modern "cushy" computing experience as possible without biting the bullet and returning to Windows (or hunting down a mac desktop solution)?

OK, so backstory: I have been trying to find the "perfect" water bottle. Something good for on the go, something that'll hold a lot of water, and something that won't impart a taste onto the water.

I started with re-using recyclable water bottles. I buy a Poland Spring or Aquafina bottle, maybe I make do and force myself to buy Dasani if I'm desperate for water (🤣), and when I finish it, I re-use it a few times until it starts to smell, and then I toss it in the recycle bin. However, I know there's a lot of concern over chemicals leeching in.

I then started with reusable bottles. My first few were plastic, and whether they were dishwasher safe or not, no matter how many times I washed it, I'd get a taste from the water, usually within a few hours. Some of these bottles claimed to impart no taste, but sure enough I taste it.

Okay, no more plastic. Let's do metal. Same thing. Maybe after a major wash I can get a day if I'm lucky, before I start getting a taste. Similar to the plastic, maybe a little different. I don't like it, though, and of course some people have concerns over a metallic taste, and I'd rather not play games.

Recently I bought an RTIC ceramic-lined water bottle. I've had plenty of ceramic mugs/cups in the past. They insulate really well, and they have no taste. I can lick'em all day, no issues. I've had hot water and cold water out of them, no issues. Surely the water bottle would be fine! ....Nope. Weird tastes, and just like metal and plastic, I get MAYBE a day of no weird tastes, before I get some plastic-like or other strange taste on the water. Usually it's within an hour or so.

Maybe it's the fact that they seem to have a plastic top and THAT's the issue?

Whether I use a dishwasher or hand-wash with dish soap, doesn't seem to change things. Am I just doing something wrong?

Are my taste buds so sensitive and there's nothing actually wrong, and I need to just deal with it? Why don't I get this with normal plastic water bottles like poland spring, then?

Do I need to find a glass-lined insulated bottle? Maybe that would work?

Do I need to invest in some heavily over-engineered $400 water bottle just to enjoy water in a reusable bottle?

Like I'm really tired of buying water bottles of increasing prices, only to get water that tastes like crap within hours of filling it up. Like, surely I'm not expected to drink my water bottle within an hour, right? Especially if it's advertised to keep your drink cool/hot all day long, does that NOT imply I can keep liquid in it all day and I shouldn't expect it to taste like crap or have a strange smell? Literally got my RTIC bottle open and it smells like... mildew/moldy? Plasticy I don't even know anymore, it just smells/tastes off, and I'm tired of it at this point.

If there's any enthusiasts who can like... give me some tips, the customer support for RTIC just talked about washing it, maybe letting it soak with warm water and a tablespoon of vinegar or baking soda, and I *think* I tried that before. When I asked if they had other suggestions, the agent literally just repeated themselves in different words, so they're clearly useless.

HALP PLZ 😭