Invalid User ID or Password, it shrugged calmly back. I tried everything I could think of - my staff number - with and without leading zero; my FQN; my old and new style email addresses - with and without capitalisation... All in vain. It simply did not recognise me.
Seeking to preempt further problems down the line, I mailed the Helpdesk. The prospect of being stranded over the sea, unable to access email because my password had expired and my grace logins used up didn't particularly appeal.
Two days later a Helpdesk consultant responded, to say he couldn't find my details on the Heat database. Which surprised me on two counts - firstly, that it took two days for someone to attempt to log my call and notice that I didn't exist; and secondly, that - despite having logged probably thousands of calls in the years I've been at UCT - the system failed to recognise my existence.
That was the last I heard on the matter. No call number, no progress report, no further information sought. Nothing.
Until the file servers were virtualised, I myself had access to HEAT, and could log calls directly into the system, monitor them and bounce them back when someone mistakenly sent them to the wrong team... but this being no longer the case, I relied on Heat Self-Service to look up the progress of my call. Again, nothing I typed in as "Email ID" was recognised - despite my previous email address having been happily accepted these past many years.
Something, somewhere, is amiss.
But unless someone, somewhere, does something to address this, a whole lot more will shortly be amiss as my password expires and my grace logins run out; my mailbox fills up, topples over and bounces incoming mail; and someone bursts a bloodvessel somewhere from uncontrolled bloodpressure.
Happy New Year, everyone...