In large IT shops, responsibilities are separated among different groups. The Applications Group deploys the application, trains the user and hands over day-to-day responsibility to the Operations Group. As Manager of Computer Operations, it fell to my staff to restore databases, do backups, etc. The Applications Group (including their Development DBAs) walked out the door every day promptly at 5 pm. I had to ensure that all three shifts were manned to respond to emergencies. I was working for a worldwide organization with major facilities in California, London and Japan. That geographical spread ensured that evry single hour of the day was somebody's prime shift (California being 8 hours behind London and 16 hours behind Japan). The separation of responsibility between Applications Development and Computer Operations is required for ensuring data security. You really do not want a pissed-off programmer wreaking havoc on your data on his last day at work, do you? The company's external auditors would not sign off on the books if we could not demonstrate clear separation of roles and responsibilities. Those are the realities of life in the big city. On the other hand, for a mom-and-pop video store, I guess the owner would call the programmer to restore his databases!