Experiences with non-techies

[tomison25]

Me: Can you help me with my electrochemistry homework?

Dad: Let me BING that for you.

Me: Actually, no, I'm ok.

[Majinferno]

I can't even count how many people's computer "problems" I've solved by "is it plugged in?"

This ^

At first they acted insulted by you askng such an obvious question. Things change once they realize it wasn't actually plugged in ....

[guitarboy012001]

brother: can this run minecraft?

 

me: it has 1/2 a gig of ram, a pentium 4, and a broken monitor.

 

brother: we can fix it!

 

me: its a laptop.

 

brother: sooo?

[Wooth]

brother: can this run minecraft?

 

me: it has 1/2 a gig of ram, a pentium 4, and a broken monitor.

 

brother: we can fix it!

 

me: its a laptop.

 

brother: sooo?

 

I bet it still works well as a space heater. Pentium 4 the techies equivalent to the tea light heater

[Kyuubixchidori]

My english teacher, when she turns off the projector, she says she "mutes it"

 

we where doing presentations, and when we typed in our emails to sign in, she let us know we could "mute" the projector so no one sees it.

 

Bothers me because shes so close but so far

[MblaZe7run]

I love when people ask me about battery life or processor speed. "This program says it needs 3.3GHz to run, this laptop is only 1.9GHz! Yes, but the processor it is saying it needs is a Pentium, this is an i5. "But it isn't 3.3GHz IT WON'T WORK!" Ma'am, yes it will. The architecture is much more sophisticated than a Pentium, it will work. If it wouldn't, then how did I run it on my 1.9GHz Core i7 laptop? "You're just lying for a sale!"    smh.... Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's the chip architecture that matters, not the speed. Amiright?

 

Then the batteries. "4.5 hours? Really?" No, that is pretty much when your laptop is simply on, and not doing any work. "Then how long will it last when I'm using it?" I'm not sure, it really depends of how much you are stressing it! "I don't stress my laptop though!" Then it might last longer. Those numbers are very much so guess work.

 

 

EDIT: I should also note that I work in a retail environment, and I make ZERO commission, aside from mobile phone sales, which we never sell. I refuse to lie to a customer knowingly. I'd rather them leave with the proper information to make a purchase than sell them something that won't get the job done the way it is intended to.

[Thorium19]

Here's a good one.

My sister came to me today asking for help sorting out her printer. She went on to tell me that the black ink had run out and she'd barely printed anything out. Not telling me that what she had printed out had been in black and white. And that barely anything turned out to be 3 copies of a 15 page document in high quality at 600dpi. Then she was surprised when the colour cartridge felt heavier than the black cartridge. No fucking surprise, you've not used it yet! Oh, and she's had that black ink cartridge in for a couple of weeks as well printing out a number of other documents, which include detailed photos and images requiring more ink.

[MblaZe7run]

Here's a good one.

My sister came to me today asking for help sorting out her printer. She went on to tell me that the black ink had run out and she'd barely printed anything out. Not telling me that what she had printed out had been in black and white. And that barely anything turned out to be 3 copies of a 15 page document in high quality at 600dpi. Then she was surprised when the colour cartridge felt heavier than the black cartridge. No fucking surprise, you've not used it yet! Oh, and she's had that black ink cartridge in for a couple of weeks as well printing out a number of other documents, which include detailed photos and images requiring more ink.

 

Oh, my absolute favorite is when people choose to buy a printer because the ink is cheaper. Even after showing them an equally priced printer with ink almost 2x more expensive, they buy the printer with cheaper int (HP EVNY 5530 vs HP Officejet Pro 8610 is the most common debate). The 8610 has cartridges that are several times larger in capacity than the 5530, and that correlates to a higher yield per cartridge. When showing them the cost per page, they just look at me like "I want what is cheaper now!" The reason to not go with the cheaper upfront cost is that you will spend more money in the long run. While I have printed close to 800 pages on my 8610 with my starter cartridges in about 2 months, my manager (who has the 5530) has printed about the same amount of pages, and replaced the cartridges twice. I haven't bought cartridges yet, he has spent $120 already. Similar amount of pages, cheaper cost in the long run for me.

[DigitalHermit]

Oh, my absolute favorite is when people choose to buy a printer because the ink is cheaper. Even after showing them an equally priced printer with ink almost 2x more expensive, they buy the printer with cheaper int (HP EVNY 5530 vs HP Officejet Pro 8610 is the most common debate). The 8610 has cartridges that are several times larger in capacity than the 5530, and that correlates to a higher yield per cartridge. When showing them the cost per page, they just look at me like "I want what is cheaper now!" The reason to not go with the cheaper upfront cost is that you will spend more money in the long run. While I have printed close to 800 pages on my 8610 with my starter cartridges in about 2 months, my manager (who has the 5530) has printed about the same amount of pages, and replaced the cartridges twice. I haven't bought cartridges yet, he has spent $120 already. Similar amount of pages, cheaper cost in the long run for me.

 

Thank you for detailing my mistake of buying a ~60USD 3-in-one printer... Damn you Canon and your inks... One cartridge is ~7USD... I should've bought that Brother with the first party continuous ink supply system for 100USD... but it doesn't have a scanner...

[MblaZe7run]

Thank you for detailing my mistake of buying a ~60USD 3-in-one printer... Damn you Canon and your inks... One cartridge is ~7USD... I should've bought that Brother with the first party continuous ink supply system for 100USD... but it doesn't have a scanner...

 

Not a fan of Brother inkjets. The laserjets are amazing for home and small business use, but the inkjets are just... meh.. Canon on the other hand is wonderful in the fact that they are the only printer manufacturer that we sell (in store) that actually gives the customer COMPLETELY FULL starter cartridges. My Canon iP110 is still rocking the starters as well, and I've used easily half of the cartridge.

[Ceatra]

Not a fan of Brother inkjets. The laserjets are amazing for home and small business use, but the inkjets are just... meh.. Canon on the other hand is wonderful in the fact that they are the only printer manufacturer that we sell (in store) that actually gives the customer COMPLETELY FULL starter cartridges. My Canon iP110 is still rocking the starters as well, and I've used easily half of the cartridge.

The worst thing you can do is buy a printer that has 2 ink slots. One for color and one for black, because it'll have less color... I have a Canon Pixmania MG3580 or MG3550 and color depletes soooo fast...

[MblaZe7run]

The worst thing you can do is buy a printer that has 2 ink slots. One for color and one for black, because it'll have less color... I have a Canon Pixmania MG3580 or MG3550 and color depletes soooo fast...

 

We have the iP110 for travel prints. I got it for my girlfriend (with the battery) for Christmas since she is going on a road trip this summer for her 21st birthday. She wanted to be able to print and send me post cards with photos she took (she is somewhat of an amateur photographer) while on the road without stopping at a Walgreens or something. Great for this use, but I wouldn't really recommend it for much else.

[FuzzyYellow]

I bet it still works well as a space heater. Pentium 4 the techies equivalent to the tea light heater

heck yeah! i use my old P4 rig as a bedroom-heater dedicated folding rig.

[MblaZe7run]

As we all know, Apple Pay is bringing NFC to many new companies. Well, one day I decided to go to Panera Bread during my lunch break at work. I saw that they adopted the support for Apple Pay, and of course knowing that NFC is NFC, I take out my Note 3 and try to pay. The cashier (or whatever they technically are) quickly stopped me and said "Oh, that isn't an iPhone, our systems only work with Apple Pay." I looked at her and just explained the technology and that a standard is a standard. She continued to refuse and called her manager over, who took the cashier's side. I told them I'd make a deal with them. If my phone works, my next bill is on the house, if it doesn't, I'll order a lunch for the staff currently at my store (there were 10 other people working at my store at the time). They agreed and I paid with my Note 3. Lo and behold, it worked. My next meal would then be free, and both the manager and employee were noticeably embarrassed as hell. Due to their doubts and attempts to stop me, a line was starting to fill out behind me of hungry customers. After seeing my success, several of them attempted the same deal (they didn't get it), but they did pay with NFC, and the cashier's face just grew more and more red as the next 3 customers payed with their NFC enabled Android device.

 

And to boot, they didn't give me a set dollar amount I could spend on my next bill, so I went in and got a $40 lunch for free, as opposed to my usual $10 meal.

[Elliott Game]

As we all know, Apple Pay is bringing NFC to many new companies. Well, one day I decided to go to Panera Bread during my lunch break at work. I saw that they adopted the support for Apple Pay, and of course knowing that NFC is NFC, I take out my Note 3 and try to pay. The cashier (or whatever they technically are) quickly stopped me and said "Oh, that isn't an iPhone, our systems only work with Apple Pay." I looked at her and just explained the technology and that a standard is a standard. She continued to refuse and called her manager over, who took the cashier's side. I told them I'd make a deal with them. If my phone works, my next bill is on the house, if it doesn't, I'll order a lunch for the staff currently at my store (there were 10 other people working at my store at the time). They agreed and I paid with my Note 3. Lo and behold, it worked. My next meal would then be free, and both the manager and employee were noticeably embarrassed as hell. Due to their doubts and attempts to stop me, a line was starting to fill out behind me of hungry customers. After seeing my success, several of them attempted the same deal (they didn't get it), but they did pay with NFC, and the cashier's face just grew more and more red as the next 3 customers payed with their NFC enabled Android device.

 

And to boot, they didn't give me a set dollar amount I could spend on my next bill, so I went in and got a $40 lunch for free, as opposed to my usual $10 meal.

we literally have an awesome badass here!!!!

[jayctech]

As we all know, Apple Pay is bringing NFC to many new companies. Well, one day I decided to go to Panera Bread during my lunch break at work. I saw that they adopted the support for Apple Pay, and of course knowing that NFC is NFC, I take out my Note 3 and try to pay. The cashier (or whatever they technically are) quickly stopped me and said "Oh, that isn't an iPhone, our systems only work with Apple Pay." I looked at her and just explained the technology and that a standard is a standard. She continued to refuse and called her manager over, who took the cashier's side. I told them I'd make a deal with them. If my phone works, my next bill is on the house, if it doesn't, I'll order a lunch for the staff currently at my store (there were 10 other people working at my store at the time). They agreed and I paid with my Note 3. Lo and behold, it worked. My next meal would then be free, and both the manager and employee were noticeably embarrassed as hell. Due to their doubts and attempts to stop me, a line was starting to fill out behind me of hungry customers. After seeing my success, several of them attempted the same deal (they didn't get it), but they did pay with NFC, and the cashier's face just grew more and more red as the next 3 customers payed with their NFC enabled Android device.

 

And to boot, they didn't give me a set dollar amount I could spend on my next bill, so I went in and got a $40 lunch for free, as opposed to my usual $10 meal.

That's dope.

 

To be fair I wouldn't be convinced it'd work either until I saw it in action.

Figured there'd be a protocol difference or something (beyond the use of NFC, I don't know how either work).

[waggythegeek]

As we all know, Apple Pay is bringing NFC to many new companies. Well, one day I decided to go to Panera Bread during my lunch break at work. I saw that they adopted the support for Apple Pay, and of course knowing that NFC is NFC, I take out my Note 3 and try to pay. The cashier (or whatever they technically are) quickly stopped me and said "Oh, that isn't an iPhone, our systems only work with Apple Pay." I looked at her and just explained the technology and that a standard is a standard. She continued to refuse and called her manager over, who took the cashier's side. I told them I'd make a deal with them. If my phone works, my next bill is on the house, if it doesn't, I'll order a lunch for the staff currently at my store (there were 10 other people working at my store at the time). They agreed and I paid with my Note 3. Lo and behold, it worked. My next meal would then be free, and both the manager and employee were noticeably embarrassed as hell. Due to their doubts and attempts to stop me, a line was starting to fill out behind me of hungry customers. After seeing my success, several of them attempted the same deal (they didn't get it), but they did pay with NFC, and the cashier's face just grew more and more red as the next 3 customers payed with their NFC enabled Android device.

And to boot, they didn't give me a set dollar amount I could spend on my next bill, so I went in and got a $40 lunch for free, as opposed to my usual $10 meal.

So this works with any nfc device? What program did you use to pay? Any good Windows phone programs?

[Nosfy]

I remember going into Game (the retailer) to buy WoW Cataclysm and the guy serving asked me .. "for what platform?"!!

 

Didn't go into a "Game" shop again after that.

[MblaZe7run]

So this works with any nfc device? What program did you use to pay? Any good Windows phone programs?

It should, the technology is just NFC. Nothing fancy on the communications end. I've use Google Wallet and Softcard (formerly ISIS Wallet) without issues at dozens of "Apple Pay exclusive" locations, including my Staples store.

 

EDIT: Think of it like Bluetooth (or even 802.11 WiFi too) Bluetooth is Bluetooth, very rarely are there Bluetooth devices that aren't compatible with a mass majority of Bluetooth enabled phones, for example. NFC works the exact same way. Now, how smoothly it works is heavily dependent on the device and the hardware/software combo.

 

As far as Windows phone NFC devices, I regrettably have no experience with Windows Phone.

[Speedbird]

It should, the technology is just NFC. Nothing fancy on the communications end. I've use Google Wallet and Softcard (formerly ISIS Wallet) without issues at dozens of "Apple Pay exclusive" locations, including my Staples store.

ISIS Wallet? I see why they changed their name...

[Bittenfleax]

Someone who I knew paid for WinRar....

[Darkman]

Someone who I knew paid for WinRar....

Mine broke itself saying 9 days until trial ends.

[MblaZe7run]

ISIS Wallet? I see why they changed their name...

 

That's the exact reason they did! lol

[PotatOS - Andrew]

It should, the technology is just NFC. Nothing fancy on the communications end. I've use Google Wallet and Softcard (formerly ISIS Wallet) without issues at dozens of "Apple Pay exclusive" locations, including my Staples store.

Keep doing so man, that's awesome proving the employees wrong in such humiliating ways  .  Although Staples is really pricey, maybe you should make that same deal and buy all the things you need that are normally super overpriced once you prove them wrong 

[PotatOS - Andrew]

That's the exact reason they did! lol

I'm assuming it stood for something, do you know what?