Experiences with non-techies

[RahulR]

35 minutes ago, DocSwag said:

If you really want to, make a virtual machine... I mean it has a file called commn.trojan....

The site itself is just a joke, there's no virus. I've visited it enough times to know. Hell, the site it self says that it's a joke.

[DocSwag]

7 hours ago, Whosonicus said:

                            

Can u punch it?     Yes: Hardware

                              No: Software

 

(u can try punching the software but u would be punching the monitor...)

 

7 hours ago, themctipers said:

You can punch the hdd and fuck up the data inside. 

Technically you can punch software... In SSDs software is just a bunch of electrons, so if somehow you punch those electrons you punched software! 

 

Problem is then you get into quantum stuff you can't 100% accurately predict top he position of an electron so you never know with 100% certainty that you punched that electron.

 

So you can punch software but you won't know that you punched it for sure.  

[malon]

last christmas the pc shop i worked at had a customer who was looking for a new gaming mini itx build for christmas (obviously), she said she needed a wireless connection cause the didn't have a clean sollution to run a ethernet from her router to the place where the pc would be placed, but she didnt want a wifi usb dongle so we agreed on a motherboard with a build in wireless solution.

Once the pc was build and fully tested( like you should with any custom pc imo) we gave the customer a call to say the pc was ready, when she picked up the pc we said that the pc was ready but that she needed to attach the antennas for the wifi to work propperly, we normally didn't test the antennas since the wifi in the workshop was good enough to get a decent signal even without the antennas on so those were still sealed in the motherboard box.

 

The first day we are open after christmas we see that lady comming back in the shop with her new pc and she begins to yell at one of my collegues that we ruined her christmas because her pc didn't work like it should and that she couldn't  propperly connect with her wifi.

My collegue keeps his head cool since we see that kind of customers more than we want to, and he asks what her exact problem is with her wifi, she yells that she could simply not get a stable internet connection and demanded for a full refund on her custom build pc since it apparently had ruind her christmas.

 

My collegue then asks if he could atleast test the pc first before she really wants her money back because she already had trown out all the boxes that came with the computer, exept the motherboard and the case box,he explains that we can only give 75% of her money back because she did no longer have the boxes of most of the items and that we can not resell  those items and have tosen those back to the dealers and restock those.

At this point an other collegue has already hooked up the pc and checked the motherboard box to see if she atleast didnt trow away the windows cd and key, there he sees that the wifi antennas are still in the box and sealed, so she didn't hook up those to the motherboard, my collegue confronts the woman and she boldly claims that those were not in the box when she got her pc and still demands a refund, we say that we will hook up the antennas for her and that she is even allowed to see that the wifi works in the workshop but she refuses and still is demanding her refund even if she only gets 75% back bacause we ruined her chrismas because she failed to open the motherboard box and attach 2 antenna to her motherboard.

In the end we end up refunding her for 75%(roughly 1200 euro that she got back) and she exist the store wile cursing at my collegue and complaining that she only got 75% of her money back.

We never saw her come back but we ended up laughing at the fact that she paid roughly 400 euro to learn that you need to attatch 2 wifi antenna to get a proper wireless connection and was to stuborn to admit that she did somthing wrong.

[Armin]

45 minutes ago, DocSwag said:

 

Technically you can punch software... In SSDs software is just a bunch of electrons, so if somehow you punch those electrons you punched software! 

 

Problem is then you get into quantum stuff you can't 100% accurately predict top he position of an electron so you never know with 100% certainty that you punched that electron.

 

So you can punch software but you won't know that you punched it for sure.  

Well,that's true,kinda,logically yes.

[DocSwag]

Lol I just read this and it's ABSOLUTELY hilarious!!! Wow...

https://www.reddit.com/r/talesfromtechsupport/comments/4x98jv/why_do_you_people_keep_asking_me_this/?st=irrw3rl8&sh=e7d33b02

[NumLock21]

4 hours ago, NunoLava1998 said:

This is from talesfromtechsupport. "Is the cable plugged in?" is the title. Don't want to be a jerk (don't wanna break rule Infinity on there). This was written by Techkman. Here is it:

  Reveal hidden contents

The following happened roughly 5 years ago, I now had two whole months of actual experience (read I was beginning to doubt the end users honesty 99% of the time and started using my brain rather than my books).

We had just moved $corp to a new building and summer was around the corner. It was hot, noisy (sound blocking walls hadn’t been set up yet) and I was still learning how certain systems and houses of $corp functioned (or didn’t in a lot of cases).

Now before we get to this specific tale you need to know some details about $corp.

As mentioned in the previous tale $corp takes care of mentally handicapped people of all ages and in almost all forms. This means some only have ADD and have behavior issues who attend to their school like facilities and the sort. Whilst others might be severely handicapped and unable to care for themselves.

As such they have care homes with caretakers whom are often completely oblivious to anything that resembles technology, this includes but is not limited to: phones, camera doorbells, computers and such difficult words as “monitor”.

Today’s participants are:
$Me (coffee addict extraordinaire who cares too much what others think of him)
$FC (Female caretaker of clients with a bit of an anger management history)
$FCM (Her husband not an employee from $corp and seemingly suffering the same anger issues)
$SYSL (A senior system admin who happened to be my neighbor at the time)
$TMLD (Teamleader of the entire IT department, nice bloke whom fled the sinking ship that is $corp just in time)
With the above out of the way:

It was a regular working day, summer had kicked in but the AC was holding us intact at the main office. Co-workers had vacation and we on the servicedesk things were running on a skeleton crew when the phone rang.

$me: Hello you’ve reached $corp’s servicedesk, Techk speaking. How can I be of assistance?
$FC: I’m $FC from @home, I need a mechanic from #othercompany here asap.

Now I’ve heard of #othercompany and I know that they manage the monitoring equipment in some of the houses, generally they’re really expensive to call out especially on short notice.

$me: Alright, I can do that for you but I need to know what for, did you make a ticket yet or have you contacted us earlier today?
$FC: Now listen here, this system is important I don’t have time for this!
$me: ma’am I understand your frustration and urgency but I can’t simply call down a mechanic from #othercompany seeing as they’re charging quite a bit for unneeded call-outs.
$FC: So just because it costs money you won’t fix it?
$me: No ma’am, I will call them down if it is deemend necessary, but thus far all I know is that you seem to have an issue with the machine or the system. How about you tell me what’s wrong and maybe I can help you here and now.
$FC: I doubt it but fine, the machine is always on when I come in. Today it was off, it won’t start no matter how many times I press the buttons. We need this system to monitor the client’s 24/7.
$me: I understand, what type of machine is it, is it our standard HP 8000 model?
$FC: How am I to know that?!
$me: On the box there should be an object number, PC-XXXXX could you tell me what the number is?

The CMDB was filled with machines all neatly and (unfortunately) manually numbered, PC, LT, PT and SV for Desktop PC, Laptop, Printer and Server respectively.

$FC: I don’t see a sticker, label or anything, you’re wasting my time! Just call #othercompany!!
$me: Ma’am, again, I understand your concerns but please co-operate with me, it’ll make this go faster for the both of us and if I cannot resolve it then I will call down a mechanic.

Deafening silence which I took as a que to just keep going.

$me: Alright, please check the cables running from the PC to the wall, there should be 2 at least one is a thicker one ending in the wall outlet the other the other should be an internet cable going into the same socket the phone goes into.
$FC: Those are in.
$me: Okay, could you check if the cable running from the machine to the screen is in and that the bolts are screwed in, it should be 2 blue connectors.

VGA FOR EVERYTHING~

$FC: I already checked all these!
$me: Ma’am, please just check the cables.
$FC: No, and I’m not having this bull anymore! Call the mechanic now!!
$me: Look $FC, raising your voice and demanding things won’t work, please try to remain calm.

Following that there’s some shuffling over the line, it sounded like the phone was being passed around when her husband spoke.

$FCM: Listen here you little $#!&, if my wife says she’s done something she has!
screams internally
$me: Sir, please calm down, screaming at me is not going to fix the machine in front of you.
$FCM: Well then get the ^&*#ing mechanic down here!

It is here that the pen I was playing with started snapping, I hadn’t noticed I was trying to break it. Everyone else on the floor did seeing as it was a large open (relatively quiet) space and a sudden CRACK kinda drew attention to me.

$me: Fine shaking voice out of simmering rage sir, please pass me back to your partner and I’ll register the location and machine.

I can hear mumbling in the background as the phone is doing the chair dance again.

$FC: You IT guys are terrible, a poor woman like me can’t even get anything done without having to put my husband on the phone… so when is the mechanic coming, you’re taking time off from my personal time.

I’ve now noticed how intensely grating her voice is and I’m trying my best not to snap the pen in four pieces at this point, praise be for the maker of pens. Best stress relief ever.

$me: Please pass me your location ID, room number, site phone number and zip code and I will call #othercompany.
$FC: It’s @askeddetails, ask the mechanic to come right now! I don’t want to have to sit between the clients… they creep me out.

You disgusting human filth. You get payed to take care of those who can’t for themselves and all you want to do is sit in your little glass room all day watching them from a monitor at best? Omnissiah forbid you’d have to sit between the people you supposedly care for. Or worse, if one happens to choke in something or other you’d have to touch them, no we wouldn’t want that now would we… this is why I like machines more than people.

$me: If I have them come down right now it’ll cost €500 if it turns out to be a unneeded call-down, are you 100% positive you want a mechanic for #system from #othercompany?
$FC: Just hurry up, this is such a $#!* support service you’re giving, who’s your manager?!
$me: That would be $TMLD, I’ll pass him a request to call you when he’s available.
$FC: You do that!

And then the phone got slammed down. At this point 2 very strong feelings were going through me.
On one end I want to hurt something now, quite badly at that. On the other end a machine might be malfunctioning and I know jack except for where it’s positioned in the country. I’m screwed.
I walk over to the system administrators and I can feel the adrenaline still coursing through me, I really get offended to easily and I still care too much about issues even though I can’t always help.

$me: $SYSL, can you pass me a form and the phone number for #othercompany’s emergency maintenance service, also do you know where $TMLD is?
$SYSL: Yeah we sort of noticed something was up, come with me we’ll walk to $TMLD and you can fill me in underway.

We took the long way to $TMLD to refill on much needed coffee, I’m a druggy for the stuff and he knows. When we got to $TMLD’s small hole in the wall he calls an office $SYSL was informed fully and told me “not to sweat it”. Despite his words I was sweating buckets cause I fucked up royally in my mind’s eye.

$SYSL: $TMLD, $Techk here just had a run in with a bit of a problem customer, can we talk?

He waves us in, $SYSL refills my coffee whilst I talk and I felt like being at the freaking principles office… the glass walls made of well had been sheer plasteel coming in to crush me. Or at least, that’s how I felt, in reality I turned out to be in a whole lot less trouble then I figured and no-one was actually angry at me. That was a first (shitty childhood).

$TMLD: So let me get this straight before we do anything, you (me) asked them to check their equipment and they started raising their voice, swearing etc?
$me: Yes sir.
$TMLD: And you were unable to make a proper diagnosis of #system?
$me: Unfortunately sir.
$TMLD: Right and cut the Sir, I’m not that old. Just call me $TMLD.
$SYSL: pleasantries aside we should call #othercompany and have them come down, she agreed to the costs if it’s a false alarm. Plus it sounded like a less then pleasant person anyways, might as well give them their medicine.
$TMLD: True enough, $Techk, I’ll call her manager and ask for them to address their workers, incident aside this is no way to speak to co-workers regardless of the importance or time pressure. $SYSL, you call #othercompany and have it dealt with then.

We all agreed and walked off, $SYSL gave me another coffee and started chatting about Diablo and WoW. The working day was almost over so I was told to just go home early and unwind.

Skip ahead to two days later, for the aftermath:
I’m mashing away at my keyboard at the same ticket I have been for the past 3 months and which might be the next story “No I will not come over to #location to check out your damn PS3, we service machines not client gameconsoles”, when $SYSL walks over with the biggest grin ever on his face.

$SYSL: Hey, #othercompany just called.
$me: Keh?
$SYSL: You asked them to check the VGA cable right?
$me: Yeah why… wait, no they didn’t did they.
$SYSL: Yup, she gave you an earful but the VGA cable wasn’t bolted in so it simply dropped out of the monitor. The mechanic from #othercompany billed them the 500 + expenses for the time and diesel.
$me: Ouwch.
$SYSL: Want to know something even better, $TMLD called the manager right? Well turns out she had been on a warning list for explosive behavior.
$me: Grand.
$SYSL: You did good.

TLDR: when someone ask to check cables, please do and do not yell at your IT, they will snap pens and pencils who can’t help that they were born as an inanimate objects into this world.

 

The only thing i don't agree is PAYING 500$ TO FIX A MONITOR??? ARE YOU SERIOUS???

No it's not serious. She wouldn't listen and started having anger issues. It's a lesson for her that screaming will not solve anything. And $500 is a bit low, #company should have charged $500 for traveling, $500 for wasting time, and $1,000, to remind herself the day she went full retard.

How much do you think they should charge? $50 to $100 dollars max. If they only charge that much, she will just continue with her behavior and further fuel her arrogant and ignorant attitude.

[DocSwag]

2 minutes ago, NumLock21 said:

No it's not serious. She wouldn't listen and started having anger issues. It's a lesson for her that screaming will not solve anything. And $500 is a bit low, #company should have charged $500 for traveling, $500 for wasting time, and $1,000, to remind herself the day she went full retard.

How much do you think they should charge? $50 to $100 dollars max. If they only charge that much, she will just continue with her behavior and further fuel her arrogant and ignorant attitude.

Wait did she pay the 500 dollars? I thought the company had to pay the 500 dollars. Now I'm confused...

[NumLock21]

7 minutes ago, DocSwag said:

Wait did she pay the 500 dollars? I thought the company had to pay the 500 dollars. Now I'm confused...

She works at the same company, instead of doing team work and helping out she went full retard. So she has to pay the consequences, by paying the bill out of her own pocket. $Me is trying to save his company from wasting $500, $FC wants to waste it.

[matrix07012]

2 hours ago, malon said:

-snip-

[GirlFromYonder]

35 minutes ago, matrix07012 said:

we all feel that way when someone post something here

[GirlFromYonder]

A friend of mine class mate bought an alienware (facepalm #1). HE start too say that is sooo goo and boosting that it could do ultra on 4k well lagging a bit(facepalm #2). When I asked him about the spec he said 17.3 inch latest r9 and 32gb ram (facepalm #3). Then he went on to say that he needs 32 gigs for gaming(nueclear facepalm #1). his specs a haswell i7 and a r9 m290x(why amd on mobile) and 1080p screen with 16 gigs of ram(facepalm #4). Then he went on ahead to say that his friend has a Titan X in his alienware area 51 and the graphics are better than his ps4(well no fucking shit sherlock). He still went on ahead to say that his ps4 is very good and that it is hard to beat on pc(nuclear facepalm #2) and he then goes on ahead to boost about the mid gen update consoles. 

 

And he kept on say that his alienware was good value at $2500 (facepalm #5) and the only other company he though made "gaming" laptops was razer and for that you had to plug in graphics card (nuclear facepalm #3).   

[themctipers]

ಠ_ಠ 

[GirlFromYonder]

Just now, themctipers said:

ಠ_ಠ 

lol change it from night mode

[themctipers]

6 minutes ago, DeezNoNos said:

lol change it from night mode

ಠ_ಠ my eyes 

[themctipers]

Today's tech failure...

[WkdPaul]

another rant about people overselling their very old GPU ...

 

someone locally is selling a HD7870 ... for $130 (CAD), while I can get a RX 460 (similar performance than a HD7870) for $140 (CAD).

 

Then another guy is trying to sell 2x HD5770 for $140 (CAD) or $80(CAD) each ... just under another classified that sell his HD6770 for $40 (CAD).

 

Idiots!!!

At least the guy that sells his HD6770 knows how much his stuff is really worth!

[BingoFishy]

^MicroUSB^ ^Lightning^ ^USB type C^

 

Well they got one of them right.

[themctipers]

1 minute ago, wkdpaul said:

another rant about people overselling their very old GPU ...

 

someone locally is selling a HD7870 ... for $130 (CAD), while I can get a RX 460 (similar performance than a HD7870) for $140 (CAD).

 

Then another guy is trying to sell 2x HD5770 for $140 (CAD) or $80(CAD) each ... just under another classified that sell his HD6770 for $40 (CAD).

 

Idiots!!!

At least the guy that sells his HD6770 knows how much his stuff is really worth!

And in 2015 I bought a 760 over a 290

and in 2016 I bought a 380 over a 760..

[themctipers]

1 minute ago, BingoFishy said:

^MicroUSB^ ^Lightning^ ^USB type C^

 

Well they got one of them right.

Once I saw a 30pin charger labeled as an android charger (somewhere in my phones photo library but it's now gone forever  )

[WkdPaul]

2 minutes ago, themctipers said:

And in 2015 I bought a 760 over a 290

and in 2016 I bought a 380 over a 760..

last year (2015), bought my 7870 for $70 (CAD) shipping included ... and it's a Gigabyte Windforce OC! (and right after that, I sold my 7770 for $60, so the 7870 came down to $10!!!  )

[matrix07012]

1 hour ago, wkdpaul said:

another rant about people overselling their very old GPU ...

 

someone locally is selling a HD7870 ... for $130 (CAD), while I can get a RX 460 (similar performance than a HD7870) for $140 (CAD).

 

Then another guy is trying to sell 2x HD5770 for $140 (CAD) or $80(CAD) each ... just under another classified that sell his HD6770 for $40 (CAD).

 

Idiots!!!

At least the guy that sells his HD6770 knows how much his stuff is really worth!

I saw a NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT for $200.

[themctipers]

Just now, matrix07012 said:

I saw a NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT for $200.

isn't that higher than its original buying price back in 2007 or so?

(I have the GS 8400!)

[Bleedingyamato]

9 hours ago, matrix07012 said:

"Apple just works"

 

Shhhhhh..  If you say bad things about the all powerful apple the ghost of Steve jobs will haunt you forever.  ?  lol 

 

But seriously this pokes some big holes in the arguments people make saying "Apple just works".  It can work fine but it's not immune to bugs and other problems like some hardcore Apple fanboys like to pretend.  >_>

[matrix07012]

22 minutes ago, themctipers said:

isn't that higher than its original buying price back in 2007 or so?

(I have the GS 8400!)

512MB version was $269

[smokefest]

On 2016-08-10 at 5:42 PM, Bleedingyamato said:

I hope you explained how to be safe online and explained the concept of "use an antivirus and antimalware for Godoka's sake!" to this poor individual.  

At the place i worked, my boss was pretty nice compared to other shop ive been. We do install a free anti-virus ( avira ) with no fees, and also install Dotnet chrome as browser, etc.etc.. we give free preconfig including anti virus. And yes i always tell the customer good advices about how to surf internet and avoid to getcaught by falsy ads..

I had workd in another shop for couple months, they would charge 150$ for a format + reinstall and wouldnt give any programs or any preconfig. If the people wanted an anti-virus, pdf viewer, open office or anything they had to pay for the install.