An end user reported their computer was slow, we figured out why very quickly
Posted by Pasalacqua87@reddit | talesfromtechsupport | View on Reddit | 65 comments
End user puts in a ticket that their computer is slow. My coworker remotes in and checks things out. Turns out they are having significant packet loss on their network. The user interrupts to say "I need to take my dog out, this hurricane is about to hit." We found out they live in a coastal town just north of Tampa, which is under mandatory evacuation and looking at anywhere from 8-12ft of storm surge. So this person is ignoring a mandatory evac and working in a hurricane and asking why their computer is "slow." We told them we'd touch base again after the hurricane has passed.
djshiva@reddit
I had a guy today SHOCKED that his internet could be down when the hurricane had passed. Nodes need power, buddy. Power is out everywhere.
accidentlife@reddit
Funny enough, after the last hurricane, my house had power almost immediately but no internet for two weeks. My family members had no power for two weeks but internet was back up immediately.
falcopilot@reddit
So, I pay for business class internet from the cable company, which actually has a OK speed, decent CIR, and a really decent SLA. A few years ago we had a pretty bad (for us) ice storm. A lot of power lines down, no internet, no landlines...
I didn't lose power, and my internet came back pretty fast. As I was doing a recon lap around the neighborhood, I saw a little Honda generator chugging away while bungeed 20 feet up a light pole, and observed there was no power with in a block. Huh. A couple days later I caught a cable guy climbing the pole with a gas can. So I asked- nobody in this block has power, why? He said "some guy two blocks down has business class internet and we have to keep those going."
Well, I'll be- Oh, look at the time, gotta go!
Eliminateur@reddit
amazing, over here that generator would not last 5 minutes, the second the technician is down the pole it would get stolen -if they even wait that much-
falcopilot@reddit
Probably why it was up the pole, and not just sitting on the ground.
Eliminateur@reddit
We regularly have airborne transformers stolen, not the small cilindrical ones but the big 10KVA+ ones that weight hundred of KG and are resting several meters above ground on 2 large beams...
They come with cranes and steal them... in broad daylight... They also steal ALL the city streetlight cabling, even on top of the poles.
A generator on a pole would not last....
WackoMcGoose@reddit
Romania? Definitely some Balkan nation, between the "steal everything especially if it's nailed down" and "give no fucks about thousands of RICH, CHUNKY VOLTS still in the wires you're stealing" attitude.
falcopilot@reddit
Dayum. OK, you win today's "My neighborhood is scarier than yours" contest.
Eliminateur@reddit
neighborhood?, i was talking about the whole city/country :D
They also take down speed cameras to steal the wiring :D
I wish i'd live in a place where they can put a generator on a pole, hell, an isp that honors their SLA is nonexistant here
falcopilot@reddit
Do they do requests?
Zakrael@reddit
I feel that experience just immediately justified however expensive that package was.
Years from now, someone will be mad maxing their way across an irradiated hellscape with a jerry can because turns out you never actually cancelled that subscription.
falcopilot@reddit
Given I work remote, it's been worth it. I had a modem die late one random Saturday night. I called it in expecting to deal with it Monday, but instead got a call back from a tech apologizing that he was taking longer than planned, but was on the way with a replacement at 10:45pm...
blahajlife@reddit
But but but it's wireless
djshiva@reddit
Oh the number of times I have had to tell people check cables on the back of a router only to have them baffled because..."but it's wireless!"
Hi_Its_Salty@reddit
I had a person said their tv and internet wasn't working, no lights on cable box or modem
I forget exactly when this happened, but I asked him the reseat some cables and he said give me a moment , I need to adjust the candle ......
Needless to say, the conversation ended shortly after that
davethecompguy@reddit
I've had those calls too. "Can you check the power cable at the back of the computer?" "OK, but it's dark under there... Our power is out.".
I wish I were kidding. True story from a computer maker that rhymes with "hell"...
dustojnikhummer@reddit
I remember a TFTS like that. "Can you check the power strip under the table is plugged in" "Hold on, it's dark here, we got no power"
It's the "it got no gaz in it"
PoisonWaffle3@reddit
When I worked phone tech support at an ISP, I always asked what the lights on the modem or cable TV box were doing, specifically because such a large percentage of the answers were "what lights?"
It was super common (probably 10% of my calls) to have a power outage, tripped circuit breaker, power strip turned off, something unplugged, bad power adapter, etc.
Pasalacqua87@reddit (OP)
What’s funny is I had a very similar situation after a hurricane came through Florida about a year ago. A different user said “I can’t connect to the VPN” and they lived in Ft. Myer, which was pretty much like the epicenter of the landfall.
OverlordWaffles@reddit
If you're thinking of Ian, it actually hit almost exactly 2 years ago to Helene
jmjedi923@reddit
are you touching base to check on their computer, or make sure they're still alive?
theoldman-1313@reddit
That was my first thought. There's always someone who just doesn't get the memo.
MidLifeEducation@reddit
They got the memo.
They think they are better than the memo.
Paracosm26@reddit
You'll never defeat the memo, memo always wins.
that_one_wierd_guy@reddit
just the computer, the person is up to hr to check on
Spa_5_Fitness_Camp@reddit
Dog first, then computer, then idiot
Minimum_Judgment_173@reddit
Agreed
d4everman@reddit
I hope the dog is ok.
big_ass_package@reddit
agreed
Sleepy_da_Bear@reddit
If they don't make it I guess they can just close the ticket
Nik_2213@reddit
Like people on the coast who think is so cute that beach-houses are on stilts.
Forgetting they'd been built atop big dunes, now eroded to sea_wrack-level...
Speciesunkn0wn@reddit
Wait. that's why? I thought it was to keep away from the tides/flooding!
spaceminions@reddit
The extra height is the only reason anyone had for stilts when I lived on the Texas coast. People who could would put weak walls on the bottom that can be easily washed away sparing the remaining building. The sand was never at their upper level in such cases.
MattAdmin444@reddit
It's probably a combination of both. On exposed stilts to keep away from regular flooding for some, on stilts that were to help stabilize on sand/other loose terrain for the rest that are now washed away.
The_Razza7@reddit
Suppose they’ll accomplish both lol
Myrandall@reddit
Update? 😲
honeyfixit@reddit
I can picture user sitting there and windows are breaking and the roof is being ripped off but they're still thinking. *if I don't get this report finished by tomorrow, my boss will fire me!
techierealtor@reddit
Had a ticket come up, computer was slow. L1 looked it over and noted the disk at 100% and ram was 4 gb. I ran the serial and it’s almost 10 years old. I sent it back down with a 2 minute time entry saying “not investigating, replace computer”.
Im not spending an hour trying to get ancient equipment that is underspeced up to speed that the user wants. Replace the thing and be done with it.
falcopilot@reddit
"But I'm toooooo buuuussssy to migrate to a new computer- I already spend hours every day waiting for this thing."
We have more than I can count without taking a shoe off where I am.
dustojnikhummer@reddit
"User was issued a new laptop 3 months ago, refuses to take the time to move.
falcopilot@reddit
We do that where I am- What happens is we get a reply: tells me they are too busy to take time away from their important work to do this." Remember IT is almost always seen as a cost center, not all IT depts have power to make things happen.
"
These exchanges do get carefully filed away to be brought forth at appropriate times, ie. when their computer is the point of entry for hackers, we'll be ready.
dustojnikhummer@reddit
Fortunately in this case my manager would be behind me. We don't have the time to deal with that computer either. I wish we could just wipe it remotely and pretend it's dead or something
techierealtor@reddit
I had another one coming up every few days years ago. It was probably from 2008, one of the primary computers they tried to use.
2gb ram, windows 7, 32 bit, hdd.
I told them after about the 4th call and spending an hour just to get it to open chrome in 3 minutes, we aren’t working on it anymore. Replace it or deal with it. About 2 weeks later a brand new computer showed up.
Sometimes you just gotta do tough love.
PrinzII@reddit
Every day they are forced to wait: Is my computer ready yet?
Sometimes every hour of the day.....
Realistic-Currency61@reddit
Early in my career I would've tried to tune it up. Today? Shitcan it and move forward!
djshiva@reddit
We had so many people confused as to why "even though I am in Florida, we didn't get hit by the hurricane, but my internet is acting weird".
It's an entire network of nodes, many of which are offline. Shit's gonna be weird for a while, people.
Sylux444@reddit
What was the status of their local WaffleHouse?
PrinzII@reddit
If they saw it was boarded up, they should have gtfo.
Sylux444@reddit
The waffle house index is actually what many stores and corporations go by when it comes to bad weather and staying open or closing until it's cleared up.
WittyTiccyDavi@reddit
Reminds me of the "The Indians are gathering firewood like crazy!" joke.
oyl_1999@reddit
reminds me of the story of the users who were complaining their internet was down - WHEN THE BUILDING WAS BEING EVACUATED FOR FIRE
androshalforc1@reddit
Their boss told them they would be fired if they weren’t logged in.
LighthousesForev4@reddit
My husbands boss told his team “if you feel you need to you can take PTO”. Everyone is in an affected area.
PrinzII@reddit
For a hurricane? That's crazy.
LighthousesForev4@reddit
Right. The boss lives in another state so she doesn’t care.
WhiskyTequilaFinance@reddit
Sadly yes. This is part of my team too. 'Why aren't they on this call?'
Oh, because we should have evac'D them 2 days ago....
mercurygreen@reddit
Probably. MAN I wish you were kidding.
SirenSeven@reddit
Had something similar. User was going to fly to DC to turn in a government phone and laptop as well as get new ones, but had to reschedule.
I asked for a reason (to list on ticket), turns out her flights were canceled due to the hurricane and her house was on the verge of a power outage.
She seemed in good spirits, so I assume she was far enough away to be in no real danger.
chrisfroste@reddit
Wouldnt surprise me. Working for a federal agency as helpdesk, ive heard some interesting reasons given..
ryanlc@reddit
Not all of that area was under mandatory evacuation. Both my dad and my boss live just north of Tampa, and neither had to evacuate.
But DAMN close, though! I think the mandatory boundary was only two miles from my boss' house.
daniell61@reddit
I had a tornado touch down a few mes from my office yesterday and so did my coworker.... Our boss told us to fuck off and go home if we needed to and wouldn't eat into our pto
Readem_andWeep@reddit
OMG I love your flair!!
daniell61@reddit
Frank is that you?
Lol jokes aside thanks!
Wendals87@reddit
You missed the perfect opportunity to say "call me back when this all blows over"
Responsible-End7361@reddit
I'd be really tempted to say "oh yeah, hurricanes are really bad for computers, ionizes the air you know. You probably want to save and shut down your computer. (If laptop add) If you take your dog and computer away from the hurricane you can keep working..."
Basically get them off the machine so they can react appropriately to the F-ing HURRICANE!