Just why….?
Posted by BrokenFerrariFan@reddit | talesfromtechsupport | View on Reddit | 45 comments
This is from back in the day when I did walk in customers. Client calls with the all time favorite “Spilled a cup of water over my laptop, chief“. Told him to come over after our lunch break with the request to leave the laptop as is and to remove the battery if possible. He came in after our lunch break. The laptop looked like it came straight out of a war zone. Screen so broken it could double as Tom Bradys ACL, keys banished to the shadow realm and the hard drive being turned into a maraca. I was prepsred for anything, but not to his answer to the question “What did you do to this poor laptop, mano?“ His answer: “I put it in my tumble dryer. I thought it would help.“ After that he told me that the only important thing to him would be his data. Told him data recovery might be hard given his hard drive turned into fairy dust. After that I let my boss talk to him (owner of the company) and went for a smoke break. Needless to say he bought a new laptop from us.
Astronomopingaman@reddit
Why the HELL would anyone put any electronic device through a TUMBLE DRYER??? This guy should be downgraded to whatever is lower than a KEVIN. I mean, give him an Etch-N-Sketch and tell him it’s Windows 12 ultra from the future!
matthewt@reddit
The one thing guaranteed to be lower than 1 KEVIN is 1 KELVIN.
nerdguy1138@reddit
He is now a Chaz.
BrokenFerrariFan@reddit (OP)
I get doing it on accident. Have killed a few wired esrbuds this way. Don‘t know why on purpose though. That will forever be a mystery which will be lost to time
hydrogen18@reddit
when I was a kid my mom had this little thing you'd put in the tumble dryer that made a shelf. It attached to non moving parts, so it didn't tumble. You could sit shoes and stuff on it to dry them.
That would almost make sense for a laptop or whatever. But you could also just turn it off and leave it for a week or so
Lumpy_Ad7002@reddit
"Well you might have to restore from your backup.
You do make regular backups, don't you?"
BrokenFerrariFan@reddit (OP)
Given the state of the device and the way he said that I didn‘t bother to ask because I already knew the answer
Lumpy_Ad7002@reddit
Yeah, but I just like to teach people the lesson that backups are good.
Do you do regular backups?
sarcastic_marmot@reddit
Oddly enough, I don't do regular backups anymore, because I have enough free cloud space to handle it all. Critical files are in Dropbox and an external hard drive; Semi-critical material is on Google Drive and the external drive; shit that I maybe want to keep but don't really gaf about are in OneDrive.
tacticalpotatopeeler@reddit
Just like every dam. Time at the dentist: *”Do you floss regularly”
snootnoots@reddit
Long, long ago, my husband (boyfriend at the time) gave me an external hard drive to use as a backup for my computer for Christmas. I’d been planning to get one, and the one he got me was very shiny, so I was delighted!
Then I didn’t set it up. For ages. I kept going “oh yeah, I have that, I should hook it up and set up automatic backups” and then doing something else. Finally - after months - he pointed out that I really should take care of it. So I did.
Two weeks later my computer suffered a catastrophic hard drive failure and that backup was really useful. 😅
Geminii27@reddit
Dude was quietly panicking that you were going to have a crash, realize you should have set up backups using the drive he got you, and be mad at him because he now reminded you of the drive that you hadn't used. :)
snootnoots@reddit
His attitude was more “if your computer crashes and you lose stuff because your backup is sitting on your desk unused, I will say I TOLD YOU SO,” which, fair. 😅
RolandDeepson@reddit
Glad to hear that your data didn't experience by snootsnoots
nl_dhh@reddit
"Yes, it's on my drying rack right now!"
Epistaxis@reddit
*from one of your backups
XeonVega@reddit
...Whats a backup?
UristImiknorris@reddit
Where do we get one of those?
BrokenFerrariFan@reddit (OP)
…You say, if I made one my data still would be accessible?
RakugoRaccoon@reddit
...is it still possible to make one?
XeonVega@reddit
'proceeds still not to make one next time'
RakugoRaccoon@reddit
No, no, no, not next time, for my current data. The one you say I can access if I have a backup.
XeonVega@reddit
incredible how similar some experiences are!
BrokenFerrariFan@reddit (OP)
To be fair, most people who use services like the ones provided from walk-in customer places are used by the less tech savvy and thus you‘ll find similar responses to everything. Ask a mechanic how often the line „You‘re ripping me off“ was screamed at them while the car was literally falling apart
AR8888_8@reddit
When I was like 10 I accidentally dropped my flip phone in the lake. It was only about 2 feet deep so I just grabbed it. Water poured out and it did not work. Pulled the battery, put the rest in our air fryer, and set it to 150 degrees (f). After 2 hours, I took it out, cooled it in the fridge, and reinstalled the battery. By some miracle, IT F#%KING WORKED!!!!!! Had that phone for 2 more years. If anyone is wondering, it was a Motorola Razr.
Yes, I had a phone back then. I spent a lot of time hiking and canoeing, and my parents wanted me to have the ability to call for help.
Kilgarragh@reddit
proceeds to do whatever the fuck customers do to keep our jobs
BrokenFerrariFan@reddit (OP)
Given what happend I should‘ve just saud take the battery out if possible and bring it to us…
TinyNiceWolf@reddit
"If possible"? A battery can always be removed with sufficient force and tools. An ax, well applied, will successfully remove the battery from the remains of a laptop every time.
AlexisFR@reddit
You can even remove the stored chemical energy if you hit the battery the right way!
erikkonstas@reddit
Doing this successfully just gives you a 🔥 feeling too, it takes effort...!!!
BrokenFerrariFan@reddit (OP)
Maybe that‘s why he threw that thing in the tumble dryer to begin with. He just wanted to get that damn battery out of it.
Training-Waltz-3558@reddit
Si considerate of him
duke78@reddit
And an hour later, the customer walks in with just the battery.
Kilgarragh@reddit
Customer would still refuse to listen
robjeffrey@reddit
Ya, and left the laptop at home and just bring in the battery.
BrokenFerrariFan@reddit (OP)
That would have been comedy gold
joe_attaboy@reddit
I don't think Tom Brady ever had a bad ACL.
But you customer is still a dumb ass.
BrokenFerrariFan@reddit (OP)
Googled it for this post (generally american sportsman with torn acl) and he showed up.
The customer isn‘t the brightest vake on the candle, I‘ll gladly accept that
joe_attaboy@reddit
Interesting about Brady,considering how little time he lost in his playing days. Good catch.
Maybe he should have put it into a big bowl of rice. ;)
BlueJaysFeather@reddit
“I thought it would help” yes sir and did it? No? Next time leave the fixes to us…
CharcoalGreyWolf@reddit
Obviously suffering a concussion from the impact of that clue-by-four
StuBidasol@reddit
Did they at least remove the battery?
emax4@reddit
Boss: "Don't be surprised if your next 6 months paychecks look a little small."
BrokenFerrariFan@reddit (OP)
They actually did, quit a month after that happened for unrelated reasons
Expensive-Example-92@reddit
That's a yikes from me