1 ringy dingy. 2 ringy dingy.

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Ordinary_Plate6977@reddit

Oof you've triggered a memory.

Got a ticket for a crackly phone line. Not an issue just replace the cable between the headset and the phone.

I popped in one morning and replaced the cable in the empty office. Closed ticket. Ticket reopens a couple of hours later. Problem still exists.

I was still in the building so popped back into the office and asked them if the problem was still happening? Even with the new cable? "Oh I didn't check it, I just assumed it was still broken."

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lokis_construction@reddit

One of my customers had a lady that kept complaining that the phone tickled her ear. Tech checked it out, everything was fine.

She complained again, and again. Tech checking it out each time. Tech ended up changing the whole phone out. (This was a old 2500 type tel set)

He took it back to repair it and when he opened up the handset a roach tumbled out of the ear piece.

The little bugger had crawled inside when it was little and was living off her ear wax. He just didn't hold it up to his ear long enough.

Yes, this was in the South of the US.

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mafiaknight@reddit

That's....yeah. Ok. That's a new bug.

Did you read the story about the remote location with an odd buzzing coming from their tower, and overheating problems? That one had some bugs to work out!

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lokis_construction@reddit

Yeah, I did read about that. Any time I used my can wrench I had my wasp spray handy.

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MikeSchwab63@reddit

https://beeremovalsource.com/bee-removal-list/
They can remove the queen, the workers will follow, then they collect the comb and honey.
Repair of building and equipment is the user's responsibility.
https://www.facebook.com/reel/733884152326027/?s=single_unit

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kotenok2000@reddit

I wonder what would have happened happen to bees if someone started prime95 on that pc?

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Equivalent-Salary357@reddit

This comment bugged me more than any other this week. Probably all this month.

Now I want to take a shower and rinse out my ear.

Thanks for sharing, I guess???

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Jaymez82@reddit (OP)

Did you tell them that's what it was? I would have loved to have been there for that conversation.

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lokis_construction@reddit

The telecom administrator did, she said the woman told her they have lots of them in her apartment. Made me shudder!

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lokis_construction@reddit

Too Crunchy and not to my taste. Too bitter.

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erik_working@reddit

She was bringing her friends with her to the office!

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lokis_construction@reddit

Not the kind of friends I would want.

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K1yco@reddit

Government must have bugged her phone and gave her an earful

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lokis_construction@reddit

Gubermint! They plant bugs everywhere!

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Ordinary_Plate6977@reddit

Ewwwww. Am now twitching at that thought.

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lokis_construction@reddit

Little guy hitch hiked his way to her office. Still gives me the creepy crawlies.

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Wodan11@reddit

To be fair, the "user error" problem does indeed still exist.

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grifficusprime@reddit

It’s either equipment failure or user error. I think option two 97% of the time.

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That’s right up there with users putting a ticket in and then leaving for vacation for two weeks while they take their laptop with them and expect you to resolve the desktop issue while they are gone.

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syntaxerror53@reddit

Had quite a few of them. Worse when they bring laptop and no charger and 10% charge (didn't think it was needed).

And then get asked by management why ticket hasn't been worked on or updated every day.

And worse is when Developers put out an application and requested that it needs installing urgently on a Thursday afternoon and gone on leave Friday morning for three weeks.

And software is buggy or has issues. So no one to consult.

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Langager90@reddit

"Get to work on this problem IMMEDIATELY!"

Sure thing boss, just sign these forms and I'll get right on it!

"Why does this remote support form include travel, room and consumables in a country 2000 kilometers away?"

Because that's where the customer and affected hardware is currently located. So, that signature?

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Floresian-Rimor@reddit

That's kinda on you. All you had to do was type 'Cable replaced' when you close the ticket.

Too many techs don't realise that the tech problem is within a business problem. The user doesn't care about the tech problem, they care about the business problem.

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Ordinary_Plate6977@reddit

I did! They didn't read it.

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Floresian-Rimor@reddit

Ouch, sorry

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LovesToStream@reddit

Our company had a contract to maintain the phones at a large college campus.
I was there countless times for "Dead" phones, only to discover they were unplugged from the jack.
The saddest part was these phones were in the offices of professors!
Changed my whole point of view regarding higher education.

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BrocktreeMC@reddit

I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve had users call to complain about a problem that’s already been fixed. And I’ll ask them, “when was the last time you tried doing X?” And a surprising amount of sheepish responses are “a few days ago” or “last week”

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KiwiKerfuffle@reddit

For me it's not even that they didn't realize it had been fixed, it's that they reopen the ticket complaining it hasn't been fixed without checking, instead of maybe... Asking if it was fixed or how it was fixed?

Quickest way to make yourself look like a tool to me.

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Sjatje@reddit

But then again, why not just mention it in the ticket: "Replaced cable, tested it, works"

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KiwiKerfuffle@reddit

The problem in this hypothetical isn't that the notes weren't updated correctly, it's that the user complains it still doesn't work without ever testing it when their ticket gets closed.

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djfdhigkgfIaruflg@reddit

I had so many variations of this one 🤦

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Tattycakes@reddit

The long hard stare I would give them… it would take all my strength not to roll my eyes so hard they dislocate

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JustanOldBabyBoomer@reddit

I hope your boss laughs 😁 at that Dim Wit's complaint.

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meitemark@reddit

Users does not go well with change. Telling users that you will be updating computer from XP to 7, who knew users could cry, whine and bitch that much. Updating it without telling them, the computer no longer "works". Updating it without telling them making sure that the desktop with background looks the same, no complaints.

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Jaymez82@reddit (OP)

I had a user I upgraded from 7 to 10 that stored EVERYTHING on her desktop. She flipped out when the icons weren't in the exact same order, stacked don top of each other. Claimed she couldn't do anything because she couldn't find her files.

Asked her what file she was looking for and she said she didn't know. She would just click HERE on the screen but that icon was different now.

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Equivalent-Salary357@reddit

Please don't blast me but unfortunately, I can relate to her problem. I tend to 'learn' the pattern of pin numbers over time, and the actual number sequence fades from memory.

Then, if I have to switch between the phone number pad to the keyboard number pad (or vice-versa) I struggle.

"Up there would be the 1 so I have to tap down here..."

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fevered_visions@reddit

"I don't know the password; my fingers do" as my old coworker used to say. Especially when I have symbols in my pw and I don't have the top row memorized really

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KiwiKerfuffle@reddit

My work uses keypads that jumble the numbers, I imagine it's caused issues for a lot of people haha

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Strazdas1@reddit

This is worker abuse and they should be paying hazard pay.

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john_le_carre@reddit

I’ve used those, sometimes I feel they’re less secure only because it makes me whisper the pin to myself first.

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Jaymez82@reddit (OP)

That happens all the time. I've lost count of the number of users that cannot provide their password by just writing it down. Many have to type it out because they have a mental pattern.

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Strazdas1@reddit

I sometimes just move my fingers as if im typing it and then i see the keyboard in my imagination and can write it down :P. Actually saved my ass one day with a bank login.

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ReadontheCrapper@reddit

I have a PIN number that I can correctly input on a keypad, but can’t get it right using the numbers row on a keyboard.

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mafiaknight@reddit

Fairly standard for HumanOS. Things like that tend to get saved to the Hand, instead of the Brain drive.

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Strazdas1@reddit

Thats just muscle memory and happend to everyone. This is why those touchpads that randomize numbers are literally satan.

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menkoy@reddit

I had a user who was extremely nervous about getting a new computer because she was afraid everything would be different and she wouldn't know how to do her job. After we made the changes, she confirmed she was completely lost and would need a ton of help. Issue #1: Her mouse cursor was different. I changed it to what she was using before. Suddenly everything made sense again and she didn't have any issues finding anything...

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Rathmun@reddit

she confirmed she was completely lost and would need a ton of help. Issue #1: Her mouse cursor was different.

"You forgot how to get to work, because you got your car repainted. You are a complete and utter moron."

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syntaxerror53@reddit

Or worse still, someone parked a same model car and they got confused which was theirs.

Even though the lights were blinking when the open door button pressed on key fob when unlocking door.

Saw that few weeks ago. Car owner had a newer sportier shinier version of car, yet still walked up and stood in front of the older dirtier version of car that was nearby and wondered why key-fob wasn't working. Until spouse came up and said why are you standing there? Our car is over here.

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Rathmun@reddit

Nah, the mouse cursor is still just the mouse cursor. Presumably they didn't get a new mouse with a different DPI sensor in it at the same time, or that would've been their first stumbling block. They wouldn't have been able to find the mouse located on their desk, nevermind noticing the changed cursor.

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Zoleish@reddit

She sounds incompetent.

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dilletaunty@reddit

Sometimes brains are dumb

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LeahInShade@reddit

Oh... my... effing... godlessness... 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

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Rukagaku@reddit

Had something like that, user rarely undocked and had 2 full 20 inch monitors full of icons, changed computer load profile all the icons loaded stacked under the recycle bin

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samspock@reddit

We had a customer once who wanted us to make sure every icon was in the same place on every desktop in the building and to make sure it does not change.

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anubisviech@reddit

Didn't they... at some point in the past... read the actual folder name?

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Strazdas1@reddit

possibly no. Copied it from somewhere and never read the name.

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mwenechanga@reddit

I genuinely had a folder on my desktop for a couple years that I opened 2-3 times a week and forgot what I named it. Didn’t notice until it moved and I could not find it for several minutes. I only have a dozen desktop items total!

Desktop is on a network share for us, so it was backed up and everything, I just genuinely had no idea what it was named since I named it the day I was hired.

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Zoleish@reddit

I wish we could be honest with users. I can't count the number of times I've wanted to tell a user that an issue is entirely their fault and they cant always expect other people to magically fix their self inflicted problems.

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Jaymez82@reddit (OP)

When I first got into IT, some of my friends took a job with the local ISP. One of their rules was that no matter how wrong a customer was, you could not say no to them. I knew I could never work for them.

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Kiwi_Apart@reddit

Microsoft product manager kept all their files on the desktop. Tried really hard to not let anyone know. Slipped up with us a vendor once in a presentation. Knew there was a reason not to trust them. Fundamentally incompetent.

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fantazamor@reddit

The brain takes shortcuts, it's just a shame her brain with cut short...

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centstwo@reddit

Classic sales person...

https://youtu.be/uRGljemfwUE?si=sjtGjdmzGGQYXDg9

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Strazdas1@reddit

Think of everything you know about IT. Now imagine everything suddenly was different tomorrow without warning and everything you knew is wrong. This is what they are going through.

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meitemark@reddit

Cool. Now I can learn new stuff!

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Puzzleheaded-Joke-97@reddit

Is IT the same as the MIS Dept.?

/s

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Strazdas1@reddit

No. No time to learn new stuff. You must do your work now. Without knowing how it works now.

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meitemark@reddit

No problem. I can learn while doing.

Thing is, I have been put into computers, programs and phones, and laptops and pads that I have no idea how is made, what language (programming or text) they are using for close to 30+ some years and asked to fix, make, connect them to networks, print etc. It will usually go just fine. Why? Well, according to a lot of people, I "look" like I have knowledge about computers. People I have never meet before looks at me and say "you are a computer guy".

If you are going to alter computers so much that I do cannot figure out how it is supposed to work on first try, they need to be pink mushrooms that speak flemish. But let me play with it for a few days, and I can get your pivoted report out just fine.

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Strazdas1@reddit

Thats great. Your genius is not applicable to average person, though.

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meitemark@reddit

If it had been, the problems tfts faced would have been more advanced, and occationally, the pink mushrooms would be replaced with snakes that spoke nynorsk or badgers that screams.

In the time between me writing the last post, and this reply, I have fixed an acoustic guitar preamp. Have I done that before? Nope.

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Sneezegoo@reddit

Troubleshooting and using manuals are pretty integral skills for IT. I don't know why they think you're some strange anomaly.

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meitemark@reddit

Common sense is so uncommon that it is an super power, basic troubleshooting is so rare that it could be called a 'power skill' and guys (the male portion of guys) that read user manuals prior to fucking it all up is afaik almost unicorns. I'm inflicted with all three.

Also, but mostly unrelated, I know and understand history, so I'm doomed to see everybody else that DON'T do that, repeat all the fuckups forever.

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Mr_ToDo@reddit

I administer Microsoft products, yes

And ya, I do get it, but unlike the products we have to deal with once they find their files they can put them back and it'll be done

Shoot I've even gone to the effort when I have time to actually put icons back for users when I have the time, but it's a value added bonus not a given

And there's a good bit of difference between "it's not in the same place and my work is hard now" and "I don't have office because the icons not where I want it"(or it's shape changed with a new version). The degree of helplessness is wide indeed and with some people I can only do my best, and that's not always good enough.

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TraditionalTackle1@reddit

I once had to spend 3 hours with a lady who got a new computer helping her make it look like the old one. She couldn’t function if everything wasn’t in the exact same place.

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z0phi3l@reddit

Thankfully we never had to do that, I just sent the user to their manager

After the XP to 10 upgrade user could not work because icons reset, did not know the name of the app, her main claims processing system, or what credentials she used, can't fix stupid

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Strazdas1@reddit

After the XP to 10 upgrade

skipped quite a few versions there.

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z0phi3l@reddit

Yeah, it was actually XP to 7, not sure where my mind was

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Throwaway_Old_Guy@reddit

The recurring ghost of the Google-Bing Lady...

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SnooRegrets8068@reddit

Sounds like someone could be replaced with a few lines of code.

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syntaxerror53@reddit

"Why is my phone not ringing, all calls going to Voicemail?"

Check phone, it's on DND. Switch it off. Get them to test. Working fine now.

"Who did that? Never even touched it"

Hmmm....

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dickcheney600@reddit

Here's the (insert price of phone) question. Was it a different model that naturally sounded different, or was it the kind of phone where tones could be changed to differentiate between which one was ringing?

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StuBidasol@reddit

I'm giving this one an upvote just for the title but the story is great too.

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P5ychokilla@reddit

Yeah. That attitude, how dare you expect them to know when a phone is ringing.

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Terrible_Shirt6018@reddit

"I fix faults in hardware, not in it's users arms"

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Hebrewhammer8d8@reddit

What did your boss say about your attitude?

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NatChArrant@reddit

I heard that title in Lily Tomlin's 'operator' voice

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NotTheOnlyGamer@reddit

I was about to about to say that I heard Ernestine.

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Geminii27@reddit

"I'll talk to your boss about your attitude!""

"I'll talk to yours about basic job training."

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1947-1460@reddit

I’ve upgraded my MIL computer several times. XP -> 7 -> 10 -> 11. I’ve learned to take pictures of her desktop and put every icon back in the same place on the desktop.

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SnooRegrets8068@reddit

MIL is particularly attached to an old version of solitaire for whatever reason so wvery single time it was a case of getting that on there before she would stop complaining. After I found the machine for her and SO installed everything she wanted.

I'm not allowed to do tech support for her as my face betrays my emotions. Especially when someone's being a tool.

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Traveling-Techie@reddit

I too have difficulty “suffering fools gladly” (I think that’s from the Bible). Definitely impacted my career.

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EruditeLegume@reddit

This worked for me in the same situation with my M-I-L:
https://winaero.com/download-windows-7-games-for-windows-11/

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1947-1460@reddit

I fortunately only do hardware support. Her daughter (my wife) does the day to day phone support. Most issues are website related, because her mom just clicks things without reading them.

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Zoleish@reddit

Just tell her to pay for OneDrive. It will back up all of her documents, photos, and desktop. Then when she signs into her Microsoft account on a new computer, It will all just magically reappear right where it originally was.

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1947-1460@reddit

She doesn’t have a Microsoft account ( nor do I at home. No reason to give MS more of my data). I do have file history set up on her system, so no need to pay for OneDrive.

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simeumsm@reddit

I do that, but for my smartphone screen. I know how to navigate and find where things are, but it is good to have the muscle memory and know where each app is without much thought.

As for computers, I rarely even have the desktop showing. Simple black background, and I just navigate files using windows explorer since it is mostly organized.

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TinyNiceWolf@reddit

Look at it this way. The company has provided a job to a very stupid person, thereby keeping them off the unemployment rolls.

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deeseearr@reddit

And without that employer's selfless dedication, they might have been working somewhere like emergency services instead.

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weirdal1968@reddit

"Is this the party to whom I am speaking? "

https://youtu.be/FI0rfv6Cw1M?si=AXeS3jwO_S-Uhi35

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Jaymez82@reddit (OP)

It took too long for someone to reference her.

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weirdal1968@reddit

I saw her live maybe 15 years ago. Excellent show.

Back in the 80s she was in town and for shit and giggles she convinced a local diner to let her waitress for a morning shift.

This local interview mentions said waitressing stint https://captimes.com/news/local/writers/laurel-white/lily-tomlin-returns-to-madison-with-an-eye-on-scott-walker/article_e4a4031a-0cab-5b98-aaa0-43f951dd6814.html

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