For those of you who have worked in Tech Support, what are your best stories? If you've never done Tech Support, when you hear these stories they sound made up. It is only after you've gotten your first coaster CD Tray call that you realize EVERY STORY IS REAL!! Well, this is one of my favorite: One day this woman from Russia brought her PC in and couldn't get it to work. She had bought it from us a few years before. I forget what her problem was, but I opened the case and what was there? A spiderweb that covered the whole inside of the case. It was huge -- there was a big, fat spider right there in the middle of it . . . I was like "WTF!!" I didn't get to snap a picture of it before it got cleaned out, but the line of the day was "Her computer LITERALLY had bugs". Turned out she had a HUGE virus problem, but I'd say more probs than just a little CIH virus. ------------------ "Up and down, inside out, outside in, some you lose some you win" -- DMB -> "Sweet Up and Down"
I had a co worker tell me one time about a tech problem that some one called in about. It wasn't to him, but he had heard it somewhere. Anyway, this man called up Microsoft support, or some software support line, and complained that his CPU was smoking. The support representative told the man that it therefore couldn't be a software problem, and that he needed to turn off his machine and take it to the shop. The man wouldn't hear of it, and insisted that the problem lie somewhere in the software. They argued back in forth for a long time, and the support guy got continually more and more amazed at how stupid and stubborn this person was. Eventually, he told the man that he was going to let him in on a little secret, and that in situations like these, there was something that could be done, but the support guys weren't supposed to tell customers. He informed the customer of a secret executable, "nosmoke.exe" that could be run in case of equipment smoking. The customer kindly thanked the support techie, and hung up the phone to try the executable.... Some people, man... some people. ------------------ "Any event, once it has occurred, can be made to appear inevitable by a competent historian." Lee Simonson
I had a friend of a friend bring me a Compaq for repair. He said he couldnt figure out why it refused to boot up. Upon further inspection he had used super glue and duct tape to fix a cracked mainboard. "Tim the tool man" swore he bought it like that. Is'nt it funny how when you catch someone in something they act "surprised". He also had a ton of p*rn on there that was "on there when he bought it". For some strange reason his wife didnt beleive him. To top it off he never paid. ------------------ "I may be mistaken, but I'm never wrong" -Barkley
We have a particular application that uses a gateway server, and the file with the configuration information got deleted. I reported the problem once, then had them re-open the ticket four times. I told them all I needed was the gateway address, that the application was still there, and I knew how to update the configuration information. Each time, someone came after a week, looked at the computer, and said that desktop support needed to assign a gateway address for the particular application, and closed the ticket. They didn't even see me -- I found out their comments by calling the help desk to find out when they were coming. I finally contacted their manager and asked who assigned the gateway addresses -- and he said his area did -- his area was desktop support. Two days later it was fixed. Another time I reported a problem with my PC -- and get this -- someone came on the same day! They fixed the problem and explained what happened. Then they took the time to fix a couple of other things that were annoying me. I was amazed -- they did an outstanding job. Just thought I'd stick up a little for the other side. ------------------ Stay Cool...
We have a tech who has worked here for years that has earned the nickname "The Doorstop" because that is just about all the guy is good for. He is in his mid-50s and his technical knowledge stopped growing around 1985 with IBM PS2/Model 30s. Since we are State employees it is virtually impossible for his bosses to get rid of him without eliminating his position. Once day, one of my groups' DBAs needed to have Oracle reinstalled on his PC. The DBA had the Oracle CD suite, but CD #6 had a bad scratch on it. So, lo and behold, "The Doorstop" shows up at his door with CD #6. The DBA started the installation routine. When it was time to insert CD #6, "The Doorstop" tried, in succession, to (1) insert the CD into the disk drive of the PC, then (2) insert the CD into the CD-Rom drive without removing the CD from its cardboard sleeve. When neither worked, he came an inch away from powering the machine off (during an installation routine, yet!). The DBA stopped him, asked for the CD so he could continue installing, and then told "The Doorstop"..."why don't you stand outside by the door or something. I can finish this myself." ------------------ "Blues is a Healer" --John Lee Hooker
