Computer idiot

[clare]

Around here it's hard to give away anything less than a core2 duo.

[philo]

I live in Milwaukee, if it's free someone will take it.

I suppose I really should get rid of that Win2000 server I have

>

[philo]

Last few machines I've built were those mobo/cpu combos.

Very cheap and they work fine. Extremely low power consumption.

[Sam E]

[snip]

And plugged in to something other than the power strip that's plugged in to itself.

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

I have been at a computer user group meeting when someone asked me if I could figure out why their computer wouldn't work. I looked under the table and found in plugged into a power strip which was plugged into someone else's power strip (common in this old building with very few outlets) which was turned off. I wanted this to sound more interesting, so I said the problem was a "floating input".

[Don Y]

I consider time to be the most valuable "commodity". I freely give mine to my friends. They tend to reciprocate -- in similar ways.

E.g., I asked a friend if she could drive me to pick up some plywood in her pickup truck last week; she handed me the keys.

I needed help removing -- and then reinstalling -- a picture window. Another friend dropped what he was doing the moment I asked -- even though I didn't need it done "right now".

A neighbor chuckles as I tend to drain the oil from the car

*before* verifying that I've got replacement oil on hand -- and end up resorting to bumming a ride from her to go buy 5 qts.

OTOH, someone's kid accidentally deletes their homework and I drop what I'm doing to try to recover it for them.

Or, gets their machine infected with malware.

Or, needs a new branch circuit installed for XMAS lights.

Or...

As each of these are *favors*, none of us are REQUIRED to fulfill any of them! It's entirely elective -- not "payback" for something that was done for us previously. (/quid pro quo/)

+42

[philo]

Here is the best thing I've ever done when it comes to computer repair

or possibly the worst. ...and I am not making this up.

I got rid of two of the most bothersome characters this way:

I called each one and told them I would no longer be able to give them support but I told them I had an expert friend who could help ... then gave each one the phone number of the other!

If you knew what idiocy they subjected me to, you would know I did the right thing.

[philo]

Funny side note:

I was over at a friend's house and there was a certain woman there he was making fun of.

Right in front of her he said she was so dumb he had to go over there late at night and fix the speaker wires on her stereo then drive back home.

I knew as a fact the woman was pretty bright and hooking up speakers would have been laughably simple.

She leaned over to me and said. "I was trying to seduce him, guess who the dummy was."

[bob haller]

I was servicing copiers for a living, a fill in secretary called and report ed her machine wouldnt print. i arrived at school dismissal, the office was a zoo....... couldnt talk with the secretary. the machine had no toner in it at all. so i added a case of toner and left. planned on visiting the nex t morning.

she called very early to report the copier had quit working again.

the service counter said 100 copies since i was last there, the night befor e.....

no toner in the machine. none at all.

found out the customer had dumped the toner twice, to clean it:(

its amazing at how many ways things can get messed up.

i remind myself if it werent for people doing stupid things. i wouldnt have a job

[bob haller]

I had a call to repair a machine that used 240 volts at high current. The customer had cobbled together a adapter cord from a 16 gauge light cord extension......

when I told them wrong outlet wrong voltage and very unsafe, FIRE HAZARD, they got mad at me.

So I just walked out the door, I cant fix stupid.........

[Muggles]

LOL!

[Don Y]

That's why I am careful with my time. SWMBO has lots of single/widowed lady friends looking for "someone they can trust" to fix their computers, work around the house, cars, etc. "Gee, I'm sorry but Don't really busy..."

And, you can't "do for one" without the others finding out and wondering why you won't "do for THEM!", etc.

In reality, there's no deception, there. Folks can quickly "become demanding" -- esp when they are PAYING for something! (doing things as favors means you can always say "no"!)

[cheezwhiz]

Public school systems are amazing. Maybe they need more tax dollars?

[philo]

Yep.

If you know how to fix something you will always have job security.

[philo]

One customer called me and said we sold him defective equipment because it was giving people shocks.

Went there and who ever wired it up ... did not have the right AC plug (It was 460 v 3 phase) they cut the tab off the ground tine and plugged it into the receptacle rotated which made the case live!

I cut the plug off and threw it away, then went to see the factory foreman and started cussing him out.

He then kicked me out of the plant and said, "I don't need a lecture on safety!"

I bet he was the idiot who wired the thing.

[Stormin Mormon]

Hope you documented that on the work order, so you didn't incur liability.

[Robert Green]

Great story! Reminds me of the comedienne who put on her sexiest negligee and stood leaning seductively in the living room doorway. When her husband noticed he said: "What's wrong honey, did you hit your head?"

Men often don't get subtle cues . . .

[Robert Green]

I learned early on that once you touch someone's computer in an attempt to help them you become responsible for everything that ever goes wrong with that computer until it hits the scrap heap.

My boss got mad at ME for getting him to back up his PC for the first time ever (200MB drive at the time) because I discovered much of the disk was cross-linked. I tried to explain that it was a good thing that running a back up exposed the corruption before the whole drive was lost, but he just saw it as "you forced me to back up my hard drive and now it's broken."

[My 2 Cents]

My tip for those damn computers with no HD activity light.. is this tip,...

[philo]

It took my wife a while to get my attention at first.

One evening she showed up wearing fishnet stockings and a leather miniskirt possibly 4" long and an exceedingly low cut blouse.

I figured out that she was dropping a little hint.