r/TalesFromTechSupport - She thinks she's a computer wizard...

what's up guys welcome to daily dose of Reddit this is your host Zach and today subreddit is our slash tales from tech support don't forget to Like subscribe and hit that Bell to never miss an episode this story's called you you are the reason the work on your computer hasn't started I was reminded of this story recently but it happened about six or seven years ago I was working for the tech services section of a prominent big-box retailer with blue shirts I was working the morning shift that day so in at 9:00 a.m. I had checked in a lady that morning for some issues with her laptop now the way this works is I spend 10 to 15 minutes with a client to get an understanding of what the problem is and then create the service order when the computer gets checked in it gets flagged for diag or eval eval for when the computer either cannot turn on or cannot connect to the network that was not the issue with this computer which meant her computer was flagged for die acts when a computer is flagged for dyads it gets plugged into the network and remote tech starts the battery of software die acts on it depending on the condition of the computer the diag scan take between 4 and 12 hours so it's 4 to 12 hours and then someone actually goes to work on it I told the client that right now we were looking at a two to three day turnaround I like to under promise so there's an open connection I slide it in connect the cables and queue it up typically someone will start the diag syn 15 to 30 minutes at that point so the client got checked in at like 10:00 or 10:30 in the morning 4:00 in the afternoon she calls in wanting to know why we haven't started on her laptop ok it's a bit odd but not totally unheard of she may have simply assumed we hadn't started since we haven't called so I go back and check and yeah the diag start running it's also no longer queued someone may have moved the laptop and interrupted the connection or the computer charged or lost connection or something it happens sometimes I apologize for the delay make a note and confirm that it is cued up the connections are tight and that is flagged for dyads and ready to go and that X should be starting the diag anytime now just to make sure there isn't a problem I ping the tech line and ask them to confirm the unit is cued they can see it and it's in line to be started should be started in about five minutes finish out my shift leave for the day I come back the next day first call of the day same lady wanting to know why we haven't started work on their computer okay this is somewhat unusual I go and look at her computer and it's no longer cute and doesn't have any diag results okay so something is going on I once more apologize to the client explain that something atypical is going on and I'm going to look into it I Riku ping the tech line confirm they can see it that it is responding to the ping request and ask them to prioritize the diag zhan it so I can personally confirm that the diag have been started pull a few strings and I get it to go through I see the diag starting I make a note of the time in the service order ok good to go I go back to the counter rest of my shift goes off without issue and I leave for the day I come back the next day and there is a message from the client who was absolutely livid that we haven't started work on her system what I'm trying to figure out how she got that impression if she called after I left the other members of the department would have told her the diag were running or were done in what the results were I personally saw the diag started so I know they got started I go to look at the computer fully expecting to see a nice detailed multi-page diox report all set to contact the client and find out what happened there was nothing the diag swerve in --is-- it's no longer in queue there are no notes on the service order what the hell i peeing the tech line and asked for the access log on that connection ok you lost the connection about 4:30 the afternoon before ah that means the diag for over 6 hours but didn't finish otherwise I could view the report I call the client back apologize for the delay they explained that I personally saw the diag started in something knocked the computer off the connection about six hours later given that the computer has now been there for 48 hours it is now a priority ticket so I grabbed one of the texts explain the situation and sell them I want to set the laptop up on the desk top shelf so the text can keep an eye on it we move it set it up riku it being the tech line again explain that it's now a priority at the diag solling on it make a note of it in the service order and we go about the rest of our day 2:15 or else around and the tech Flags me down and explains that he just saw the laptop dropped the connection and switched to a remote desktop connection as we're looking at the computer we see someone is accessing the computer and the remote software has knocked off our remote connection almost on cue the phone rings I answer it it's the client who is livid that we still have not started work on her computer ma'am do you use the remote desktop software on your computer I asked yes it's how I know you morons haven't started work on my computer she shrieks on the phone and you were just using it to look at your computer I presume I asked yes why she demands and you used it yesterday about 4:30 I'm guessing I asked what difference does it make she asks I'm just trying to figure out what it is that keeps preventing us from completing the first step in the repair process did you use it about 4:30 yesterday I asked a bit more sternly yes I guess it was about then she finally concedes uh-huh please hold for just a moment I put her on holds and asked the tech how she could be accessing the computer through the remote desktop when our network is isolated he ponders it for a moment and thinks the laptop could be connecting to the public Wi-Fi I asked him to get the tech line to launch the diag software he does so while I go to disable the wireless adapter normally when we watch the diag system it disables all other network connections but the Ethernet connection unless we tell it to test those connections apparently it wasn't doing that this time I nod and go back to the customer all right ma'am I need your help with something real quick would you please try to access your computer via your remote desktop software I asked what are you doing why aren't you working on my computer she demands yes ma'am I am testing a theory about why we have not been able to complete the work on your computer would you please try to access your computer via your remote desktop software I explained fine ah she sighs a moment or two go by what the hell I can't access it now what did you do it was working just a few minutes ago what did you do you have to fix it now she starts screeching yes ma'am your remote desktop software was interrupting our diagnostic software in crashing the process forcing us to start over a process that looks to take about eight or nine hours to complete I explained what do you mean she demands we have started the diagnostic process four times now three of those times you have accessed your computer with your remote desktop software and broke our connection to our Diagnostics to be blunt you are the reason that we have been unable to complete our Diagnostics on your computer now that I have disabled your wireless adapter your computer is no longer connected to the internet allowing us to do the work you have asked us to do because your computer has been here for more than 48 hours it is now a priority ticket with that being said we are still looking at eight to twelve hours to finish the Diagnostics and to identify the problem and then we can fix the problem so the estimated turnarounds at this point is 24 hours I explained the problem with her computer was she had two pieces of malware that the automatic repairs which are the last step of the diag dealt with so if she had just not used the remote desktop system it would have been done that first morning okay that just sounds really frustrating to deal with to have to start the freaking thing over four times and to get complained at three times and it's not even your fault it's the fault of the person complaining to you that their thing isn't getting done and it's because of just why did she think it was okay to do that this story's called rural manufacturing versus technology some forty-year-old story's too long setting of seeing given how well tales of aircraft repair have fared here is a little history that makes hep CAC seem a bit mild my first real programming job was at a company that made a measurement and control system it used a radioactive beta particle source that was mechanically scanned across a moving strip of material it would measure the amount that got through and calculate thickness there was a monochrome screen that displayed a graph of the measured thickness complete with tolerance bars it could even use relay closures to control the machine if their machines had provisions to do so the system had several components starting with the measurement heads one or two depending on the type of machine they connected to the operator station with a six-foot rack with the row of warning lights on top a screen black-and-whites at eye level a panel of about a dozen push buttons plus a keypad the bottom half of the rack was filled with a relay panel for controlling the process those bits were rated for use in an industrial environment not so the processor a digital PDP 1105 mini it was a half-height rackmount cabinet it was in a box that fuzzy memory was 10 units tall it had a row of teeth paddle switches and two rows of LEDs to indicate status you could read inset memory locations and CPU registers start stop and even single step the processors the box held 56 kilobytes of actual core memory and up to three serial ports the boot device either a cartridge tape or later a floppy disk may or may not be present you typically had one per site which you would move to the machine that needed it using the ability of core memory to keep its contents without power just the processor and memory etc would cost my employer the price of a workers house this had to live in a controlled environment plus operating temperature was under 30 degrees Celsius it's and the dot matrix printing terminal that's set next to it would typically go into the supervisors office which would then get air-conditioning reasonable compensation for putting up with more fan noise than a gamer stream PC communication between the components was by a 9600 baud 20 milliamp current loop serial line it was a polled system the processor would send a request and the remote device would send the data back it was even half duplex just a single twisted pair this was the late 70s computers weren't a household thing especially in a rural blue-collar workplace they were even more mysterious and all knowing things back then enough history time for stories the machine that bites it was a company that made vinyl sheet goods in coastal Texas the machine consisted of some metal drums in a station that would press and drag the sheet of plastic then a second set 10 meters away to give the stuff time to cool the vinyl sped through at a fair clip ok science nerds what does that sound like you in the second row did you say van de graaff generator we have a winner now these things usually get fitted with static control systems but here is where coastal Texas comes in it was so hot and humid normally that the company didn't bother they would just ground each frame and be done with it but a couple of weeks a year it dried out a little they were having an intermittent crash the tech they dispatched was a bit of a camera bug they got a picture of a 40 centimeter bolt of lightning leaping from sheet to the measurement head how did the possum get in somewhere in a random factory a system failed completely investigations showed the serial line had been chewed through in several places in chunks were missing the perpetrator turned out to be a female opossum that actually wasn't that unusual the amusing bit was when the plant manager came in to berate the foreman over a day and a half's lost production held on a hill did opossum get in the building this somewhat cynical in quick-witted foreman replied pretty much to showing her badge is a guy like everyone else did you send us a new set of button caps yes all of them the control panel used fancy industrial switches they had lights in them that the computer could control your choice of color and the button itself popped off so you could stick a clear label behind it few pictures of every 60s movie nuclear reactor rollro you've seen them before the place was a carpet factory in Georgia to make a carpet you weave the pile then coat the back with latex to hold everything in place last step is heating it to cure the rubber they had latex piped all around the plant heat for curing was provided by 10 barstein 170 degrees Celsius which they also distributed around the plant so one of the latex pipes broke in the operators console and other nearby items got covered with the goo no big deal it happened and dealing with it was routine the steam lines had taps fitted at regular intervals and maintenance had a hose ending in a power washer wand that they could plug in wherever they needed to clean yep they steam cleaned the outside of the cabinets melted all the switch tops into blobs surprisingly it all still works they just couldn't change what it was doing coffee it's just a game a twofer it's common for a team to alternate who gets stuck retrieving and paying for coffee for the group some places have a strict rota others like to add some chance or skill to the task skill first call from tech in the fields could you find the print for the panel of foo core machines and read me the names of the buttons those switches that got turned into blobs by the carpet Factory well another place had a different issue if you press down on an edge of the switch with your fingernail you could get it to pop off and fly across the aisle shortest distance made the break run they would put the switch caps back but over time they wound up scrambled the labels flew with the tops last one let's let chance decide I mentioned the rows of lights and switches up there well break happened and they would walk up to the processor and hit the halt switch the lights would display their current program counter and the instruction it was in the middle of in binary well the number of lit bulbs got counted and the closest to it bought the round they hit continue and the lights turned into their normal flickering blur if the system was sending a command or a display update no problem it would carry on unless it had been stopped long enough that the automatic shutter on the beta source had closed but if it was in the middle of receiving data the halts meant the serial port wouldn't get serviced in time and the UART s air flag would be raised the system would go to safe stop head retracted shutter closed service light lit error log to printer service call would be placed by the foreman and after reading the error message to the dispatcher they would be cleared to reset the system to keep production going while a tech was on route tech camped out next day to observe saw what caused the issue fix was to remove the keys from the door of the computer act and make the foreman keep it locked that should be enough for now don't you just love blue-collar shenanigans some might say they are among the best of shenanigans which is of course a great thing if you're gonna be slaving away in less than optimal working conditions then you deserve all the bashing antigens in your work life don't forget to Like subscribe and hit that Bell to never miss an episode [Music]

Channel: Daily Dose Of Reddit

Views: 35,901

Rating: 4.8205128 out of 5

Keywords: reddit, r/, subreddit, best of reddit, r/ top posts, top posts, top posts of all time, reddit top posts, 100% True stories, reddit true stories, top all time, reddit posts, reddit funny, daily dose of reddit, daily dose of internet, r/TalesFromTechSupport

Id: etC2ia9xRFQ

Length: 16min 37sec (997 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 24 2020