Do you enjoy your job?

[k0ua]

Ain't that the truth!!! :laughing:

Man, do I and my coworkers have the stories like that...

Best one I have is from my coworker, Tom. He got called for a desktop PC not working in a remote office. He drives up there and the guy is sitting at his desk and tells him the computer just stopped working. So before picking it up and swapping it out and bringing it back, right there on the guy's desk, he opens it up. There's a butter knife laying on the motherboard! A full-on regular old metal butterknife, completely inside the computer, laying on the mother board, shorting who knows what out!

He looks on the break area table in the center of the office and there's 4 forks, 4 spoons, and 3 butter knives.

So he motions for the guy to come over here by his desk and points inside the computer and says "I think I found your problem."

Then Tom just stood there looking at the guy for several moments until the guy final broke. He said the machine was making a horrible noise from somewhere inside for days and days and he couldn't take it anymore as it was driving him nuts. So he tipped it up and started jamming the butter knife in and out of the openings on the back..... and he dropped it, and it fell into the machine. When he set the pc back down flat, it want "POOF!" and stopped working.

I can only remember one truthful phone "abuser". This was at a large law firm. When I got there the phone was in pieces. I jokingly asked "what happened". He replied, I got angry after talking to a client on the phone, and I threw it across the room. At least he was honest. I saw where it had impacted the wall too.

 

[MossRoad]

I had a call in on a weekend where the newsroom reported 3 pcs were not working. All of them had a weird pattern on the screen. That's odd. Investigation revealed a person had brought in a 3.5" floppy from home after she tried to read something on her home PC and it died. So she brought it into work and put it in a PC and that PC died. So she tried it on a 2nd PC and it died. So she tried it on a 3rd PC and that died. Someone finally stopped her and called us.

I was very surprised that the person that did this was actually very intelligent. I'd have thought she would have figured it out after the 2nd computer that got hosed, but not gone on to kill 4 of them, and would have gone on to probably kill the entire company. Supreme brain malfunction. The floppy had a death virus on it. Any PC you put it in got the hard drive scrambled when you tried to access the disk. That was my first experience with a Typhoid Mary.

 

[5030]

From what I read on social media sites (this one included), there are a bunch of very stupid people out there today. Such is life I guess.

 

[daugen]

while I had my RadioShack, a fair number of cordless phones would be brought in with the I don't know why this doesn't work explanation.
This was long before anyone with electronics was told automatically to send stuff to a repair station, part of my service was I'd take responsibility for warranty repairs,
which meant a lot of boxing and shipping.
Well first I would take the phone apart and often water would run out. I had a powerful hair dryer I kept there for the sole
purpose of drying out electronics, and sometimes after several days
they would turn back on. More often they wouldn't and if I could see signs of water, Panasonic, etc sure could too...
This is when I learned that wonderful little ditty: If you teach them to drink, they will soon learn to smoke!

Computer keyboards were constantly getting coffee and sugary drinks spilled on them.
Coffee wasn't so bad, the stuff that became sticky was a real mess and usually couldn't be fixed
without way more time than was sensible.

While I had no true electronics background, other than building Heathkits as a hobby and taking "Shocks For Jocks" (Basic Electronics 101) at college, when walkmen first came out the mini/submini plug receptacles they used often broke from use/abuse. In the beginning they were large enough I could actually see what I was doing so I used my Heathkit tools, desolderers and soldering guns to fix the receptacles or replace them. Back then the Walkmen were at least a hundred dollars so my fixing the unit for 20 bucks was highly appreciated. That was very satisfying to put a smile back on a young person's face. Later on everything got so miniaturized I just didn't have the dexterity to fix those tiny parts.

 

[dragoneggs]

From what I read on social media sites (this one included), there are a bunch of very stupid people out there today. Such is life I guess.

And I bet most of us think we are smarter than the rest... go figure. :stirthepot:

 

[two_bit_score]

I can only remember one truthful phone "abuser". This was at a large law firm. When I got there the phone was in pieces. I jokingly asked "what happened". He replied, I got angry after talking to a client on the phone, and I threw it across the room. At least he was honest. I saw where it had impacted the wall too.

They say Lawyers are "Paid Liars". I guess he wasn't being paid.



:laughing:



TBS

 

[two_bit_score]

I had a call in on a weekend where the newsroom reported 3 pcs were not working. All of them had a weird pattern on the screen. That's odd. Investigation revealed a person had brought in a 3.5" floppy from home after she tried to read something on her home PC and it died. So she brought it into work and put it in a PC and that PC died. So she tried it on a 2nd PC and it died. So she tried it on a 3rd PC and that died. Someone finally stopped her and called us.

I was very surprised that the person that did this was actually very intelligent. I'd have thought she would have figured it out after the 2nd computer that got hosed, but not gone on to kill 4 of them, and would have gone on to probably kill the entire company. Supreme brain malfunction. The floppy had a death virus on it. Any PC you put it in got the hard drive scrambled when you tried to access the disk. That was my first experience with a Typhoid Mary.

Probably one of those " Is this You" videos. :laughing:

 

[bindian]

while I had my RadioShack, a fair number of cordless phones would be brought in with the I don't know why this doesn't work explanation.
This was long before anyone with electronics was told automatically to send stuff to a repair station, part of my service was I'd take responsibility for warranty repairs,
which meant a lot of boxing and shipping.
Well first I would take the phone apart and often water would run out. I had a powerful hair dryer I kept there for the sole
purpose of drying out electronics, and sometimes after several days
they would turn back on. More often they wouldn't and if I could see signs of water, Panasonic, etc sure could too...
This is when I learned that wonderful little ditty: If you teach them to drink, they will soon learn to smoke!

Computer keyboards were constantly getting coffee and sugary drinks spilled on them.
Coffee wasn't so bad, the stuff that became sticky was a real mess and usually couldn't be fixed
without way more time than was sensible.

While I had no true electronics background, other than building Heathkits as a hobby and taking "Shocks For Jocks" (Basic Electronics 101) at college, when walkmen first came out the mini/submini plug receptacles they used often broke from use/abuse. In the beginning they were large enough I could actually see what I was doing so I used my Heathkit tools, desolderers and soldering guns to fix the receptacles or replace them. Back then the Walkmen were at least a hundred dollars so my fixing the unit for 20 bucks was highly appreciated. That was very satisfying to put a smile back on a young person's face. Later on everything got so miniaturized I just didn't have the dexterity to fix those tiny parts.

Airline pilots are notorious for spilling coffee on radio and navigation control heads. Most center pedestals in airliner cockpits have a little flat spot just the right size for a foam or cardboard coffee cup, between the frequency switch knobs.
We would get a gate call that the #1 or #2 radio wasn't working or intermittent. We could smell coffee when we entered the cockpit, but not see it. The suspect area was "sticky". We popped in a new control head, ops checked it and signed off the log book. Instead of putting the log book in it's holder, we would search the Captain out and hand him the log book, saying...."Put your coffee cup in the cup holder!"

Also........every airliner galley needs signage above the coffee makers stating to do not remove the coffee pot while coffee is brewing. We would get a gate call that the coffee maker wouldn't turn off. We would arrive to see splash stains on all the galley cabinet doors. We didn't change the coffee maker, just signed off the logbook.....Could not duplicate. Ops check normal. Stupid little things keep mechanics on the payroll........and delay flights.
hugs, Brandi

 

[ultrarunner]

Some is not knowing what you don't know in the business world as to how things work... especially if you know no one in a large Corp background and you come from small business side and self employed ranks...

A few years ago I was tied in knots when the Hospital was sold... the new managers flew in and didn't have a clue what it takes to run the place... their mantra was outsource everything possible.

A very wise long retired friend said just get through it...

Seven years later all of the managers and senior managers and corp division VP are long gone...

It can really be easier to go with the flow... hourly means I am paid for my time and I no longer on site 7 days a week...

But it sure was hard standing in line that first week clocking in and missing my mandatory lunch break and then getting a warning that lunch must be taken...

Life really is a journey...

 

[k0ua]

while I had my RadioShack, a fair number of cordless phones would be brought in with the I don't know why this doesn't work explanation.
This was long before anyone with electronics was told automatically to send stuff to a repair station, part of my service was I'd take responsibility for warranty repairs,
which meant a lot of boxing and shipping.
Well first I would take the phone apart and often water would run out. I had a powerful hair dryer I kept there for the sole
purpose of drying out electronics, and sometimes after several days
they would turn back on. More often they wouldn't and if I could see signs of water, Panasonic, etc sure could too...
This is when I learned that wonderful little ditty: If you teach them to drink, they will soon learn to smoke!

Computer keyboards were constantly getting coffee and sugary drinks spilled on them.
Coffee wasn't so bad, the stuff that became sticky was a real mess and usually couldn't be fixed
without way more time than was sensible.

While I had no true electronics background, other than building Heathkits as a hobby and taking "Shocks For Jocks" (Basic Electronics 101) at college, when walkmen first came out the mini/submini plug receptacles they used often broke from use/abuse. In the beginning they were large enough I could actually see what I was doing so I used my Heathkit tools, desolderers and soldering guns to fix the receptacles or replace them. Back then the Walkmen were at least a hundred dollars so my fixing the unit for 20 bucks was highly appreciated. That was very satisfying to put a smile back on a young person's face. Later on everything got so miniaturized I just didn't have the dexterity to fix those tiny parts.

In the last few years I have learned how to work on Boards with SMD (Surface Mounted Devices) I have replace some discrete transistors and diodes at less than 1/16 of an inch in dimension including the legs. I have replaced one 100 pin(leg) CPU chip that was about 1/2 inch in diameter. It isn't easy, and requires new techniques, but it can be done with enough magnification and patience. Yes I learned how by watching a bunch of you tube videos. It is amazing what you can do if you want to do it bad enough. I have always had steady hands.