What's the most enraging thing a computer illiterate person has said to you?

[SMOKEU]

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/co...ng_a_computer/

This is one of my favourites from the list:



Working as an intern many years ago in tech support, I was tasked with building my boss's new laptop. Once I was done, I handed it off to him and he was gracious enough to give me his old one to use in return. I got back to my desk, cabled it up and turned it on. Being in an office where everyone had static IPs and I had configured his new system exactly the same as his old one, I received the Windows 95 popup that someone had the IP I was trying to use and I couldn't have it. My boss, meanwhile, got a popup that said someone was trying to use his IP address, but it would not be permitted. No big deal -- I switched the IP address on my side and dropped by the boss's office to tell him to click "OK" and just ignore the mistake.

Three days pass. I am called into my boss's office. He asks me to take a seat and just stares for what seemed like a full minute. I finally spoke up.

"Is something th--"

"I know what you've been doing."

"Excuse me?"

"If you confess, I won't fire you."

"What?"

"I know you've been stealing my email."

"I...what? I haven't been--"

"You took my address and you've been stealing my email! Your ass is fired for this."

I got him to calm down long enough to explain that, no, the IP conflict would not permit me to steal his email, password required, mail identity and client, etc, etc. Being the dumb intern I was, I figured the technical explanation would suffice and the misunderstanding would be happily resolved and life at the office would continue. My boss stood up, knocked over a mug of pencils, and screamed at the top of his lungs, "You're a goddamn liar! I'm an important person, dammit, and I haven't gotten an email from the outside world in three days because you have been stealing them."

So, I did what I thought made perfect sense and sent him an email from my personal email account that resided outside the office. It showed up in his inbox a minute later.

"You rigged it to do that on purpose! You made it let your email through while you are still stealing all my important messages!"

That ended up being a really long day. And, yeah, he just hadn't had anyone send him email from outside the company in a few days.

[unstuck]

Whats illiterate mean?

[James Deuce]

"I'm from South Africa".

[jellywrestler]

Whats illiterate mean?

having babies when you're not married

[unstuck]

"I'm from South Africa".

Oh, we just say fucked in the head down here.

[unstuck]

having babies when you're not married

I thought that was uneligable. Should of stayed awake at school. Drugs are bad kids.

[avgas]

This guy was not supposed to be computer illiterate. He is actually a project manager:

"I was going through the emails setup on the server through Outlook. I noticed there was a support one that no one was using - so I deleted it. Needed to free up some space on the server.
Turns out that is the support email that gets all the automatic emails from sites. Can Zack set it up again and recover all those emails for me?"

Me - "He can reset-up the account, but looks like you have wiped the whole history"

"It asked me something about the file was too big for the recycling bin. But I need those emails back"

Me - "Usually when I need something, I tend not to delete it permanently without asking someone else first"

[SMOKEU]

Whats illiterate mean?

Shit, my bad

[Zippo]

Colleagues thought that the teaching room laptops weren't working. Me: *plug power cable in*

This has happened on numerous occasions...You'd think they would have learned by now.

[nosebleed]

"I'm from South Africa".

"Apple sucks"

[Gremlin]

Enraging? Don't think I've had that from illiterate people... but I did have to argue with a stupid tech once.

As for... mishaps... oh, so many I've forgotten most (and keep telling myself to remember them). Client complained the laptop kept "dying" on him/her, so I turned off all power saving features and warned them it would run completely flat etc. A few weeks later I get called out as the "dud" laptop is now completely dead, I should have known it was a dud etc. Plugged the power cord actually into the power board and away it went (plus charging the very flat battery). Plenty of times I've had to reset a device or power cycle it or suchlike fixing easy problems.

Thing is, you never know the extent of the problem until you've asked a few questions, maybe had a look etc, so I never judge. That said, when you've asked a very pointed and specific question and been given the wrong answer...

Oh, currently enraging is being rung at 2 or 4am about a problem, they've waited 20min and it still isn't working. You're just getting up (last time was a week or two ago), throwing on some warm clothes as it's bloody cold, then get rung again to hear: "oh, don't worry, it's working now". Likely they didn't wait 20min but I'll spend more than that trying to get back to sleep after the brain has already kicked into gear.

[SMOKEU]

I'm actually not joking with this next one. I wish I was.

Client: I need help setting up my new laptop that I just bought.
Me: What part are you stuck on, what does the screen say?
Client: I don't know where to start.
Me: Have you powered it on, and where exactly are you stuck? Is there any error message?
Client: I haven't even opened the cardboard box that the laptop came in.
Me: Start by opening the box, and then have a read of the user manual. That should say how to put the battery in and get it started.
Client: I don't know how.
Me: Open the box and remove the laptop to start off with. Call me if you get stuck.

Turns out she got some "IT Guy" in to help her in the end.

[onearmedbandit]

Linux FTW!!!!!

[unstuck]

I'm actually not joking with this next one. I wish I was.

Client: I need help setting up my new laptop that I just bought.
Me: What part are you stuck on, what does the screen say?
Client: I don't know where to start.
Me: Have you powered it on, and where exactly are you stuck? Is there any error message?
Client: I haven't even opened the cardboard box that the laptop came in.
Me: Start by opening the box, and then have a read of the user manual. That should say how to put the battery in and get it started.
Client: I don't know how.
Me: Open the box and remove the laptop to start off with. Call me if you get stuck.

Turns out she got some "IT Guy" in to help her in the end.

You dumb african twat, why didnt you go around and set it up and get the coin for yourself up here for thinking.

[SMOKEU]

You dumb african twat, why didnt you go around and set it up and get the coin for yourself up here for thinking.

Because that would have been a big mistake. One of the reasons I don't like fixing/upgrading other peoples computers is because in 6 months from now when they've managed to get it infested with malware they ring me up and say "That thingy you did 6 months ago has now broken my computer, I want it fixed". She's the kind of person who would expect me to be her 24/7 tech support guy asking how to send an email or how to copy and paste every time she has a problem.

It's not much different from taking your car to a mechanic to get a gearbox service, and then complaining to the mechanic next time the vehicle fails a WOF for leaky shocks and chassis rust and expecting them to fix it for free.