funny support emails

[lodc]

sorry if this is a waste of time, just can't keep this to myself and don't have any people around who can appreciate it.  one of many hats I wear at work is mail server admin.  this is an actual message I was forwarded today by one of the support folks (names changed to protect the ignorant):

Hi xxxx,
 
Andy xxxx had a customer who said her email was blocked.  Will you check to see if our reverse DSN was re-installed after our server went down.  Andy had more than one customer with this complaint.
 
Thanks,
 
xxxx

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing..  user apparently has heard of reverse DNS from somewhere, and believes its something you install (and apparently need to re-install sometimes).  also believes our DNS can cause mail from other places to be blocked.

well maybe its only funny to me, but I'm sure some of the folks here see amusing things all the time.  anyone else feel compelled to share?

[iMav]

You have to expect end users to be complete idiots.  In this case, it looks like the bar is set pretty low for your support staff.

[xsphat]

That's why I tell IT only what the problem is and when it happens. If it's a window, I take a screen shot and email it to them. I'm smart enough on computers to know I know nothing.

[bhtooefr]

At my old job, I knew my users well enough to translate from complete computer-illiterate-ese to something sensical. (Worse, I knew them well enough to translate back.) And, I didn't even really think about it.

(Also, many of my users didn't really know e-mail all that well, but all staff carried cell phones, and they just... called me with issues.)

You learn these things in a K12 private school whose slogan was (I kid you not) "special people helping special kids."

The joke (between both staff and students) was that special meant the same thing for both. (And, a friend of mine who works there... we agreed that everyone there should have gone there as a student... and some of us (myself and her included) DID!)

[wellington1869]

we had a guy who was filling out a pdf form on his computer, and it said "sign here"... so he took out a permanent black sharpie and scrawled his name across the lcd screen.

In our office he's now a legend.

[lal]

Wellington, you're kidding, right? Man, this is unbelievably dumb...

[wellington1869]

Wellington, you're kidding, right? Man, this is unbelievably dumb...

isnt it something? No one believed me until they went and saw for themselves.  We have a lot of older professors who are pretty clueless with computers, tho in this case I'd say this went way beyond computer cluelessness, this was something really wrong with him in the head! Even my grandmother would have figured out that she wasnt supposed to sign the lcd screen with a marker.

You wont even believe the service call we received. "I signed a form on my computer but the signature wont go away". I'm *not* making this up.

[ashort]

I had a computer programming professor (he taught COBOL) tell me (the class) several
times to "WRITE on the screen, that's why it's there!  Pencil washes off!"

Of course this was "back in the day" before anyone knew what an LCD screen looked like.

Another thought...as a Cisco customer in a building with lots of windows (older building) a Cisco SE taught me to use dry-erase markers on the windows.  WORKS GREAT.  

I have never heard of anyone writing on a monitor screen with permanent ink...and I have 4 kids, anything can happen!

[itlnstln]

Another thought...as a Cisco customer in a building with lots of windows (older building) a Cisco SE taught me to use dry-erase markers on the windows. WORKS GREAT.

This I have done (even on CRT monitors), and it does work great.  Even better if it is a sunny day (and with black marker).

[megarat]

Back in '98 or so, my mom asked me to help her troubleshoot sending a fax with her fax modem.  We live on opposite sides of the state, so she called me to up help walk her through it.  At the final step -- clicking "Send Fax" -- she said, "Okay, I just clicked it, and now nothing's happening.  This is just what happened last time."

I said, "Uh, mom, the last time you sent the fax, were you also using the phone?"

"Yes.  Why?"

"Because the fax modem can't use the phone line while you're talking on the phone."

She was more than a little embarrassed.  But she's come a long way.  One of the more-recent support calls I got from her was to seek tips for effective war-driving.

I have another story to share, but I don't have the time to type it up right now.  Instead I'll keep you all in suspense.

[D-EJ915]

That thing about your mom reminded me of my friend whose license plate is wardrvr

[lodc]

isnt it something? No one believed me until they went and saw for themselves.  We have a lot of older professors who are pretty clueless with computers, tho in this case I'd say this went way beyond computer cluelessness, this was something really wrong with him in the head! Even my grandmother would have figured out that she wasnt supposed to sign the lcd screen with a marker.

You wont even believe the service call we received. "I signed a form on my computer but the signature wont go away". I'm *not* making this up.

wow.

I don't know about this case, but in a lot of the "duh" support calls I see, the user is not a stupid person.  In fact, a lot of the people I've helped are quite intelligent and very good at their jobs.  Somehow they just shut down all critical thinking when it comes to using their PCs.   There is a weird disconnect somewhere.

[wellington1869]

Somehow they just shut down all critical thinking when it comes to using their PCs.   There is a weird disconnect somewhere.

ya, its weird when this happens to otherwise intelligent people. I've actually spent time thinking about what could he possibly have been thinking.  

basically maybe this is what happens when you've been deprived of the most basic electronics concepts all your life.

[Haruko]

we had a guy who was filling out a pdf form on his computer, and it said "sign here"... so he took out a permanent black sharpie and scrawled his name across the lcd screen.

In our office he's now a legend.

That's the funniest thing I've heard today.

I've always wondered if there was someone in the world who has actually physically "signed" something with a pen that was on the screen. Now I know, lol.

[pex]

ya, its weird when this happens to otherwise intelligent people. I've actually spent time thinking about what could he possibly have been thinking.  

basically maybe this is what happens when you've been deprived of the most basic electronics concepts all your life.

The issue is not human-electromachine dynamics.  Guess where else we see smart people go stupid?  Parenting (and possibly as far as in loco parentis).

I am bewildered by smart people who go completely effing retarded when they have children.  Neither children nor computers give people license to stop thinking.  I wonder if they sometimes just do it to see if they can get away with it.

I suppose I can admit that the schemas that are partially built for us sometimes don't prepare us for the mental malleability required to integrate new things.  Sometimes, however, people will not even TRY to integrate things they already know to what they can learn.  That's the real problem.

[wellington1869]

Guess where else we see smart people go stupid? Parenting (and possibly as far as in loco parentis).

I am bewildered by smart people who go completely effing retarded when they have children.

lol, amen. thats the truth.

I suppose I can admit that the schemas that are partially built for us sometimes don't prepare us for the mental malleability required to integrate new things. Sometimes, however, people will not even TRY to integrate things they already know to what they can learn. That's the real problem.

but its to their advantage to make the effort. thats the mystery. they really hurt themselves by not trying.