Every so often I stumble across some entertaining technological tidbit and feel compelled to share it. This is one of those times. The video is about the direction technology (and life) are headed, and how video games have influenced it. It may SOUND boring, but if you, or someone you know, plays games then you are familiar with the topics he speaks about and should definitely give this video a look. I found the last ten minutes highly entertaining.
http://kotaku.com/5479125/points-for-toothbrushing-the-gaming-speech-everyone-is-talking-about
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Vagueness is key
Oh Tier 1 support. I've talked about our phone support staff before, but this is a new high... or low for them. Maybe I'm feeling particularly picky today, but I don't see how the following phrase is helpful to the person you are trying to escalate the ticket to: "The computer is totally blank or something."
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Stupid Metric System
Every once in awhile, everyone makes mistakes. I am no exception. However, if I made an exception for everyone I blogged about, I wouldn't have a blog at all, so I'll post my ID10T moment.
I was shopping online the other day for a USB Extender. I figured I needed about six feet. While searching on Amazon, I found a cable but quickly discarded it because it only measured two meters.
*sigh*
I was shopping online the other day for a USB Extender. I figured I needed about six feet. While searching on Amazon, I found a cable but quickly discarded it because it only measured two meters.
*sigh*
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Printer Printer against the wall.....
What started off as a drum replacement turned into much more.
Somewhere along the way, the drivers for the print device I was working on became corrupt. So, instead of going to 50 computers deleting/remapping everyone to it, I decide to go the more "efficient" route, and talk to everyone at once.
First, I was told, by a person in the front, to use the microphone, they can't hear me. I think that is the first time in my life someone has ever told me I'm being too quiet. So, I get on the microphone and begin to explain the process of reinstalling the printer. Surprisingly, it went pretty smooth. The first 80% of my directions went as well as could be expected. I had a few questions, but nothing I wasn't expecting given some of the people in the room.
"Double click on the B_9500 icon, and that will map you to the printer." Without fail, someone objected.
"Which one? There are two 9500s"
"There is only one B 9500"
"No, there are two, 9500, and 9500c"
"Again. There is only ONE 9500 in B, the other is in A."
Somehow, this person CONTINUED to argue with me.
"No, there are 2, a 9500, and 9500c!"
"Again. There is only ONE 9500 in B. The other is in Area A"
No. I did not mistakenly type the same conversation twice. This is how it actually played out.
Thankfully, there was another tech standing who went over and showed this person the error of their ways.
My story does not end there though.
No sooner do I get back to my station, then another "Punisher" comes up and says "The printer isn't working for me, and I know its not my fault, one of your guys set the printer up for me." *sigh* I decided to follow them back. This "All-Star" tells me the printer isn't printing her documents. Now, I can see on the screen that the document successfully printed. So I ask "When did you print this document?" "About a minute ago." I walk over to the print device and see that nothing else is in the que. I am about to tell them to reprint, when I notice, there, ON TOP OF THE PRINTER, FACE UP, is the document that "did not print."
/facepalm
Somewhere along the way, the drivers for the print device I was working on became corrupt. So, instead of going to 50 computers deleting/remapping everyone to it, I decide to go the more "efficient" route, and talk to everyone at once.
First, I was told, by a person in the front, to use the microphone, they can't hear me. I think that is the first time in my life someone has ever told me I'm being too quiet. So, I get on the microphone and begin to explain the process of reinstalling the printer. Surprisingly, it went pretty smooth. The first 80% of my directions went as well as could be expected. I had a few questions, but nothing I wasn't expecting given some of the people in the room.
"Double click on the B_9500 icon, and that will map you to the printer." Without fail, someone objected.
"Which one? There are two 9500s"
"There is only one B 9500"
"No, there are two, 9500, and 9500c"
"Again. There is only ONE 9500 in B, the other is in A."
Somehow, this person CONTINUED to argue with me.
"No, there are 2, a 9500, and 9500c!"
"Again. There is only ONE 9500 in B. The other is in Area A"
No. I did not mistakenly type the same conversation twice. This is how it actually played out.
Thankfully, there was another tech standing who went over and showed this person the error of their ways.
My story does not end there though.
No sooner do I get back to my station, then another "Punisher" comes up and says "The printer isn't working for me, and I know its not my fault, one of your guys set the printer up for me." *sigh* I decided to follow them back. This "All-Star" tells me the printer isn't printing her documents. Now, I can see on the screen that the document successfully printed. So I ask "When did you print this document?" "About a minute ago." I walk over to the print device and see that nothing else is in the que. I am about to tell them to reprint, when I notice, there, ON TOP OF THE PRINTER, FACE UP, is the document that "did not print."
/facepalm
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
STOMP, CLAP. STOMP STOMP CLAP
"Excuse me, can you come look at my computer?"
I have not heard from him since.
Reluctantly, I walked over to this persons desk. He told me his display was wavey/off color, and it happens when and is resolved by, stomping his foot. "Here, I'll show you." He then, I crap you not, proceeded to slam his foot onto the floor, much like he was crushing a cockroach.
"See, look what its doing!" Sure enough, the monitor began to change colors. When he was done, I calmly asked him:
"Sir, have you tried NOT stomping your foot?"
I have not heard from him since.
/facepalm
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
A Culmination of the day
Okay, I got my troubleshooting blog out of the way earlier today, so now I can work on what everyone wants to read about, my "All-Stars." These aren't really stories today, more of just random things said to me. However, the one other bit of troubleshooting I did was entertaining.
I have blogged about something like this before, but I never grow tired of it. This lady came up to me in a panic telling me her email doesn't work. I asked her what made her think this, and she said "I haven't received an email in over 20 minutes!" I asked her if she is sure she has been sent mail. Of course, her answer was no. So, I had her send me a test message, to which I replied, and of course, my name appeared in the 'inbox'. As I was walking away, I told her "Sometimes, people don't get mail, because they aren't suppose to get mail."
I hope this falls under the "Mouth just not saying what the mind is thinking", but its still funny. In a dead serious tone, someone came up to me and said the following:
User: My computer won't type right, everything is in little caps.
I have blogged about something like this before, but I never grow tired of it. This lady came up to me in a panic telling me her email doesn't work. I asked her what made her think this, and she said "I haven't received an email in over 20 minutes!" I asked her if she is sure she has been sent mail. Of course, her answer was no. So, I had her send me a test message, to which I replied, and of course, my name appeared in the 'inbox'. As I was walking away, I told her "Sometimes, people don't get mail, because they aren't suppose to get mail."
I hope this falls under the "Mouth just not saying what the mind is thinking", but its still funny. In a dead serious tone, someone came up to me and said the following:
User: My computer won't type right, everything is in little caps.
Office 2007 Troubleshooing
So, as my loyal followers, all eight of them, know, I take great pleasure in laughing at the technological challenged. However, there are sometimes in dealing with my All-Stars that I might actually end up learning something. This is one of those times. Unfortunately, this isn't so much an "Id10T" post as it is a "for future reference" post. Sorry if I have let you down, but I'm sure someone will do something mock-worthy in the next few hours to get my blog back on track.
An hour long troubleshooting slash research time waste short, a user from the previous shift was working on a report that they watermarked. Well, this morning, using the "remove watermark" button was not doing what its name implied it would do. Copying and pasting the document into a new one removed the mark, however, it was throwing off the alignment of the report. Doing some research, I came to the conclusion that the document, in one form or another, was created in Word 2003, and 2007 was having an issue translating the text. While that may have been the case, that was not solution.
The author of the document created the watermark as a "header" instead of a watermark. Should this happen to you, clicking the "insert" tab, and then clicking the "Header" button, and then, towards the bottom of the menu, click the "Remove Header" icon, will successfully remove the watermark. While I did not attempt it, I would imagine that "Remove Footer" would also be something to try should the "Header" option not work.
An hour long troubleshooting slash research time waste short, a user from the previous shift was working on a report that they watermarked. Well, this morning, using the "remove watermark" button was not doing what its name implied it would do. Copying and pasting the document into a new one removed the mark, however, it was throwing off the alignment of the report. Doing some research, I came to the conclusion that the document, in one form or another, was created in Word 2003, and 2007 was having an issue translating the text. While that may have been the case, that was not solution.
The author of the document created the watermark as a "header" instead of a watermark. Should this happen to you, clicking the "insert" tab, and then clicking the "Header" button, and then, towards the bottom of the menu, click the "Remove Header" icon, will successfully remove the watermark. While I did not attempt it, I would imagine that "Remove Footer" would also be something to try should the "Header" option not work.
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