Submitted 1 year ago by Steamymoomilk@sh.itjust.works to [deleted]
https://sh.itjust.works/pictrs/image/c39e4f88-5291-4a17-a2cd-be107561448d.png
One of my best memories is going to my local Radio Shack because I needed something plus I had a crush on the girl who worked the counter.
While there, she took a call and answered like she was supposed to:
“Thanks for caling Radio Shack. You’ve got questions, we’ve got answers.”
After a brief pause for the other person speaking:
“Why is that a dangerous slogan, sir?”
Another pause:
“We never said it would be an answer you liked.”
Did everyone clap after?
Are you implying people don’t make jokes like that?
Ahhh my eyes… All white.
But yes, good memories.
Dark Reader extension does wonders.
thank you for sharing i had no idea of this. and its really fucking funny shit! i love this kind of humor!
This is from a time when I started providing technical support. It’s been doing the rounds ever since.
“Word Perfect Technical support; may I help you?”
“Yes, well, I’m having trouble with WordPerfect.”
“What sort of trouble?”
“Well, I was just typing along, and all of a sudden the words went away.”
“Went away?”
“They disappeared.”
“Hmm. So what does your screen look like now?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“It’s blank; it won’t accept anything when I type.”
“Are you still in WordPerfect, or did you get out?”
“How do I tell?”
“Can you see the C: prompt on the screen?”
“What’s a sea-prompt?”
“Never mind. Can you move the cursor around on the screen?”
“There isn’t any cursor: I told you, it won’t accept anything I type.”
“Does your monitor have a power indicator?”
“What’s a monitor?”
“It’s the thing with the screen on it that looks like a TV. Does it have a little light that tells you when it’s on?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, then look on the back of the monitor and find where the power cord goes into it. Can you see that?”
……”Yes, I think so.”
“Great! Follow the cord to the plug, and tell me if it’s plugged into the wall.”
……”Yes, it is.”
“When you were behind the monitor, did you notice that there were two cables plugged into the back of it, not just one?”
“No.”
“Well, there are. I need you to look back there again and find the other cable.”
……”Okay, here it is.”
“Follow it for me, and tell me if it’s plugged securely into the back of your computer.”
“I can’t reach it.”
“Uh huh. Well, can you see if it is?”
“No.”
“Even if you maybe put your knee on something and lean way over?”
“Oh, it’s not because I don’t have the right angle-it’s because it’s dark.”
“Dark?”
“Yes-the office light is off, and the only light I have is coming in from the window.”
“Well, turn on the office light then.”
“I can’t.”
“No? Why not?”
“Because there’s a power outage.”
“A power… A power outage? Aha! Okay, we’ve got it licked now. Do you still have the boxes and manuals and packing stuff your computer came in?”
“Well, yes. I keep them in the closet.”
“Good! Go get them and unplug your system and pack it up just like it was when you got it. Then take it back to the store you bought it from.”
“Really! Is it that bad?”
“Yes, I’m afraid it is.”
“Well, all right then, I suppose. What do I tell them?”
“Tell them you’re too stupid to own a computer.”
Please tell me this is made up 😭
I first heard this in the early 1990’s when I was working on a computer helpdesk. By that time, Word Perfect was no longer popular, having been steadily replaced by Windows and Word.
My hope in humanity tells me it’s made up, but my experience interacting with users of the tools I coded tells me it’s very plausible.
That ones a classic for sure. This is like pre-mobile phone era, so it would have been a corded phone too (non-voip), another rarity
good story! honestly got a good chuckle out of me
I had someone do this at work once. It was hilarious. But i had to tell them to never do it again.
It was cathartic though.
PhobosAnomaly@feddit.uk 1 year ago
When I did tech support for a UK telecoms firm, that was the easy way to fuck off an awkward customer with any kind of connectivity problem - stability, speed, whatever. Generally, people’s routers were connected to the same NTE as the landline.
“So what we’re going to do, is replace the ADSL filter, see if it’s a gubbed filter, it’s a nice cheap and easy fix. Can you remove the filter from the wall socket please?”
click
Beautiful.
Steamymoomilk@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
ADSL filter thats pretty damn funny! its like the blinker fluid equivalent of tech support
vk6flab@lemmy.radio 1 year ago
What you might be missing from the story is that the customer was more likely than not using a landline to call technical support.
The ADSL filter sits between the telephone line from the street and the telephone.
Disconnecting the filter is the equivalent to yanking the telephone socket out the wall and if you do that during the call … no more call.
At this time many people were already using cordless phones and mobile phones were making inroads, so the link between the call dropping and removing the filter might not be immediately obvious to a clueless end user.
Source: I have had the misfortune of phoning telco helpdesk services where this kind activity would absolutely happen.
Matty_r@programming.dev 1 year ago
This is actually true though. With ADSL you needed a filter to split out the ADSL line with the phone line.