"Reigntastic" (reigntastic)
03/28/2014 at 17:31 • Filed to: None
3
47|
"Reigntastic" (reigntastic)
03/28/2014 at 17:31 • Filed to: None | 3
| 47 |
So I finally got a ticket in at 4pm today, regarding a dead printer. Apparently, after a power fluctuation, the printer shut off and wouldn't turn back on, or power cycle, or anything; either way it was my job to go investigate.
I go downstairs to take a look, and one of the two people who share that office comes to me and says he has a problem with his printer, unaware that I was working on it. He buttered me up pretty nicely though, calling me "Super IT-Guy" and what not, so I had no issue with it. While we walked back to his office, he was explaining everything he had tried already to make it work, with no success, so I figured it'd be pretty cut and dry.
When I arrived at the office, I noticed the printer wasn't plugged in, and plugged it in. The printer came to life happily, with a few short chirps to let us know he was working and accounted for. Normally I don't laugh at user error, but I broke my golden rule, I laughed. Poor guy, he was so embarrassed.
TL;DR: Got paid $160 today to plug in a printer and browse Jalopnik.
ddavidn
> Reigntastic
03/28/2014 at 17:33 |
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*slow clap* Super IT-Guy to the rescue! I was expecting to hear "PC Load Letter".
vorspringing
> Reigntastic
03/28/2014 at 17:33 |
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Nice one. And some kind of miracle that a Friday 4 pm printer issue was an easy fix!
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Reigntastic
> ddavidn
03/28/2014 at 17:35 |
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I got bitched out by my girlfriend the other day because our LJ printer was "out of toner". I put in a new toner, assuming she was correct, and it still wouldn't print. I opened the paper tray, sure enough it was out. Made her box up the new cartridge and put back the old one :)
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Reigntastic
> vorspringing
03/28/2014 at 17:37 |
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No kidding, I dread any tickets after 4pm CST. Finished as soon as I arrived, today has been a good day.
MonkeePuzzle
> Reigntastic
03/28/2014 at 17:38 |
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ddavidn
> Reigntastic
03/28/2014 at 17:39 |
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Yeah, I always check that at work too... "Out of ink! Out of ink!" and it's usually the paper, occasionally the drum, or most often the toner collection unit...
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Reigntastic
> MonkeePuzzle
03/28/2014 at 17:39 |
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They insisted they had! I should have defaulted to the next one: "Is it plugged in?"
I've just started watching that show, it's alright so far.
Osiris - I can haz Euro spec?
> Reigntastic
03/28/2014 at 17:39 |
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I work in IT as well. This happens far more often than it should Best one ever was when someone called me to say their computer wouldn't turn on. They plugged the power strip into itself. Yup.
Sidenote: I stole that picture and it is now my new background!
Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura
> Reigntastic
03/28/2014 at 17:40 |
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... What is your career field again? Please tell me!
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ddavidn
> Reigntastic
03/28/2014 at 17:40 |
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Your autocorrect somehow made "awesome" into "alright"...
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Reigntastic
> ddavidn
03/28/2014 at 17:41 |
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I kind of gave her a pass, since our little 2270 doesn't have a display, only an error light. It's kind of menial, but honestly I don't mind getting paid to work on printers at all.
Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh
> Reigntastic
03/28/2014 at 17:41 |
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Hehe.. sounds somewhat like my job. I mainly sell TVs and computers, but I also visit customers that have problems with their TVs and computers (as in I visit them at home). The other day I had to help an old lady who could not get a picture on her TV, turns out she'd forgot to turn it on... She had sound (since she's got a surround system) but no picture, it took me five minutes to figure that out, we charge by the hour.. I gave her a 50% discount.. Still.. 100US dollars for me.
jariten1781
> Reigntastic
03/28/2014 at 17:41 |
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50% of the tech calls I took when I worked for DirecTV consisted of
ME: What does the display on the box say?
THEM: It's blank
M: Check that it's plugged in.
T: Nobody unplugged it, it was working last night. OR: (Instantly) I checked
M: Please actually check both the wall and the back of the box to make sure it hasn't come unplugged
T: Hey, it's working.
I quickly learned that cats and kids like to unplug stuff.
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ddavidn
> Reigntastic
03/28/2014 at 17:42 |
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I don't mind doing routine things, but when they stop talking to computers they can be the worst kind of project. Or possibly, just a professional weakness of mine, since I hate printers and they hate me...
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MonkeePuzzle
> Reigntastic
03/28/2014 at 17:42 |
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during IT college days in Australia my teacher told me a tale of remote desert IT support. Having tried all attempts to resolve an issue over the phone he eventually asked them to bring their PC into the shop. They agreed next time they were in town to do so. Fast forward a month and they drive 100s of KMs to make a rare visit to town, and brought with them.... jsut the monitor. You know... the "computer".
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Reigntastic
> Osiris - I can haz Euro spec?
03/28/2014 at 17:43 |
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I saw a picture of a power strip plugged into itself the other day, with a similar explanation. I haven't seen that iD10T error yet, but I have lots of life left in me.
Background sized images always. Reminds me a lot of the power thirst commercial- "IF YOUR GOD GIVES YOU LEMONS, FIND A NEW GOD. POWERTHIRST! KING OF THE JUICE."
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Reigntastic
> Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh
03/28/2014 at 17:44 |
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You charge 200 an hour for service calls? Shit, I was selling myself short when I used to do housecalls.
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Reigntastic
> jariten1781
03/28/2014 at 17:45 |
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Yeah, my cat managed to unplug my flatscreen a few weeks ago, and my girl insisted it was broken because it wouldn't turn on. Changed the batteries in the remote, nothing. Checked the plug, and sure enough it had no power.
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Reigntastic
> ddavidn
03/28/2014 at 17:46 |
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Printers run off of black magic, once you accept that you can truly harness their power. Network printers and I are cool, but USB printers can go fuck themselves.
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Reigntastic
> MonkeePuzzle
03/28/2014 at 17:47 |
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Ahhh yes. I had customers do that when I used to do retail tech support. My personal pet peeve was when people called desktops the CPU.
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Reigntastic
> ddavidn
03/28/2014 at 17:48 |
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I've only watched a few episodes, so I'm not invested in it yet. It's gotten some good laughs so far, though, so I'm a fan.
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ddavidn
> Reigntastic
03/28/2014 at 17:49 |
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I refuse! And yes, decent network printers are on good terms with me. Unless they're wireless.
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Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh
> Reigntastic
03/28/2014 at 17:50 |
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Well.. 200 the first hour and to pay for gasoline and such (unless they live more than an hour away, in that case I charge 50 bucks pr hour of travel each way).. 100 bucks pr hour after that. Remember that I live in Norway where the average paycheck for someone who works in a grocery store or as a pizza delivery boy (full time) is someting like 50k US dollar pr year.
CAR_IS_MI
> Reigntastic
03/28/2014 at 17:51 |
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Lemon FIYAH!!!!
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Reigntastic
> ddavidn
03/28/2014 at 17:51 |
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Now installing printers on Macs? That's a special hell. Fuck macbook users, our IT Dept doesn't even issue them, we just have people too stubborn to use the brand new i5 equipped ultrabooks we've been giving out with (shudder) windows 8.
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ddavidn
> Reigntastic
03/28/2014 at 17:52 |
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I'm a huge fan. But it isn't for everyone. I've been watching since just before Season 2 came out. Before it was really easy to find (Netflix FTW)
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Reigntastic
> Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh
03/28/2014 at 17:52 |
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Yeah, that makes sense. I didn't charge for travel, but I didn't have to drive too far for most clients.
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Reigntastic
> ddavidn
03/28/2014 at 17:53 |
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I've got S1-3 downloaded, but I've just started S1. I'll finish it eventually, when I'm not working on startups or at my day job or in class.
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ddavidn
> Reigntastic
03/28/2014 at 17:53 |
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I don't have too much of a problem with the Macs, as long as there are decent drivers available. But we only have one Mac at work.
webmonkees
> Reigntastic
03/28/2014 at 17:53 |
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Happens all the time. I like burying the sarcasm in the summary.
Client reports error 12 Paper Jam;
Verified error. Inspection and cleaning revealed some obstructions in mechanism. Full power cycle and cannot reproduce error. Fully functional.
TLDR: Got paid (variable) to drive around 2-lane twisties and take a scrap of paper out of a printer platen. Okay, sometimes it's replace the toner fuser that got mangled by that staple..
*protip: use new paper whenever possible. Just asking for trouble using that misprint again.
**Bonus: using a $5 thrift store laser printer to print out work orders for service calls on expensive printers
*** Triple bonus: When out of paper, PC LOAD LETTER. For reals.
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ddavidn
> Reigntastic
03/28/2014 at 17:54 |
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Good luck finding all that free time. Let me know how, when you do...
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Reigntastic
> ddavidn
03/28/2014 at 17:55 |
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I had an issue the other day with one refusing to install a driver because it wasn't from the appstore, and it was giving me the error in Portuguese because a BR owns it. Google is lord and savior for me while working on Macs, I've never owned one and never really cared to use them or try them.
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Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh
> Reigntastic
03/28/2014 at 17:56 |
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The travel is the biggest deal for me, last week I drove 120 miles to fix a computer.
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Reigntastic
> webmonkees
03/28/2014 at 17:57 |
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Paper jams are serious business. I haven't dealt with one of those lately, I'm due. I did have a brother LJ start printing in tongues, but a reboot of the user's computer fixed the issue. Probably driver related, /shrug.
Racescort666
> Reigntastic
03/28/2014 at 17:57 |
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I love Portal.
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Reigntastic
> ddavidn
03/28/2014 at 17:59 |
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I'll find it eventually, when I'm not sleeping or dead.
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Reigntastic
> Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh
03/28/2014 at 17:59 |
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That'll definitely pay off. Do you have a website or anything? I'm working on designing a webpage for a startup that would be basically the same business model.
Dunnik
> Reigntastic
03/28/2014 at 18:03 |
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IT - "Is it on?"
End User - "Of course it's on, what do you think I am, some kind of...oh wait. NOW it's on."
IT - "And?"
End User - "...it works. Erm, thanks."
IT - "You're welcome. Dumbass."CLICK bzzzzzzzz
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Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh
> Reigntastic
03/28/2014 at 18:05 |
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I work for a rather big.. uhm chain of stores? (do you call it that in english?) I mostly sell TVs and computers at a specific store... but I know my way around stuff, so they use me as a tech guy as well (well, to be honest, they recommend me, and I get the money). It's not like I'm a pro or anything. and no, I don't have a website :/
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ddavidn
> Reigntastic
03/28/2014 at 18:06 |
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I actually want one.
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Osiris - I can haz Euro spec?
> Reigntastic
03/28/2014 at 18:07 |
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I've only been in the Air Force for a little over 4 years not working Comm for just over 3 of them, but I've learned that the longer you work in the field, the crazier shit you see.
Lekker
> Dunnik
03/28/2014 at 18:18 |
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Uh something is wrong with this picture. End User knew how to plug it in. Fake. FAKEEE!!!!! lol
Montalvo
> Reigntastic
03/28/2014 at 18:48 |
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Reigntastic
> ddavidn
03/28/2014 at 20:28 |
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Let me build a much faster and much less expensive gaming rig for you.
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ddavidn
> Reigntastic
03/28/2014 at 23:39 |
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Ew, no thanks. My gaming rig is just fine and I don't want to play any games on a Mac. Do Macs even play games? Probably WoW...
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Reigntastic
> ddavidn
03/29/2014 at 03:23 |
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TF2, and a few others.
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webmonkees
> Reigntastic
03/29/2014 at 11:08 |
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Yah.. many calls are for banks with dot-matrix printers for checks. Weird to fix it and then have it print out $15,000 worth of bank. No wonder they are so paranoid about test pages. I do take pleasure in extracting a service fee from a bank. :P