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"I really don't think you should even own a computer."

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  • #31
    Mmmm, yeah, there's definitely stupid computer users at all stages of existence. Working at a college tech desk, you run into a lot of all of them.

    College Students: May be reasonably computer-savvy. Or not. May also have their computers in close proximity to beer and other substances inimical to computers. Also prone to illegal downloads and pr0n and click-for-free-ring-tones-sparkly-whee and other hazards. May also want help setting up either a.) something illegal/ill-advised under our rules or b.) wireless equipment in their off-campus

    Faculty: Range from computer savvy to OMFG durr. May have kids. Or entitlement complexes. Or both. Bonus points if they bring in their home machine with accounts for their clueless selves and their click-happy teenagers.

    Teenagers: If your faculty parent's computer has Active Desktop enabled with a giant biohazard symbol splash that opens pr0n popups when clicked, and your account is clogged with warez and malware, I'm blaming you. And calling you an idiot.

    Retired Faculty: Nyeh. Squiggle. Meep. Make the bad people go awaaaaaay. I care not for the dial-up we give you for free. Or why it won't install. Or why your modem set up isn't working. Could you turn down your TV? The voices! On the phones! They haaaaunt meeeeee....

    Lower Administration (department secretaries, finance office, and the like): NOT computer savvy in the slightest. Luckily I can fob off the printers 'n passwords 'n MY EMAIL'S GONE SOMEBODY HALLLP on the local staff members. My boss (who I love and play rpgs with every week) will often take these and trudge off to help and come back much, much grumpier.

    Higher Administration (deans, president's office): Generally not computer savvy. One dean needed the wireless password put on his school-issued laptop. Now, we only got the tablets, like, 2 years ago? At most? This poor thing was beaten to a pulp. I turned it upside down to read a label, and the closed cd-tray fell open. Scratches and scrapes and dear lord what did he do to the thing???? Oh, and the entitlement complex is huge. President's Office calls at around 8 pm one night during the summer (we close at 9 then), only one student, me, around. They want to arrange to have laptop, projector, screen, the works ready and prepared by 8 the following morning for a VERY IMPORTANT PRESENTATION.

    Alums: Generally don't bug us, unless they need the wireless key. Then they only get noticed if it's a summer Alumni weekend, with no one working at the Tech Desk, and they leave many increasingly-perturbed voicemails about not getting wireless on their crackberries and they have work to do that weekend and it's VERY IMPORTANT and call them back A.S.A.P. Which is Monday, after they've gone home. Oops.

    Visitors: One of the best (worst) days I had was when this husband/wife team visiting for a conference Just. Kept. Calling. The husband was on the phone, the wife was on the computer. And they bickered, too. About bath towels, at one point, with me on the phone, playing telephone, trying to figure out through hubby what the error the wife saw was. One of my bosses spoke to the wife at one point, but I never did. The husband was... computerally incompetent. Short version of their first problem: Comcast doesn't let you get their email directly when you're not on their network. They offer webmail. It may have been different last year, sure, but it ain't working now and it ain't us. This took a long time and many, many calls to figure out. Next problem: they were fine on wireless, but they got a cable and paid for temporary registration and it's not working. Blargh.

    They were still having issues making the intarwebs work when a huge thunderstorm hit and the power (but, sadly, not the phones) went down. They called to check if it were just them. I say nope. The husband then asks: "Do you know if the pool's still open?"

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    • #32
      Quoth Impetrix View Post
      Bonus points if they bring in their home machine with accounts for their clueless selves and their click-happy teenagers.
      Double bonus points if they bring in their work laptop, stating that their kids were playing some kind of game on it when it went fubar.

      Oh, and if you're work study, you might have missed this, but when Facebook first came out, the rush of alumni calling and asking for their email address back.

      Um.... no.
      SC: “Yeah, Bob’s Company. I'm Bob. It's my company.” - GK
      SuperHotelWorker made my Avi!!

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