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  • Mr. Always Right visits the library

    I work in a public library. Our public wifi is unsecured and filtered. That's just the way IT has it set up and branch staff can't overrride IT restrictions. If somebody wants an unfiltered or secure connection they can use one of the public desktops, but if they're using their own device it's unsecured and filtered. We have laptops patrons can check out, but since they connect to the wifi they also have only unsecured, filtered access. One of our most difficult patrons only comes in occasionally to use the wifi and always has issues. He's one of those people who questions EVERYTHING and always makes a fuss at least once per visit. The main problem is he doesn't know nearly as much as he thinks he does and won't listen to anybody. He's right and everybody else is wrong.

    One day I'm working the service desk when he comes up and tells me our router is configured wrong. *um, no it's not* I ask what the problem is and he shows me a PC game he's trying to download an expansion pack for. He says because the game is rated "E" Everyone he should be able to do the download, but the filter keeps blocking him from every site he tries to go to. I ask what site he's going to and he says that shouldn't matter, the game is rated E. I try to explain that while his game is rated E, there must be other content on the site that's causing the problem, but he's not having it. "Impossible "he says, "the game is rated E! I should be able to do this! This is infringing on my rights!" Obviously the router is configured wrong and I need to tell IT that. I'm not going to bother IT to tell them the filter is working as it should and offer to help him.

    So we go over to his laptop and he shows me what he's been doing. He's doing a Google search for free downloads and clicking on whatever sites come up in the results. *Gee, no way that could be the problem* So he tries to go to several different sites and the filter blocks every one, citing Adult Content as the reason. I try again to explain that OTHER content on these sites is the problem and the filter can't block just part of a site, it's all or nothing. Well, he's still not having it and comes out with this gem: "All websites have some form of adult content and if you're going to block sites on that basis you'd have to block the entire internet" Okay, I'm not going to get anywhere, so I suggest he use the "Contact Us" link on the library website to send a message to IT. Nope, he doesn't trust electronic communication. Somebody might be listening in. He wants me to talk to them. Okay, fine. I give them a call, thinking that when I tell him the pros confirmed what I said he'll believe it and get out of my hair. HAHAHA! He STILL doesn't believe it. He's just stuck on the fact his game is rated E, keeps repeating the "you'd have to block the entire internet" thing and "It's not the sites! It's the router!" IT did offer to look at the urls if I'd send them in and see if they could do anything. When I tell the patron that, it shuts things down. He says he's doing something else now and kind of dismisses me. I tell him to let us know if he needs anymore help and go back to the desk.

    I still can't believe I had to call IT over this.
    Last edited by little_miss_springfield; 03-15-2016, 02:42 AM.

  • #2
    Seeing the thread title, my first thought was, hey, my old supervisor visited your library?

    So, this guy is dumb. I love the "infringing on my rights!" part. Haha, right. First world problems again. Of course as soon as you actually contact IT, suddenly he doesn't need them anymore. What a dork.
    When you start at zero, everything's progress.

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    • #3
      IANAL, although I used to be

      The only *rights* Americans have are those listed in the Constitution and Amendments. I'm pretty darn SURE that access to the Internet isn't in them :P

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      • #4
        I suspect that behind those URLs he didn't want to turn over was either something that was absolutely not a "E"-rated game or they were websites specializing in pirated content.

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        • #5
          Quoth sirwired View Post
          I suspect that behind those URLs he didn't want to turn over was either something that was absolutely not a "E"-rated game or they were websites specializing in pirated content.
          Or both. I'm thinking both. Possibly with some other adult-rated content that could get him in serious trouble.
          "Enough expository banter. It's time we fight like men. And ladies. And ladies who dress like men. For Gilgamesh...IT'S MORPHING TIME!"
          - Gilgamesh, Final Fantasy V

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          • #6
            It could also be that he's on the wifi, which is, as the OP says unsecured but restricted. Most restricted/unsecured wifi networks I've seen will block sites related to "gaming." Probably to keep MMO-junkies and similar from clogging up the bandwidth.

            So Sucktomer's sites might have had no "adult content" on them, and simply been blocked because the sites were flagged as "gaming" related.
            PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

            There are only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because I choose to walk!

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            • #7
              My suspicion is that he was trying to download a stolen (pirate) copy of a pay-for expansion pack. In which case he was probably hitting sites specialising in such things, and IT is absolutely right to block them.
              Seshat's self-help guide:
              1. Would you rather be right, or get the result you want?
              2. If you're consistently getting results you don't want, change what you do.
              3. Deal with the situation you have now, however it occurred.
              4. Accept the consequences of your decisions.

              "All I want is a pretty girl, a decent meal, and the right to shoot lightning at fools." - Anders, Dragon Age.

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              • #8
                Sir, absolutely NO ONE is currently infringing on your right to be a colossal douche in public, a right, unfortunately, everyone has.
                - They say nothing good happens at 2AM, they're right, I happen at 2AM.

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                • #9
                  Having grown up around a person who sounds a lot like the guy in the OP, I'd say he could actually think it was the router. These type of people just get a notion in their head and latch on. Nothing else exists. They've worked it out in their mind, and there literally is no room for another idea. An expert could explain it, and it wouldn't matter. The more their way doesn't work, the angrier they get. In the end, they will likely storm off because everyone is "ganging up" on them, or "no one will listen" to them.

                  I learned the best way to deal with this attitude is to let them go on their rant, watch them fail, and be resigned to the fact that they will blame someone else for their failure.
                  Replace anger management with stupidity management.

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                  • #10
                    Quoth notalwaysright View Post
                    ... get a notion in their head and latch on...
                    Like a chihuahua with an elephant: Has no idea whether it's got a hold of the elephants trunk, tail or toe, but "By Gar, He am gots it!"
                    I am not an a**hole. I am a hemorrhoid. I irritate a**holes!
                    Procrastination: Forward planning to insure there is something to do tomorrow.
                    Derails threads faster than a pocket nuke.

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                    • #11
                      Cue trumpeting and mad thrashing, trying to dislodge the Chihuahua - it wasn't any of those 3 that the "rat dog" got hold of.
                      Any fool can piss on the floor. It takes a talented SC to shit on the ceiling.

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                      • #12
                        Quoth wolfie View Post
                        Cue trumpeting and mad thrashing, trying to dislodge the Chihuahua - it wasn't any of those 3 that the "rat dog" got hold of.
                        "How the heck can I step on this chi-bowwow without stepping on my... ahem... todger?"
                        I am not an a**hole. I am a hemorrhoid. I irritate a**holes!
                        Procrastination: Forward planning to insure there is something to do tomorrow.
                        Derails threads faster than a pocket nuke.

                        Comment

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