The longer I work on computers, the more annoyed I become with so-called technicians who know just enough to be dangerous.
Backstory: client is getting a new TV system installed. Part of that installation includes a component that would allow them to watch TV wirelessly in any room of the house with their laptops. End backstory.
I expect any tech to know that turning the wireless radio off on a router renders the device useless. I would also expect any tech to know that reinstalling Windows does not fix a wireless router when it isn't emitting a signal. This guy...was a fucking idiot among idiots.
Because the moron changed everything to the point I couldn't remote into anything, I got to have a nice conversation with the guy that was nice for all of about five seconds. I normally have a little patience, but I knew this wasn't going to be easy as soon as my client put this guy on the phone. We'll call him Captain FUBAR.
"What's a router?"
How do I explain this? It's that little box with all the blinking lights on it that you've so kindly decided to install version 2.0 of the PEBCAK firmware on today.
"I didn't change anything on the router."
Bull-fucking-shit, Einstein. My client tells me everything worked before you came in and lolly-dicked around with the router. That tells me you changed something. Nice try.
"But it's working fine!"
I highly doubt that. If it was working fine, I could access my client's machine remotely from my office. Wouldja look at that? None of my client's machines are in my list of remote machines! You're lying.
"I reinstalled Windows for her, and it still didn't fix it!"
Seriously, what the hell are you doing jacking around with Windows when you're a fucking TV service installer?
"I have a bachelor's in computer science."
You know, Captain FUBAR, I'm going to call bullshit on that, too. If you had a bachelor's in computer science, you would have known that reinstalling Windows wouldn't fix the problem in the first place. Kindly call the clown college that gave you your degree and ask for a refund while I assess how many hours of time it will take me to fix what you've needlessly fucked up. I'm betting at least 10.
"<rattles off something about SQL Server in an attempt to make himself sound smart, except it seems like he's reading it verbatim from some kind of book>"
Dude...SQL Server has not the slightest thing to do with the destruction you've caused. I'm permabanning you from my client's equipment. Step away before you cause it to emit flames.
This brings up another one of my hatreds. I really hate it when someone has fucked something to smithereens and tries to get you to reinstall the OS or x program or blames everything on your computer to avoid responsibility for their idiocy. I don't give two shits if you don't support any of this. If you didn't mess it up in the first place, nobody would be asking you to take responsibility for your mistakes.
I got back on the phone with my client and asked them to what extent Captain FUBAR dicked everything up. Imagine my surprise when my client told me CF had attempted to reinstall Windows on three machines in an attempt to get the router to emit signal.
I was able to fix the router. Turns out all CF did was disable the wireless radio from broadcasting while piss-farting his way through a bunch of things I guess he thought were shiny enough to be clicked. That took all of 15 seconds to fix after I connected my own working machine. Sadly, I ended up bringing three laptops back with me that will have to be completely rebuilt. They're sitting in my workshop right now. There's no way I'd even dream of charging my client for any of this work. They've been through enough as it is.
I really hope to hell my client gets a ton of bill credits out of this, and I hope the company sees fit to fire Captain FUBAR for this massive failure of a job. Believe me--I've seen a lot in all the time I've been doing IT work. However, I've never seen anything like this until today, and I hope I don't see anything like this again. Fingers crossed.
Backstory: client is getting a new TV system installed. Part of that installation includes a component that would allow them to watch TV wirelessly in any room of the house with their laptops. End backstory.
I expect any tech to know that turning the wireless radio off on a router renders the device useless. I would also expect any tech to know that reinstalling Windows does not fix a wireless router when it isn't emitting a signal. This guy...was a fucking idiot among idiots.
Because the moron changed everything to the point I couldn't remote into anything, I got to have a nice conversation with the guy that was nice for all of about five seconds. I normally have a little patience, but I knew this wasn't going to be easy as soon as my client put this guy on the phone. We'll call him Captain FUBAR.
"What's a router?"
How do I explain this? It's that little box with all the blinking lights on it that you've so kindly decided to install version 2.0 of the PEBCAK firmware on today.
"I didn't change anything on the router."
Bull-fucking-shit, Einstein. My client tells me everything worked before you came in and lolly-dicked around with the router. That tells me you changed something. Nice try.
"But it's working fine!"
I highly doubt that. If it was working fine, I could access my client's machine remotely from my office. Wouldja look at that? None of my client's machines are in my list of remote machines! You're lying.
"I reinstalled Windows for her, and it still didn't fix it!"
Seriously, what the hell are you doing jacking around with Windows when you're a fucking TV service installer?
"I have a bachelor's in computer science."
You know, Captain FUBAR, I'm going to call bullshit on that, too. If you had a bachelor's in computer science, you would have known that reinstalling Windows wouldn't fix the problem in the first place. Kindly call the clown college that gave you your degree and ask for a refund while I assess how many hours of time it will take me to fix what you've needlessly fucked up. I'm betting at least 10.
"<rattles off something about SQL Server in an attempt to make himself sound smart, except it seems like he's reading it verbatim from some kind of book>"
Dude...SQL Server has not the slightest thing to do with the destruction you've caused. I'm permabanning you from my client's equipment. Step away before you cause it to emit flames.
This brings up another one of my hatreds. I really hate it when someone has fucked something to smithereens and tries to get you to reinstall the OS or x program or blames everything on your computer to avoid responsibility for their idiocy. I don't give two shits if you don't support any of this. If you didn't mess it up in the first place, nobody would be asking you to take responsibility for your mistakes.
I got back on the phone with my client and asked them to what extent Captain FUBAR dicked everything up. Imagine my surprise when my client told me CF had attempted to reinstall Windows on three machines in an attempt to get the router to emit signal.
I was able to fix the router. Turns out all CF did was disable the wireless radio from broadcasting while piss-farting his way through a bunch of things I guess he thought were shiny enough to be clicked. That took all of 15 seconds to fix after I connected my own working machine. Sadly, I ended up bringing three laptops back with me that will have to be completely rebuilt. They're sitting in my workshop right now. There's no way I'd even dream of charging my client for any of this work. They've been through enough as it is.
I really hope to hell my client gets a ton of bill credits out of this, and I hope the company sees fit to fire Captain FUBAR for this massive failure of a job. Believe me--I've seen a lot in all the time I've been doing IT work. However, I've never seen anything like this until today, and I hope I don't see anything like this again. Fingers crossed.
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