Students can also be morons

[BravoOrig]

Tell that to the customers who have our VOIP service. "Well ma'am you're picking up interference due to your cordless phone. Guess what, its basically a 2-way radio"

[Larissa238]

I used to do tech support at one of the top 25 Uni's, and some of the things people would ask me were so out there.

I had one girl come up to me and ask "What's my email?" I had been working there long enough to know what she *meant* to ask, which was good. She wanted to know what her login name was, since the email was login@uni.edu.

I had another girl come up to me and ask "Where's the Internet?" All funny joke replies aside, I figured out that her computer was not loading the icons in Windows, and IE was not on the desktop.

Both were pretty easy to solve once I figured out what they actually *meant* to ask.

[Foxglove8778]

Um.... I have almost no idea what most of those acronyms mean without looking them up or googling them and I'm definitely not a moron. My knowledge is in other fields.

If they are students then there may be hope for them later down the road. They only seem dumb because they don't understand elementary things related to what you specialize in... and they are young.

It would be like me expecting you to know the difference between and ICD-9 and HCPC code and whether or not the service rendered should be reported on a 1500 form or a UB-92. The difference between a UMI and a SSN and the difference between a vendor association and a individual provider. It's all elementary to what I do on a daily basis and has nothing to do with what you do.

Just... cut them a little slack.

[Raerlynn]

Good point, I didn't think about that. I generally work in interference free environs, so random pickup isn't much of an issue.

One of the towns I provide tech support for has not one, not two, not three, but FOUR broadcast radio towers. You can imagine the havok this plays on dsl/phone services.

[Arcade Man D]

Just... cut them a little slack.

Maybe, but getting an RJ-11 connector into an RJ-45 port takes a bit of effort. Not as much as an RJ-45 connector into an RJ-11 port. They just. Don't. Fit. Like. That.

[Rapscallion]

I've had to extricate one before. That was a whole new version of not fun.

Rapscallion

[HawaiianShirts]

Maybe, but getting an RJ-11 connector into an RJ-45 port takes a bit of effort. Not as much as an RJ-45 connector into an RJ-11 port. They just. Don't. Fit. Like. That.

No, they don't. Nor do USB connectors fit into RJ-45 (Ethernet) ports. Had a guy come in the other day and demonstrate to me how his flash drive would not work on his Gateway laptop. On the current design of Gateway 15.4" laptops, there are four USB ports, in sets of two, all clustered together on the right side near the hinges. Between USB Set 1 and USB Set 2 are the modem port and network port. My oh-so-intelligent customer explained that he used dial-up internet and had four USB devices regularly plugged into the computer, and those all worked fine. "But," he said, "When I plug this thing in, it won't load up!" And he jammed the USB connector of his flash drive into the network port at about a 30-degree angle from horizontal. "I just don't get it," he went on to add. "I mean, that's USB right there. It fits. What's wrong with this dang drive?"

I just had to blink. Then came the process of showing him the physical differences and explaining the functions of both ports. Fortunately he understood it, but he wouldn't leave without complaining that there should be more USB ports and that it is stupid for computer companies to put in hardware (like the network port) that he is "never going to use."

Ugh.

[technical.angel]

No, they don't. Nor do USB connectors fit into RJ-45 (Ethernet) ports. Had a guy come in the other day ... that it is stupid for computer companies to put in hardware (like the network port) that he is "never going to use."

Ugh.

People still use modems????

Wow.....

I'd try to figure out how he could think a USB could fit into a RJ-45, but it makes my head hurt.

[protege]

I'd try to figure out how he could think a USB could fit into a RJ-45, but it makes my head hurt.

If there's a way of possibly screwing things up, an SC, or in this case... a (l)user, will find it, and exploit the hell out of it

[jb17kx]

People still use modems????

I did after I moved house and before I got the ADSL connected. Thankfully IBM expect their users to maybe be a bit smarter and included one. They're like that with the older stuff - just mid last year the parallel port got shown the door from IBM's laptop range yonks after Dell and hp let it go.

@ Hawaianshirts: That story has deprived me of many thousands of brain cells I had hoped to use later...

[BravoOrig]

Its another you're damned if you do, damned if you don't. The minute he would get high-speed internet and need the ethernet jack, he'd complain that his computer didn't come with one. On a similar note, why are some of my customers using USB to their cablemodems, when they have a new pc with Windows Vista?!

[jb17kx]

I used USB with my ADSL modem becasue that was all it supported. I recently bought a wireless ADSL router though, and that connects to the host PC via ethernet. Use of USB or Ethernet for ADSL came about long before Vista, and it's up to the modem manufacturer.

[trunks2k]

I used USB with my ADSL modem becasue that was all it supported. I recently bought a wireless ADSL router though, and that connects to the host PC via ethernet. Use of USB or Ethernet for ADSL came about long before Vista, and it's up to the modem manufacturer.

It just seems silly to me for modern modems to come with USB. Mainly because if the computer uses USB, it probably has an ethernet port. I don't think I've ever seen a modern computer within the past 5 years NOT have an ehternet port. It's just a waste of resources to make a driver for it and stuff.

And I don't think his point was that Vista makes USB enabled modems possible, but that people who have Vista are using them since, if your computer is running Vista, it almost definately has an ethernet port (since you need some pretty modern hardware to run it).

[Witch of Endor]

I thought that's what kids learned from jigsaw puzzles... just because you can force something into place doesn't mean it actually goes there.