• hdnsmbt@lemmy.world
    3·
    9 months ago

    “My computer is broken, it won’t turn on!”

    “Are you sure it’s plugged in?”

    “You think I’m stupid? Of course it’s plugged in! It’s broken!”

    “Sometimes the plug isn’t in all the way and then it won’t work.”

    “I know how to plug in a plug, it just won’t turn on because it is b-r-o-k-e-n!”

    “Are you sure the plug is all the way in?”

    “It’s all the way in. My computer is broken!”

    “Im coming down there and if the plug isnt all the way in, I’ll be pissed and mock you.”

    “IT’S BROKEN!”

    Goes down there and plugs the plug all the way in

    Computer starts

    • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
      4·
      9 months ago

      Never ask them if it’s plugged in. Ask them to unplug it and plug it back in. Make something up about contact patches on the cables getting corrosion. That way they can see that it’s not plugged in without feeling ashamed for not checking it.

      • MetaCubed@lemmy.world
        2·
        9 months ago

        If I’m ever doubtful that someone has unplugged something, I’ll ask them to describe something that may or may not be on the plug.

        • Color
        • metal type
        • “can you please read me the serial number stamped on the prongs of the power cable”
        • “what color is the plastic inside the plug” Etc.etc.

        Have not had it fail yet

        • YoorWeb@lemmy.world
          2·
          9 months ago

          what color is the plastic inside the plug

          That’s gold, I don’t think I could ask that without laughing.

    • baseless_discourse@mander.xyz
      1·
      9 months ago

      my brain sees “I’ll be pissed and mock you” and read it to me as “I’ll piss on you”.

      Not a bad punishment for people don’t plug their plugs all the way in.

  • edric@lemm.eeEnglish
    3·
    9 months ago

    “The computer forgot my password” is new to me. lol good one.

    • NielsBohron@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      9 months ago

      I’m not IT, just a college instructor, but you’d be amazed at how many Gen Z students have told me that they can’t log into their email because they don’t know their own password. Not even forgot; they don’t even know it in the first place because every device remembers everything for them.

      • virku@lemmy.world
        3·
        9 months ago

        To be fair that is basically what we are trying to get people to do though. Use a good password vault with a single strong password and two factor authentication. All other passwords should be a uniquely generated password for that application.

      • Croquette@sh.itjust.works
        1·
        9 months ago

        My girlfriend (millenial) is like that as well and it is infuriating. I tell her time and time again, just use a password manager that isn’t the browser’s password manager and you are golden. You just need to remember one “complicated” password, i.e. something with more than 8 characters and that’s it.

        The many times she doesn’t know her password to important account is mind boggling.

      • Caesium@lemmy.world
        0·
        9 months ago

        ironically I think tech literacy is going down with future gens thanks to so many functions getting automated. Kids aren’t learning how their computers work because it does all of work for them

        • NielsBohron@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          9 months ago

          I hate to be a “kids these days” person, but you’re absolutely right. My Gen Z students don’t even understand how folder/file structure works; they just download everything onto their desktop and use the search function to find what they need later. If they can’t remember what something was called, they’re SOL.

          Don’t get me wrong, I have a lot of faith in Gen Z and Alpha, but their strengths are definitely not the strengths of Millenials or Gen X.

      • papalonian@lemmy.world
        0·
        9 months ago

        Like others have said they’re probably using Google as a password manager. When you’re making an account for anything while in the Chrome browser it recommends strong passwords for you such as UjafUif&i$ureT6hj9gzq5hvc$tcgo0be3. Would you memorize it?

          • virku@lemmy.world
            0·
            9 months ago

            Why not both then? Make your own human readable passwords, but do a different one each time and store them in a password vault.

            • NielsBohron@lemmy.worldEnglish
              0·
              9 months ago

              Definitely. I don’t really do anything that is particularly sensitive, so I only have 3-4 standard passwords (that meet the most common complexity criteria) that I separate by how sensitive the information/service is, but if I truly needed more, I would absolutely be using a 3rd party password vault. I just don’t have the need right now, so I haven’t bothered.

              What gets me is the people that don’t know their own passwords, don’t know how/where to look them up, and don’t even understand how to reset their passwords (because they can’t log into their own email). I don’t even know how they function in modern society.

              • Trainguyrom@reddthat.comEnglish
                1·
                9 months ago

                What gets me is the people that don’t know their own passwords, don’t know how/where to look them up, and don’t even understand how to reset their passwords

                I worked support for a phone manufacturer for a while and helped a lot of poor lost souls struggle to get back into their Google accounts on their new and replacement devices. I got a lot of them in, but some may have never gotten out of authentication hell

  • CheeseNoodle@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    9 months ago

    In defense of ‘the computer forgot my password’ guy I’m sure we’ve all experienced the following sequence.

    • Incorrect password
    • Go to change password
    • New password cannot be the same as the old password
  • Xanis@lemmy.world
    0·
    9 months ago

    I actually want to get into IT. I like tech, don’t mind dumb situations, and enjoy helping people, and doubly so if it’s sarcastically helping people. Fucking shame every company wants like fourteen degrees and your first born for a level 1.

    • alekwithak@lemmy.world
      0·
      9 months ago

      Certifications certifications certifications. Get your A+ or net+, apply for shitty remote help desk jobs like support.com. They will suck and you’ll get back to back calls, but keep your ears to the ground and a few months experience should be all you need to hop to something else. A lot of places are desperate for competent techs. Degrees don’t prove anything, I’m fact it seems like kids are graduating with these technical degrees and zero actual practical knowledge.

      Source: My decade long IT career off just an associates degree.

      • Seasm0ke@lemmy.world
        01·
        9 months ago

        Absolutely correct. Every single place outside of giants like Google take equivalent work experience instead of a degree. I dont even have an AA but I have 16 years experience and 11 certifications and make low 6 figures.

      • EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        1·
        9 months ago

        It’s the Jobs, Gates, and Woz generation, but until they step out of the way we won’t get a new generation of pioneers in technology. It used to be the dream was to create the next big thing, now the dream is to make something that gets you bought up by Google, Apple, or Microsoft.

    • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
      1·
      9 months ago

      Yeah a place I worked for had managers that thought that way. Then something broke and since the guy who knew how to fix it was fired a long time ago… well… I was already long gone by then. But their system was down for nearly a week.

      Now if the managers established any kind of process then personality conflicts wouldn’t be an issue, everything would be documented in advance (ie. planning) and the IT would just be following an agreed upon plan. Both management and the staff know everything that’s happening and why it’s happening. And if there’s staff turnover it’s no biggie because everything is documented and the management knows where the documentation is.

      But that requires work… by management. So in many places it doesn’t happen.

      The reason why you have arrogant IT staff is only because they know that you don’t know how anything works and they do. They know that if you fire them you’ll be fucking over yourself because if something breaks there’s a good chance you won’t know how to fix it and it may take their replacement a long time to figure it out because you never gave the IT staff an adequate amount of time to document anything.

      Sure when you fire these guys things won’t break immediately. It might be a year, even several years before that critical thing (that you never required to be documented, no time for that) breaks and the system is down for an extended period of time.

      The IT guys are arrogant because their boss is too stupid to know how to manage things properly to know how things are set up. Some managers are too stupid to even know why their IT guys are arrogant. They’re arrogant because they know that by firing them, the manager is fucking himself over. They’re just underestimating how stupid their manager is.

      If you feel attacked by this, you’re one of the idiot IT managers.