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From: Jeff Liebermann on 11 Mar 2010 00:52
I need to rant...

Welcome to life in the slow lane. I got an email from a customer
asking what type of contact cleaner to use on his laptop keyboard. I
grab the phone, call, but too late. He had already sprayed contact
cleaner all over (and under) the keyboard. Instead of a few "push
hard to operate" keys, he now has a dozen inoperative keys. He
logically proclaimed that the stuff was "contact cleaner" and that his
keyboard problem was obviously a "contact" problem. Ummmm... yeah.

So, he drags the laptop to my office. I remove the keyboard and dump
it into a glass baking dish full of 90% alcohol. A bit of thrashing,
brushing, and lots of air hose blow drying, and it's working again. I
was lucky and the keytop decals didn't dissolve.

This is the same customer that has a Dell 531 desktop with the
vertically mounted CD/DVD drive. About half the time, he puts the CD
in upside-down, and then calls me wondering why it won't install or
play.

Why me?


--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl(a)cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
From: David Nebenzahl on 11 Mar 2010 01:43
On 3/10/2010 9:52 PM Jeff Liebermann spake thus:

> This is the same customer that has a Dell 531 desktop with the
> vertically mounted CD/DVD drive. About half the time, he puts the CD
> in upside-down, and then calls me wondering why it won't install or
> play.

Oh, that's the model they released *without* the cup holder, right?


--
You were wrong, and I'm man enough to admit it.

- a Usenet "apology"
From: Sylvia Else on 11 Mar 2010 02:08
On 11/03/2010 4:52 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> About half the time, he puts the CD
> in upside-down, and then calls me wondering why it won't install or
> play.

You mean he's done this repeatedly?

Is he rich? I have a bridge to sell.

Sylvia.
From: Jeff Liebermann on 11 Mar 2010 02:54
On Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:43:58 -0800, David Nebenzahl
<nobody(a)but.us.chickens> wrote:

>On 3/10/2010 9:52 PM Jeff Liebermann spake thus:
>
>> This is the same customer that has a Dell 531 desktop with the
>> vertically mounted CD/DVD drive. About half the time, he puts the CD
>> in upside-down, and then calls me wondering why it won't install or
>> play.
>
>Oh, that's the model they released *without* the cup holder, right?

The cup holder is still there. It's just mounted sideways. It works,
but doesn't hold liquids very well. However, the hole in the middle
of the cup holder makes a great salami, hot dawg, or string cheese
cutter. The real problem with vertically mounted CD/DVD drives is
that it take two hands to insert the CD. One to hold the CD on the
tray. The other to either shove in the tray or push the button. Some
skill is involved even with the little clips on the tray that are
suppose to help (but were missing on the drive included with the Dell
531). The usual result is a scratched CD disk as the tray mashes the
disk into the drive mechanics. The 531 can sorta be horizontally
mounted, but the door covering the floppy disk drive will not open
completely.

Another day in computer hell. Against my better judgment, I pickup a
customer at one of those lavish senior retirement housing projects.
Fixing the computah was easy enough (no updates for about 2 years and
remove the usual spyware). I also fixed the chair, cleaned the
printer, rewired the desk lamp, and cleaned up tangle of wires. I
also documented the accounts and associated passwords. Senior
discount applied and I leave with the check. No problems. However,
she tells all her friends at the retirement home, and the phone starts
ringing with the most amazing collection of strange questions and
problems. I'm starting to question my own sanity.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl(a)cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
From: Jeff Liebermann on 11 Mar 2010 03:11
On Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:08:04 +1100, Sylvia Else
<sylvia(a)not.at.this.address> wrote:

>On 11/03/2010 4:52 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
>> About half the time, he puts the CD
>> in upside-down, and then calls me wondering why it won't install or
>> play.
>
>You mean he's done this repeatedly?

Yep. At least once per month. It's not really a problem. The real
problem is recovering the machine after a visit from the approx 14
year old grandbrats.

>Is he rich? I have a bridge to sell.

Yes, he is quite rich. He also pays me to fix various piece of
technology he buys and drags home, always without asking me if it will
work or is any good. You have to really try to find home theater
components that are mutually incompatible, but he's done it now,
twice. Last year, he dragged home a Prohance PowerMouse 100:
http://boingboing.net/2009/11/10/the-original-40-butt.html
Too bad the driver won't work with Windoze XP. His machine also lacks
a serial port. He's not a dummy. He just doesn't care about
computers and uses one only when there's no effective alternative. I
have other customers with the same mentality. They don't want to
waste any time dealing with the technology or doing battle with the
machines. They pay me to do that. For example, if they need to burn
a CD with a few files, I get the phone call and walk them through it.
When done, they immediately forget everything I tried to teach them as
they probably won't need to do it again for several months. One
customer suggested that it was futile learning how to do anything
because it all changes every few years.


--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl(a)cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
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