Re: Dumb Things People Do

[Pete Helgren <Pete@xxxxxxxxxx>]

I was a new regional manager running a training center in Raleigh where 
we had 4 classrooms full of 10-15 students learning a new software 
application.  My wife and 3 year old came by to see new facility and to 
say hi.  We had a B10 AS/400 (I think that is what is was).  You 
remember that one, the size of a small filing cabinet with the big red 
on/off switch in front?  Well, we didn't have an official computer room 
at the time so the AS/400 sat out in the "common area" in the office.  
My wife set my son down while I took her around to introduce her to the 
class and the next thing I know the system goes down.  Turns out the big 
red switch was too much for my 3 year old to resist and he had thrown 
it.  I sent the class out to lunch, waiting on the 50 minute IPL time.

AS/400's are not child proof.

Pete Helgren


Scott Klement wrote:
> Hi Folks...   I'm looking to compile a list of (hopefully humorous) 
> "Dumb Things People Do" to be published in System iNEWS magazine.
>
> For example...
>
> ---
>
> One day, several years ago, I was sitting at my desk at work when I 
> received a call from one of our computer users who works in the same 
> building that I do, but one floor down.  She told me that Microsoft Word 
> was not working, and asked me if I could come down and take a look.
>
> Call me lazy, but I wanted to try a few simple things over the phone 
> before going down.  So I asked her what problem she was having, and she 
> told me that the screen was blank.  Now, usually when a user says that, 
> the whole screen isn't actually blank, just the window they want to use. 
>   So I asked her if the mouse worked when she moved it, she said no.  I 
> asked her if she had tried turning the computer off and back on again to 
> see if that would clear up the problem.  She said she hadn't tried, but 
> would try it while I was on the phone.  A minute later, she said it 
> wouldn't work.  She pressed the power button, but nothing happened. 
> Naturally, I thought the computer was locked up, and she just needed to 
> hold the button in longer to make it power off.  So I explained that, 
> and she tried again, to no avail.  Then, I suggested unplugging it, and 
> that didn't work either!
>
> At that point, I said I'd be right down to look at it.  I walked down 
> the stairs to find that the floor was dark.  The power was out, and 
> that's why her computer's screen was blank.
>
> --
>
> So that's the sort of thing I'm looking for (it doesn't have to be as 
> wordy as my description -- in fact, mine might be too wordy!)  I'm 
> looking for stories of dumb things that come up on the job.   These *do* 
> need to be IT related things, but it can be either a "dumb user" or just 
> a "duh!" mistake made by an IT person.   Any sort of amusing story about 
> IT would be useful.
>
> Thanks!
>