Technical Support Legends
Stories involving Help Desk calls from inept users have become urban legend.
Backup - Diskettes - Drink Holder - Foot Pedal - Whiteout
Backup
- A user called Tech Support because the computer wouldn't boot. No light would come on,
and no beeping occurred. The analyst asked if the computer was plugged in, and the user
said they'd have to get a flashlight. After a minute, the user told the analyst the
computer was plugged in. The analyst asked if power was out in the user's home, and the
user said that it was. The user also said that the power outage couldn't be the problem,
because the salesman said the computer had a backup device.
Diskettes
- There are reports of cutting 5¼" diskettes down to 3½" size.
- Some users have apparently tried copying disks with a photocopy machine.
Drink Holder
- A user called Technical Support because the drink holder on her computer had failed. Of
course, she was speaking about her CD-ROM drive.
Foot Pedal
- Another reported a user calling up because his foot pedal didn't work; of course it was
actually his mouse.
Whiteout
- One of the first involved a former typist who called Technical Support asking how to
remove white-out from her monitor screen. She had been correcting word processing
documents.