I was in the process of putting some new PCs in place of older ones in a small department here in the hospital. While I was working away, an older lady (the person in charge of the department) noticed that I had replaced her old 15″ monitor with a brand new 17″ monitor. She immediately came up to me and said:
Her: “Could you put my old monitor on the new computer?”
Me: “I could, but wouldn’t you prefer the larger 17″ monitor?”
Her: “Well, I wouldn’t mind it, but I installed a $75 screen saver on the old monitor, and I don’t want to lose it.”
Me: “Well, don’t worry about that. The new monitor will have that exact same screen saver.”
Her: “You can transfer the screen saver off of my old monitor to the new one?”
Me: “I sure can.”
Her: “Good.”
Tech Support: “Ma’am? I want you to stop clicking on your computer, move your hands away from the computer, don’t touch the keyboard. Just stop. Move your hands away from the keyboard.”
Customer: “But…”
Tech Support: “No, please follow my instructions.”
Customer: “Ok.”
Tech Support: “Now, look on the screen. Do you see the To: field on your email message?”
Customer: “No, oh wait a minute, there it is, now I see it!”
Tech Support: “Great, now when I let you start typing again, this is where you would put the e-mail address in.”
Customer: “Oh, I’m supposed to put it there? Oops, where did it go? Oh NO! What’s happening to my computer?!”
At this point I thought she was on acid.
Tech Support: “Ok, calm down, what is your computer doing?”
Customer: “It’s got all these flying window things that are coming out of nowhere! They’re going all over my screen, and, huh, ooooh, pretty colors.”
Tech Support: “Uh, ma’am? That’s your screen saver.”
Customer: “You’ve got to help me! I can’t believe what’s happening!”
Tech Support: “What’s going on?”
Customer: “My screen! It’s upside down, and it’s swirling. I think this monitor’s bad. Or something’s taken over my computer. It’s just so weird! I can’t believe this. You’ve got to help me.”
It was the screen saver, of course.
Customer: “I have a very big problem! If you don’t help me right now I will return the computer!”
Tech Support: “Well sir, what can I do for you?”
Customer: “Well, I just got my system today, and my friend installed a screen saver, and it comes up fine…BUT EVERY TIME I MOVE THE MOUSE IT GOES AWAY!!!!!!!”
One of our clients called us because she had a “dead Mac.” The machine was on, but the screen was blank, and nothing would wake it up. It turned out that the keyboard had become disconnected and, ten minutes after that, the screen blanker had activated.
I personally love the reaction of some people to the screen savers on the Macintoshes in our computer lab. I was sitting next to a blonde (at that point I didn’t place any significance to this fact) who was typing a paper, and by the way she was doing it, it was clear that this was just about her first time. Well, a friend of hers sat at the computer across from hers, and they started chatting…and the screen saver kicked in. The scream was heard, I was told, around two corners in the hallway.
After she’d nearly passed out, her friend told her that she hadn’t lost anything, and that she could get back to what she was doing just by moving the mouse. She didn’t count on the fact that when her friend jumped up in hysteria, she’d bumped the keyboard/mouse connector out of the socket.
Taken from Computer Stupidities
Will
Loading comments...