Tag Archives: work

Jul31

Chocolate Addiction

Posted on by
Chocolate Addiction

Today I was working on someone’s computer and noticed that this particular person had a candy bowl on her desk that was stocked full of Reeses cups, Peppermint Patties and Hershey’s Nuggets.  I am not exactly sure why but this irritated me.  I take that back…I know why it made me mad.  It drives me crazy when a skinny person keeps candy around and doesn’t eat it. Good candy too, not Smarties or Jolly Ranchers.  It's especially annoying when just this morning (for the second time this week and it's only Tuesday) you've told yourself "it's time to get back on the old diet." What kind of person can stare at a bowl of peanut butter cups all day and not eat them.  Is it some kind of subliminal message to the world about will power? Is this some kind of inspirational lesson for us fatties?   “Look at me, I’m so skinny and can pass on this candy all day long.” “I can type emails click clack click, and make spreadsheets with my skinny fingers and I don’t touch this candy.” I mean why is this bowl there anyway if no one is going to eat it? Is it for visitors?  Who is going to reach in and take the candy in front of her?  Not me, I have to sneak my office candy so no one passes judgment on me. Nope, I think the only people who will eat her chocolate are other candy bowl loving skinny people.

I know this is just my issue.  Most other people are normal around chocoalte. This is America after all and if a skinny person wants to have delicious candy just lying around they have a right to do so.  I’m just saying the concept is foreign to me.  I was only there a few minutes when temptation really started setting in. The smell of peanut butter and chocolate started to make me feel woozy.  I fixed her computer as quickly as I could.  I had to get out of there fast.

It’s a good thing she didn’t have any Snickers bars or she would have come back to find an empty bowl with a five dollar bill and a chocolate smeared note that said “I’m so sorry.”

Think I'll walk past her office on the way out today…just to check on her…you know, to be sure her computer is working still…and if she's not there (please, please, please) maybe pick up a little something for the road.

 

 

 

 

 

Jul11

Tech Support

Posted on by
Tech Support

As many of you know I make my living as a technical support specialist.  I didn't set out in life to have a career in IT.  It's just something that along the way I developed an aptitude for and things just kind of fell in to place when they needed to and landed me here.

The best part of my job is getting to be the hero every day. It feels good to be the light at the end of the tunnel, the calm in a storm, the voice of experience and knowledge in a crisis. Because as you know, every problem is a crisis. I really do like my job but I've been doing it long enough now to have some stories from the trenches.  Sometimes it is hard.  People are not always at their most gracious and kind when they are completely stressed out from getting an error message like this. And just so you know, when IT people get together to let their hair down, we do talk about you and the stuff you do but don't worry, we don't name names.

Last night my husband was installing a wireless adapter on our DirecTV box.  Cables and flashlight in hand he said "I'm going to do some TSSPEC'ing just like you" and he got on the floor and started to fiddle with cords, etc. He is always hearing me talk about being on the floor tracing cables or rooting around behind equipment in the dust trying to unplug something.  You'll never see me wear a dress to work because I'm always on the floor for something or another. While he was trying to feel for the correct port to plug something in, I went and stood over him and said "Here let me give you the real TSSPEC experience" and I proceeded to barrage him with this….

"This worked yesterday, I don't understand what happened"

"Do you think you're going to be able to get this fixed soon?"

"I was planning on using this today and don't really have a back up plan."

"How did it happen? Is it going to happen again?"

"What if you can't fix it, is there someone you can call to fix it?"

"The directions say to open My Computer but I'm not comfortable taking the computer apart."

"Oh by the way my files aren't backed up so I really need you to fix this."

"It was working until the other day when you installed that printer on the other computer."

"What do you mean do I have a license for this?  Someone burned me this CD."

"While you're here can I ask you about my son's laptop at home?"

"The computer won't turn on but I keep pressing the button on the corner of the monitor."

"I can't believe it's working now.  I swear it wasn't working before you came in the room."

"No I didn't reboot, I didn't save this document before it froze and I don't want to lose it."

"No, I didn't read your email. I'm busy.  You send a lot of email."

"I lost the instructions. Can you send them again?"

"Well I tried to move some cables around myself to see if I could fix it. Still doesn't work."

"It keeps telling me to press any key but I don't know where the any key is."

"When I turn my computer on I smell smoke. Is that normal?"

"Do I need all these cables? Can't we get rid of some of them?"

"When do you think you'll be done?  I kind of need to check my ebay auction."

"I got locked out of email.  Something is obviously wrong because I know my own password."

 

This went on for a few minutes until he said "I don't know how you do it."

 

Oh I do….in my mind I go to my happy place. Ok, so I take a computer along.  Don't judge me!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jun22

Sucky Day

Posted on by
Sucky Day
Today was a good day at work.  I might even go so far as to say today was a fun day at work.  I got to play with a new toy and you know us nerds…we love our toys.
 I had mentioned to one of the principals I work with that the computers in the school were very dirty inside.  I mean filthy dirty. One time when I opened one up there was this enormous dust bunny living inside.  He had turned the central processing unit in to a couch and he was kicked back watching Netflix by the glow of the internal battery light.  His little dust bunny children were playing over in the RAM somewhere and his wife was warming a pan of lasagna on the power supply.  I SWEAR!  This same school had multiple power outages this year due to a family of squirrels taking up residence in a nearby electric transformer box so needless to say they were not taking dust bunnies or anything else furry and damaging very lightly.  The principal bought a PC vacuum and today was my first chance to put it together and give it a whirl.
 
Can you say Bye Bye Bunny?  This little project was right in my wheelhouse.  I am in to instant gratification.  It’s why I like to mow the grass and paint a room a new color.  The results are immediate.  Sucking the dust out of computers is the same way.  It would be an understatement to say that I really got in to it.  I took some before and after pictures and showed the front office staff.  While these ladies were squealing and carrying on with “oh that is so gross” and “that’s disgusting” I was saying “I know isn’t it awesome? While they were repelled by the notion of all that dust and mess I was thrilled by it.  The dustier the computer the more satisfying it was to me when I vacuumed it out.  I told the bookkeeper “I’m going to suck the hell out of this school this summer.”   
 
It’s the little things in life that make me happy.