My Supervisor's Tale...
May. 12th, 2007 02:03 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
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Here's my Old Supervisor's Favorite story. He's typically called into training groups to relate it.
(After the typical, "Give me a Supervisor NOW!" sitch)
Caller: "How fast do your modems go?"
Supervisor: "Well, depending on what area you're in, they have a bandwidth of..."
Caller: "In Miles Per Hour."
Supervisor: "Huh?"
Caller: "OK, sit tight, and be ready for a story. I just got the service installed, Internet only. The Tech had to run a line to my house, in fact. It was working great, then, suddenly, the wire started ripping itself from the wall. Then my modem went with it, and then the computer. Very quickly."
Supervisor: "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh kay..."
Caller: "Well, I decided to follow it, seeing as it took my computer with it. I found my computer a half-block away in the ditch, and the modem wrapped up in a Transport Truck with the cable used to connect it to the post. The Truck Driver asked if it was my modem. When I said 'Yes', he punched me in the face."
Supervisor: "Oh, look at that, I found a Supervisor."
Caller: "Good. Know this isn't your fault. I'm going to complain to the highest place I can go."
Apparently, enough of this actually happened that the guy got a full refund, and replacement for his Computer.
(After the typical, "Give me a Supervisor NOW!" sitch)
Caller: "How fast do your modems go?"
Supervisor: "Well, depending on what area you're in, they have a bandwidth of..."
Caller: "In Miles Per Hour."
Supervisor: "Huh?"
Caller: "OK, sit tight, and be ready for a story. I just got the service installed, Internet only. The Tech had to run a line to my house, in fact. It was working great, then, suddenly, the wire started ripping itself from the wall. Then my modem went with it, and then the computer. Very quickly."
Supervisor: "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh kay..."
Caller: "Well, I decided to follow it, seeing as it took my computer with it. I found my computer a half-block away in the ditch, and the modem wrapped up in a Transport Truck with the cable used to connect it to the post. The Truck Driver asked if it was my modem. When I said 'Yes', he punched me in the face."
Supervisor: "Oh, look at that, I found a Supervisor."
Caller: "Good. Know this isn't your fault. I'm going to complain to the highest place I can go."
Apparently, enough of this actually happened that the guy got a full refund, and replacement for his Computer.
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Date: 2007-05-12 07:37 pm (UTC)Shit.
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Date: 2007-05-12 07:40 pm (UTC)Then I found out that I was in his team.
Sad part is, a month later, "OK Ray, review time. Look, I don't know how to say this but... I'm impressed. You've taken worse and weirder calls that I ever did. And I had the record here before you."
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Date: 2007-05-12 07:38 pm (UTC)Well, that mental image just started my nightshift off in higher spirits. :)
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Date: 2007-05-12 07:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-12 08:08 pm (UTC)So, the installer... ran the cable across a road between two poles, at about eye height? And then the truck came along and whooph!!!!?
How the hell strong are those connectors??!!! Isn't the plug *supposed* to give way before the line yanks the modem yanks the computer halfway to Des Moines?
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Date: 2007-05-12 08:28 pm (UTC)About the rest, no clue, that was what he was told, and the account no longer existed, so I couldn't check to confirm.
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Date: 2007-05-12 09:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-12 09:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-12 09:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-13 04:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-13 05:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-13 09:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-13 10:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-14 01:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-13 11:49 pm (UTC)Prime Mover, however, is a Military Term that probably just carried over in Australia.
"That's just Prime." ;-P
BTW: One thing that most North Americans don't know about is the Australian "Truck Trains". Prime Movers/Tractor Trailer/Transport Truck with a number of Trailers behind it. Three, Four, even Five after it, all going through the Outback.
(Dad's a Truck Driver, so I get a few strange tidbits here and there.).
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Date: 2007-05-14 02:10 am (UTC)http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Road_Train2.jpg - there's a picture here of one :D
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Date: 2007-05-14 02:12 am (UTC)Sorry, my bad.
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Date: 2007-05-14 02:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-14 09:07 pm (UTC)He's also got his own Tech Support Tale, despite never working as a computer tech.
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Date: 2007-05-12 08:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-12 08:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-12 10:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-13 01:04 am (UTC)So, given the, ahem, attention to detail that goes into most cable installs, I could believe that the tech just drilled a hole through the wall and stuffed a cable through. That is, there was nothing anchoring the cable to the wall. The wire would be anchored at the modem and the pole.
It's then easy to imagine a truck catching a low wire, that yanking a pole, and the pole ripping the wire (and attached modem) through the wall. Taking the whole computer with it? I doubt it (but am willing to believe that it's remotely possible). Modem-shaped hole in the wall and a ruined computer? Absolutely.
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Date: 2007-05-13 01:51 am (UTC)A number of apartments I've seen just have the cables strung outside, and going in through a Window. Staples are all that holds it on there.
Well, staples, and fifteen layers of paint that ensures it'll never move.
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Date: 2007-05-13 07:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-13 06:05 am (UTC)I work fast food. One of the periodic things that happens at a food establishment, of course, is the dumpsters get emptied. The trucks that were in use at the time had a lid on the top of the truck that was opened by a control in the cab, and a second (or more--I'm not familiar with just how these work, just that I know that the lid is *not* an automatic function with the rest of the process) control that operates the fork that lifts and tilts the dumpster.
On the day in question, everything is proceeding as normal, we notice the trash truck come through, and think nothing of it...until we hear this *horrendous* crashing and snapping sound...and the power goes out.
We go running to the windows and find out what happened. You see...we *used* to have powerlines running across the road as well as along it. These lines run at a height that *normally* clears tall trucks such as semis and said trash truck. Unfortunately...they're *not* high enough to clear the truck if that top lid is left *open*...
The poor guy got maybe 20 or 30 feet down the road (not *quite* to the intersection) before things broke loose..literally. Not only did he snag the lines, he managed to *snap off* two of the utility poles in the process and drag them partway down the road. Fortunately, noone was hurt (though the guy probably needed to stop home for a change of underwear...he was kinda worried about being able to get out of the truck cab with all those power lines..)
Last I knew, the guy was still working...and he makes *very* sure to make sure that lid is shut before he leaves a site.
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Date: 2007-05-13 08:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-13 12:18 pm (UTC)