[identity profile] canray.livejournal.com posting in [community profile] techrecovery
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.

Date: 2007-05-12 07:37 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] anivair.livejournal.com
Holy.
Shit.

Date: 2007-05-12 07:38 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lordstorm.livejournal.com
*bursts out laughing*

Well, that mental image just started my nightshift off in higher spirits. :)

Date: 2007-05-12 08:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] xforge.livejournal.com
Uh.

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?



Date: 2007-05-12 09:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] xforge.livejournal.com
No, I was being facetious; I know he didn't *actually* string it at eye height. FTR you did say "transport truck" but I didn't realize it delineates a specific kind of truck. Or would that be the same as "tractor trailer?"

Date: 2007-05-12 09:43 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] xforge.livejournal.com
Yah, in the US, "tractor trailer." That was what I thought.

Date: 2007-05-13 04:24 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bekscilla.livejournal.com
Whoa! THat's a tractor trailer? Thanks for that, I had NO idea!

Date: 2007-05-13 05:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] xforge.livejournal.com
That was sarcasm, right? 'Cuz I was just pointing out that the OP was using nomenclature that us rubes to the South didn't also use, and in fact I didn't even know Canadians use a different phrase for that thing.

Date: 2007-05-13 09:57 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bekscilla.livejournal.com
Nope, I honestly didn't know that was called a tractor trailer . I'm not sure if that's an australian thing, or a me-being-oblivious thing, though! Oooh, husband just walked in - he says it's called a Prime Mover here. I feel better that he wouldn't have called it a tractor trailer either :)

Date: 2007-05-13 10:16 pm (UTC)
wibbble: A manipulated picture of my eye, with a blue swirling background. (Default)
From: [personal profile] wibbble
I guess that's where Optimus Prime got his name from, then.

Date: 2007-05-14 01:57 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bekscilla.livejournal.com
Oooooh, that makes sense! I never even connected that. I just thought Prime for number 1 because he's da man :P

Date: 2007-05-14 02:10 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bekscilla.livejournal.com
I've always known them as "Road trains". I'd never really thought about them not being a North American thing, but I suppose we would have more areas with no normal trains and stuff to use for transporting stuff.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Road_Train2.jpg - there's a picture here of one :D

Date: 2007-05-14 02:32 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bekscilla.livejournal.com
That's ok :D I'm impressed you knew about them! Yay for your Dad :)

Date: 2007-05-12 08:11 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] thegreatdoogie.livejournal.com
I have difficulty believing this actually occurred....a couple plastic RJ or USB connectors stayed put long enough for a computer to get pulling thru a house's wall? Even assuming internal cable modem on desktop, I can't imagine the connectors on the coax holding that tightly....

Date: 2007-05-12 10:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ravenshrinkery.livejournal.com
I could have seen at most a sturdy connection causing taut cables to pull a computer off its desk and a real logjam on the highway. But yeah, how does the computer end up outside the house? Through a window? While houses aren't built like they used to be (when my grand-dad was a kid...), you'd have to have that computer hooked up to twisted steel cable for it to not be the point of failure in this little wrecking experiment.

Date: 2007-05-13 01:04 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] brokengoose.livejournal.com
You'd be surprised. Vinyl siding, thin foam sheathing, maybe some insulation and vapor barrier, and a piece of gypsum board are all that separates the inside from the outside of some modern houses. It's easy enough to kick through. There was a string of robberies near here a few years ago where the robbers went through the walls because it was faster than breaking the door.

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.

Date: 2007-05-13 07:03 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] notthebuddha.livejournal.com
Coax connections can be really sturdy, easily supporting hundreds of pounds. Or the cable connections could have been secured with bolts on either side, similar to most VGA or parallel printer connections, or with an additional metal hasp.

Date: 2007-05-13 06:05 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vulpisfoxfire.livejournal.com
Heh. Reminded of a non-tech-support-related incident that happened where I work a few years back.

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.

Date: 2007-05-13 08:33 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] the-s-guy.livejournal.com
This sounds like a job for - emergency pants!

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