RAM

[adamantplatypus.livejournal.com]

Where's the cheapest, most reliable place online to purchase DDR RAM? Mushkin, specifically.

(no subject)

[onyxrising.livejournal.com]

The past few days, I've had some very special customers.

Wednesday night I had an attourney. Not the kind of guy who claims to be an attourney, but the kind who is and thinks the world revolves around him because he has a law degree. He refused to do the troubleshooting steps. I politely told him that if he refused to do the troubleshooting, we couldn't determine the problem- and hence couldn't fix it. I advised him that if he didn't want to troubleshoot, there were shops in his area that could do it for him- though he would have to cover the expense of that. He informed me that he wasn't refusing to troubleshoot, just refusing to do what he insisted were unreasonable steps to expect any customer to be able to accomplish. He threatened to sue because I was "Talking down to him" by disagreeing with him- and apparently also using plain English. I was speaking to him with the exact same vocabulary I use with all of my coworkers.
The sad part is he probably wouldn't have thought I was talking down to him, and been a much happier customer, if I told him I needed him to hold for about 10 minutes while I ran some calculations through the Gibson in the back room regarding made-up parts in his computer.

There was a guy who claimed to work for Microsoft, doing tech work, yet couldn't figure out how to do basic Windows troubleshooting. Somehow, he thought this claim would get him better service.

And on that note, we support the operating system your computer came with. We will not walk you through installing an older version of Windows on it, or offer you support in that older version of windows should you install it. Yes, ma'am, we understand that you prefer Windows 98- but we are not keeping a Windows 98 team around just for those few customers who insist on downgrading.

I gave a customer a warning for swearing, whereupon he promptly insisted that he'd used the word "ship" instead, and that a ship was a piece of hardware that we were too behind the times to have heard of.

One of mine claimed to run a server room for a well-known major multinational, and claimed that he would switch the away from using our systems in the server room unless I walked him through doing something which would void his warranty. Of course, I'm not permitted to assist customers in warranty voiding. His threat might have borne a lot more weight if we didn't already know his company used a competitor's product in their server room.

And why do customers always have a tantrum that I won't remote uplink to their computer to fix it, when the PC can't even turn on?

Bright idea sparkey!

[dragonbofh.livejournal.com]

Hi there! pretty much my first post here, so here goes:
I just had this wonderful conversation with an Air Conditioning Cowboy Engineer which really brightened my day. Well, I laughed at him anyway.

(Background: Before I started working here the aircon was plumed in badly and leaks, so engineers were arranged to come in to fix it. They didn't carry out any kind of survey or impact assessment whatsoever, just turned up and away they go. They're running the condensation pipes out through the electrical cabinet in the comms room)

AC Engineer: I need to switch your comms room AC off so that the glue on the condenser pipes can set.
Me: No
AC Engineer: If the water flows the glue won't set.
Me: What's the alternative?
AC Engineer: Leave the comms room window open over the weekend, its cold enough outside to cool the room.
Me: dofuckinwhatmate?

Cue a rant to the office manager asking why the holy hell this wasn't scheduled for out of hours when we could take down the comms room power. So far I have yet to have a satisfactory explanation.