The Power of Deduction

[drquuxum.livejournal.com]

When one gets two e-mails saying there will be an overnight power outage, and that the building that one's computer is in is said to be "affected", how does one deduce that the outage does not pertain to him/her?

At least some of the people here said they didn't bother reading the message, thus making them merely ignorant.

Aside for added lulz: During the outage, the contractors failed at correctly wiring the phases of the 3-phase power to one of the buildings.  Some of the tenants were amused (term used wrongly) by the HVAC blowing the wrong way and the elevators going the opposite direction.

(no subject)

[lolotehe]

A caller says she can't access any of her "browsers". What she means was she cannot get to an external web-site.

Another caller says his "computer name" is locked. What he means is his login ID.

A third, when asked for an IP address, proceeds to rattle off his phone number. When told how to get his IP, he reads off his MAC address.


These people speak English as a first language (ah, trusty dialects!) and there does not seem to be a problem with the phone system. I feel like I'm in a Twilight Zone episode.

What's the worst mis-naming you've seen?

EDIT: I almost forgot: one coworker asked me when she was going to get "one of them flat-tops". She meant an LCD monitor.

America's Next Top IT FNG

[tuba-man.livejournal.com]

No rant today, just a question. (Though I'll be working face-to-face with Costa Rica tomorrow. That should be interesting...)

So I'll be taking part in the hiring process with the first round of new hires at this company. Exciting stuff, I suppose. I'm worried though. There are almost as many horror stories about terrible IT-wannabes (Because IT is so hip and cool?) as there are terrible users. Sometimes even kickass IT guys hire idiots, it's just the way it works out.

We've all worked with idiots before. Does anyone have any signs they watch for that warn of impending OMGDUBM?

Edit: Thanks for the suggestions everyone, they're greatly appreciated!