techrecovery | Today's Stupid User Trick (Reply)

So, I work for a videoconferencing company and I sit in the support center. One of the guys near me is fairly loud so regardless of any desire to.. I get to hear his phone calls on a regular basis. Today, I thought he was going to lose it.

Okay... so to set this up.. we sell a little tv-set-top Videoconferencing System which has a swively-headed camera on top, a microphone on the side-ish, and a remote control. You see the other person on the screen, they see you, conversation ensues.

Right... so the swivel-heady camera comes with a little piece of plastic film with a red plastic stripe in it (to let morons know that they forgot to take the safety film off the lense).

J. Random Customer calls in complaining that there's a big red line in the video coming from his camera. Surely the camera is defective!

Patiently, Mr. J. Random and his "tech" on the other end of the phone, are instructed to gently lift the piece of plastic membrane from the lense of the camera, and the picture will be rendered clear.

HALF AN HOUR LATER... Mr. Customer still does not seem to grasp the concept of the fact that there is a bloody piece of protective plastic on the lense to keep it from getting scratched that he needs to take off. So far my fellow technician has found five HUNDRED different ways to descibe "piece of plastic film", "red stripe of plastic"

Then there is the silence... as a look of incredulity comes over the face of the technician who says the dreaded words... "You.. what?"

Yes folks... Mr. J. Random had not only managed to remove the piece of plastic with the red stripe but the ENTIRE GLASS LENSE from the front of his videoconferencing system, rendering it entirely useless.

And no.. apparently they thought nothing was pointedly wrong with the cracking noises and the ripping sounds as they tore it out.

And there you have it... my stupid customer trick of the day. And that was before lunch.