Idiots on Parade.....

[patgund.livejournal.com]

I'm a Sr. Support Tech for a medical school in the Middle East. (Ah, the joys of being a US expat!)

Now our school is mostly Unix based, with the majority of clients (95%) being Macintosh OS X. Most of our servers are G5's and XServes running OS X Server, with some Linux and AIX boxen for specialty apps. We have some Windows clients as well for specialty applications.

The clients are set up in user "Pods" inside and outside of the classrooms, allowing a user to log in at any Macintosh on the campus and immediately have all their applications, backgrounds, files, etc.

So with that in mind, I'm in my cubby debugging a problem with our backup scripts when a premed student comes in screamingly furious because he can't save anything and MS Word can't save it's files and why don't we use Windows like he wants us to.

So I bring up his desktop on my machine. We give each student 1 GB of storage space for files, (applications and the like don't count). We also give the students 2GB keychain drives to transfer files to their home machines, (which we also provide upon request) He had 14k left in storage. Not enough room for swap files, MS word save files, or, well, ANYTHING. And where was 75% of his files?? In the trash can. Which looked to have not been emptied since, oh, the start of the semester.

So I empty the trash can, save the document he was working on, and explain to him how storage works. His only reply that he "doesn't empty trash cans, that's for servants to do."

I also explain to him he would have had the exact same problem with a Windows box, for the exact same reasons. He said his Windows machine at home doesn't do this, and I said "do you empty the recycle bin?" He said yes, and I said the trash can is the same as the recycle bin, and must be emptied for the same reason.

His response? "I don't empty trash cans, that's for servants to do".

And this idiot is going to be a doctor some day..........sigh.........

Comments

[coyoteden.livejournal.com]

Well, this guy has a problem with the term "trash" and what it represents in his culture. I'm suprised Apple didn't localize it to something else for the middle east.

Can you just rename "Trash" to "Recycle Bin"? "Trash Can" throws a repeatable error on this guy. Some users are like a computer: It cannot think for itself but will do what you want if you put it in the right terms.

Better yet, put a script in this guy's profile to empty ~/.Trash (or
whatever it is on a mac) at every logout. The next time he comes whining because he just lost something he had in the trash, tell him to take it up with the servants.

[megpie71.livejournal.com]

His response? "I don't empty trash cans, that's for servants to do".

One day, he is going to try that attitude on a nurse outside his home culture. He will then start revising said attitude. Hell, it may even happen if he tries it on a nurse within his home culture. Most nurses I've run across tend to have quite enough to deal with, thank you very much indeed, and will tend to provide extra arseholes as required when faced with an intern or resident who is suffering from the delusion that they are God.

Of course, if you decide to rip him a new one ahead of time, you're saving some poor nurse the bother and the excess workload. The best thing about the medical environment is that it has its long-established checks and balances for this sort of asshattery.

[wyrdrune.livejournal.com]

Are there any stairs which he travels down each day? Preferably where the lighting is a bit iffy and he might not notice a handful of ballbearings that had been accidentally dropped by a passing BOFH.

After all, you'll be doing the general population a favour.

[jjjiii]

Actually, with removable media, Windows doesn't use the Recycle Bin, it just deletes the files immediately, with no way to recover them short of rescue software.

It's amazing that mentality exists, I would have had a hard time not smacking him.

[patgund.livejournal.com]

*tilts head* I've heard "lusers", but never "starfish". That's a new one.

[patgund.livejournal.com]

Well, we're using the UK version of OS X, so you would expect "rubbish bin" :-)

I suggested a script. The CIO rejected it because some of the faculty have been known to store files they need *in* the trash can.......(shakes head)

[patgund.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't need ball bearings. Sand on marble floors also works nicely.......

[patgund.livejournal.com]

Trust me, I relayed this story to friends of mine that are RNs and EMTs, (plus one MD), and they all want the popcorn concession and tickets when this asshat gets his arrogant little bubble shattered by the sharp prick of reality.

[patgund.livejournal.com]

As for the good side of being an expat - the money and in this case, a kick ass addition to the resume when my contract expires this fall.

And that's about it.

[patgund.livejournal.com]

Oh, I had a hard time not cutting his storage space on the spot to, oh, 250 MB or so.........

[wyrdrune.livejournal.com]

Yup - I've had that before...

"I've got a message telling me my mailbox is full, but I'm only using 10%"

/me connects to the users mailbox and checks sizes - the Deleted Items is 90% of the mailbox. I inform the user of this and advise them to purge it.

"I can't do that - there's stuff in there I need. Just stop it counting towards my storage."

We've also had stuff deleted from the database after the user set the "delete and purge" flag on a load of records, intending to use it to indicate to herself that she wanted to clean out the paper files for those records.

Bloody (l)users!

[photosinensis.livejournal.com]

So do I, and I'm just a student.

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

I'd make him wait while I found a large piece of sticky-paper, wrote "SERVANT" across it in large letters, cut it to size, and stuck it across his chest.

"Now you're a servant. Go and empty your trash."

[kalium.livejournal.com]

Nah, you want to cut it to 4k, not even enough to log in.

[fuego.livejournal.com]

the fuck? oh geez. that's...wow. that's....special.]


now im just waiting to hear that line from someone on a call at work.

[jecook]

Or lard.

Lard makes everything better.

(oh wait, that's bacon...)

[jecook]

Yes, 4Kbytes is an appropriate amount.

and since he's soo far over quota, his account should also be auto-disabled, and purged until it meets the 4K quota... ::clicky click::

[patgund.livejournal.com]

Have to be mutton or beef tallow. No pork allowed in this country. :-)

[jahbulon.livejournal.com]

HAH! That icon is excellent.

[megpie71.livejournal.com]

The icon is by greenabsinthe. I've found it very useful, on multiple occasions.

[dk.livejournal.com]

rename his Trash Can to "Filthy Pig Bladder" and see if he empties that.

[patgund.livejournal.com]

(evil chuckle)

[geekgrrl-ca.livejournal.com]

Wow. Actually in windows he won't have that problem as long as his regular storage doesn't mate up with the allocated space for the recycle bin.

ie, windows by default uses 10% of the drive for the recycle bin, anything bigger gets automagicly deleted. I don't know if there's a setting for this on the apple. You can also set the recycle bin to automaticly delete things as things are put into it. Maybe this is a setting this guy needs, then he's emptying his trash as he goes along :P

[japester.livejournal.com]

think 5 appendaged body bag that sh*ts and eats from the same orifice.

[patgund.livejournal.com]

*Snicker* I like it.

And would add: "..and is utterly helpless when faced with anything more complicated than a clam."

[japester.livejournal.com]

'cept octopii are one of the most intelligent animals known.

they can open sealed jars, and I've heard stories of them walking between fishtanks to eat fish.

[meandean.livejournal.com]

"Well, sounds like you need to hire a servant, Lumpy."

I think I met this putz's dad or older brother the last time I was in an ER. I finally had to explain that (A) Yeah, still it hurts like hell when you poke it, just like the last thirty-eight times, and (B) the pain was in my abdomen. The fists were working just fine, capiche?