Real Stories of the Technically Challenged

I called a company and asked to speak to Bob. The person who answered said, “Bob is on vacation. Would you like to hold?”

I worked with an individual who plugged their power strip back into itself and for the life of them could not understand why their computer would not turn on.

“Do you know anything about this fax-machine?”

“A little. What’s wrong?”

“Well, I sent a fax, and the recipient called back to say all she received was a cover-sheet and a blank page. I tried it again, and the same thing happened.”

“How did you load the sheet?”

“It’s a pretty sensitive memo, and I didn’t want anyone else to read it by accident. So I folded it so only the recipient could open it and read it.”

I recently saw a distraught young lady weeping beside her car. “Do you need some help?” I asked.

“I knew I should have replaced the battery in this remote control door unlocker. Now I can’t get into my car. Do you think that store would have a battery for this?”

“Hmmm, I dunno. Do you have an alarm, too?” I asked.

“No, just this remote,” she answered, handing it and the car keys to me.

As I took the keys and manually unlocked the door, I said, “Why don’t you drive over there and check about the batteries? It’s a long walk.”

Tech Support: What does the screen say now?
Caller: It says ‘Hit ENTER when ready.’
Tech Support: Well?
Caller: How do I know when it’s ready?

A man moved to New Mexico and called his credit company to change his address. When he told the girl where he was moving, she told him that she couldn’t help him since they didn’t issue cards outside of the United States!

My friend called his car insurance company to tell them to change his address from Texas to Vermont. The woman who took the call asked where Vermont was. As he tried to explain, she interrupted and said, “Look, I’m not stupid or anything, but what state is it in?”

Several years ago, we had an intern who was none too swift. One day, he was typing and turned to a secretary and said, “I’m almost out of typing paper. What do I do?”

“Just use copier machine paper,” she told him.

With that, the intern took his last remaining blank piece of paper, put it on the photocopier and proceeded to make five blank copies.

One of our servers crashed. I was watching our new system administrator trying to restore it. He inserted a CD and needed to type a path name to a directory named “i386.”

He started to type it and paused, asking me, “Where’s the key for that line thing?”

I asked what he was talking about, and he said, “You know, that one that looks like an upside-down exclamation mark.”

I replied, “You mean the letter ‘i’?”

And he said, “Yeah, that’s it!”

I was in a car dealership a while ago when a large motor home was towed into the garage. The front of the vehicle was in dire need of repair and the whole thing generally looked like it had been an extra in “Twister.” I asked the manager what had happened. He told me that the driver had set the cruise control, and then went in back to make a sandwich.

Fun Things to Do at a Drive-Thru

1. Drive through the drive-thru in reverse and let your passenger order.
2. Ask the price of almost everything on the menu and then order something that you didn’t ask the price for.
3. Tell the employee that your window is broken. Order and then pay with your door open. When the food comes, roll down the window and snatch your order from their hands.
4. Go to McDonald’s and demand a big breakfast at 11:30 at night. Put up a fight.
5. Pay for a large order in pennies and nickels.
6. Order in another language. Be careful what neighborhood you’re in.
7. When asked if they can take your order, tell them you are just window-shopping and drive on.
8. Laugh sadistically when asked if you would like ketchup.
9. Ask the cashier how they fit into that little box.
10. If they make you wait, make them wait when they come back on.
11. Demand to speak to the manager. When they come on, complain that you did not like the way the employee said, “May I take your order?”
12. When asked if they can take your order say, “Why, can I take yours?”
13. If they ask you to wait, order anyway and keep doing it till they yell at you.
14. Pretend your car has broken down. Ask for assistance moving it. When they come out, drive away.
15. Tell them you have to use the bathroom.
16. Order a cup of water and two napkins. That’s it.
17. Don’t order when they come on. Just sit there. If a line forms behind you, get out of the car and cause a scene.
18. When they hand you your food, hand them a bag with all the trash from your car in it.
19. Just stare at them when you pay and get your food. Don’t break your stare.
20. Honk your horn the whole way through the line.

Speed Trap

A state trooper spied a car puttering along at 22 MPH. So he turned on his lights and pulled the driver over. Approaching the car, he noticed that five old guys were inside, and they looked wide-eyed and terribly pale.

The driver pleaded with him, “Officer, I don’t understand, I was doing exactly the speed limit! What seems to be the problem?”

“Sir,” the officer replies, “You weren’t speeding, but driving slower than the speed limit can also be dangerous.”

“I beg to differ, Officer, I was doing the speed limit exactly: twenty-two miles an hour!” the old man said.

The trooper, chuckling, explained to him that “22” was the route number, not the speed limit. A bit embarrassed, the man grinned and thanked the officer for pointing out his error.

“But before I let you go, Sir, I have to ask… Is everyone in this car ok? These guys seem awfully shaken.”

“Oh, they’ll be all right in a minute,” the old man said. “We just got off Route 119.”

Job Fair

A jock and a geek applying for the same job.

The boss said, “Boys, you need to take a test before you can get this job.”

So they took the test and the next day they came back to see who the boss chose. “Well,” he said, “Both of you got the same score except I’m going to choose the geek.”

The jock complained, “Don’t you think that’s prejudice or something?”

“Well,” the boss said, “Let me tell you what happened. Both of your papers were right all the way through until the last question came up, and the geek answered ‘I don’t know,’ and then when I looked at your paper, you answered, ‘Me either’.