Tales of Woe

[andrewducker]

This just in from someone who shall remain anonymous:

My cubemate Hal, just got off the phone to technical support asking them to reset his password (which involves emailing it to his line manager and checking credentials etc.)
I heard his side of the conversation…

“I need to reset my password….no, I didn’t forget it, it just stopped working…no I didn’t change it…here’s my line manager’s email…”

After a couple of minutes he arrives back with a new password written on a piece of paper and thrusts it into my face, saying “here it is, my new password!”

Followed by a bout of typing and…

“My enter key isn’t working….neither is my C key…oh yeah, I spilt water all over my keyboard yesterday………oh”

Yeah, I don’t think it’s his password that was broken.

Comments

[poisonduk.livejournal.com]

I've done similar - my L key was broken and I got my password reset 5 times before realising! They kep resetting it to something with an L and I kept violating it.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

There's a reason why "type the password into the Username field so you can see if what comes out matches what you think you're putting in" is a troubleshooting step.

[skington.livejournal.com]

I like the way iOS does this - it shows you the last character you typed, and occults all the rest.

Of course, on a desktop machine you're much more vulnerable to shoulder-surfing this way. But then, if someone can see your screen, they don't have to do much more to see your keyboard.

[andrewducker]

Android does the same.

And I like the some of the system dialogs in Windows 7 have the option to show what you're typing, if you want to check you're typing it correctly.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

My largest peeve about Windows XP and wireless networks was the hidden key *and* the need to type it twice. Seriously, the fuck? It's a WIRELESS KEY, and you're not CHANGING IT, you're just PUTTING IT IN.

Win7 lets you see what you're typing if you want, and only requires the key once because duh.

[e-halmac.livejournal.com]

Bah-hahahahaahaha!

Akin to the power cut chesnut (seriously paraphrased...), whcih always makes me chortle:
Customer: My PC is broken. It just wont turn on.
Call centre guy: Ok I'll take you through the checklist step by step. Can you please check that the mains power cable is connected to the computer?
Customer: No.
CCG: Why not?
Customer: I can't see behind the PC tower.
CCG: Can you pull a light over to check?
Customer: No
CCG: Why not?
Customer: The power's out.
CCG: ...

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

The sad thing about that is that it's not apocryphal.

Or, rather, I'd heard that story for years and years - and then, when I was doing tech support in the mid 1990s, I got pretty much that exact call.

[e-halmac.livejournal.com]

If it weren't true it would be unbelieveable. Heck, if I hadn't had the conversations I've had with my own parents about tech, it'd be unbelieveable!

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Anyone who does tech support for long enough realises that There Are No Urban Legends. There are only true stories that have been embellished, sometimes only slightly, for comedic effect.