# Lame Helpdesk Rant.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-helpdesk-rant/178289>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [May 29, 2003, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-helpdesk-rant/178289 "2003-05-29T15:54:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-helpdesk-rant/178289/21 "2003-05-30T19:41:26Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by gotpasswords \*  
> **Needless to say, her tone didn’t improve, especially when I told her that we don’t handle LAN passwords and had to call a different support group.**

You can’t fault her for being skeptical when you have that particular username.

Yeah, I know. You’ve got the passwords to everything except the LAN.

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**Author:** ![easy\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-helpdesk-rant/178289/22 "2003-05-30T20:10:21Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Enderw24 \*  
> \*\*I popped every key off my keyboard, piled them all up, and dumped them into pot of boiling water.
> 
> It did clean them. It also ensured that about 50% of the keys would no longer fit back onto my keyboard because the heat of 100 degree water seems to do something to plastic that is undesirable. WHo would have thought?\*\*

I have a coworker who claims he does this every year. I’ve never heard him complain about the letters warping, just that he needed a photo of his keyboard to ensure he got all of the keys in the proper place (he said the arrow keys are trickiest).

I work at the engineering computer lab for my school. The worst user I ever had was calling me up because she couldn’t connect to the internet. While that is generally supported by the university-wide IT, rather than our staff, I had done it enough that I knew I could help her out. Nothing I tried was working, until I asked her “do you have 2 phone lines?” Evidently, she was trying to connect while talking to me on the phone.

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**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2003, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-helpdesk-rant/178289/23 "2003-05-31T00:16:29Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Number \*  
> \*\*You can’t fault her for being skeptical when you have that particular username.
> 
> Yeah, I know. You’ve got the passwords to everything except the LAN.\*\*

Actually, if the callers would take their fingers out of their ears before calling, they’d hear very clearly: "For ACH passwords, press 2. For Unix passwords, press 3. For LAN and email passwords, please hang up and call 877… For mainfame passwords, please hang up and call 800…

But when they’re that riled up, they’re not paying attention to the phone menu, and our group is the “catchall” on this help number, so we get all the fat-fingered goofs, 0 for operator and no button pressed at all.

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