IT support work be like

In defense of 'the computer forgot my password' guy I'm sure we've all experienced the following sequence.

Incorrect password
Go to change password
New password cannot be the same as the old password

I would interpret 'the computer forgot my password' as someone accidentally getting logged out of their password manager
Truly maddening
**
Go to change password
They also don't know the password of the email address the reset email is sent to
*idk how to format
- This struggle is real. Except I forget which email address I used because I use a lot of aliases.
  Normally my password manager would handle it but sometimes there’s re-branding and a new domain and the password manager can’t figure it out.
- I'm sorry to tell you this so hastily but everyone else is a bot, it is just you and everything you've experienced is completely unique to you.

"The computer forgot my password" is new to me. lol good one.

I'm not IT, just a college instructor, but you'd be amazed at how many Gen Z students have told me that they can't log into their email because they don't know their own password. Not even forgot; they don't even know it in the first place because every device remembers everything for them.
- To be fair that is basically what we are trying to get people to do though. Use a good password vault with a single strong password and two factor authentication. All other passwords should be a uniquely generated password for that application.
- My girlfriend (millenial) is like that as well and it is infuriating. I tell her time and time again, just use a password manager that isn't the browser's password manager and you are golden. You just need to remember one "complicated" password, i.e. something with more than 8 characters and that's it.
  The many times she doesn't know her password to important account is mind boggling.
- ironically I think tech literacy is going down with future gens thanks to so many functions getting automated. Kids aren't learning how their computers work because it does all of work for them
- Like others have said they're probably using Google as a password manager. When you're making an account for anything while in the Chrome browser it recommends strong passwords for you such as UjafUif&i$ureT6hj9gzq5hvc$tcgo0be3. Would you memorize it?
"My computer hates me" I've heard that one

At one point in a former life, I was one of the trainers for the incoming helpdesk technicians. One of the practical exams we put them through involved us doing creative things to fuck with their computers before they came to class, and then having them figure out what was wrong and how to fix it. Plugging the mouse from one computer into its neighbor's USB port and vice versa was one of my favorite tricks. For whatever reason, it had a 100% success rate in effectively fucking with them.

That’s lame and easy to figure out.
Switch to wireless mice. Maybe Logitech Unifying. Then one day pull all the dongles out and put them in a bucket.
First person to figure out how to download and install the unifying software and re-pair their mouse without using it gets a bonus.
But most people nowadays are lost without mice so they’d probably cycle through all the dongles on the laptop plugged into the projector and all move their mice until they figure out which is whose.

Fun story, I worked IT for an American Telecom company. One day I recieved a phone call from a guy who was setting up his router. We were maybe five minutes into troubleshooting. He asks if he can eat his dinner while we troubleshoot and I say "no worries". Within thirty seconds, I hear a bang and panicd screaming. He informs me he dumped soy sauce and rice all over his router and work space. I sent a field tech to replace the router and set it up.

Edit: This comic is the norm not the unusual...

Were you talking to Frank Reynolds?
I hope they installed the waterproof version

“When you do things right, people won’t be sure you’ve done anything at all”

Yes most management falls into this category. If you ain't running a prison with the staff something is wrong as we can't possibly trust these people!

My coworker had a customer shoot his router. So, yes alot of American small business owners are Frank Reynolds.

"My computer says no wifi, so anyway I started blasting." Such Murica lol

I've been on both sides of it. One of my favorite IT moments was changing to a new phone. I couldn't access my email until I did a two factor auth process. Of course they emailed me my code to access my account to unlock my email. Good thing I also had a pc at home with access to my email.

Then I was supporting a lab. One woman was clearly aggravated when she called. She said no matter what she did her screen was blank. I head right over and just look at it for a few secs. I check the lowest hanging fruit solution first and see the power light on her monitor isn't on. I see it is unplugged, plug her monitor in and problem solved. I've never seen a more embarrassed person than her. lol

Networking has to be the most thankless job in IT. You are invisible when the system is working, which is 99% of the time. It stays up like that because they are monitoring it and maintaining it behind the scenes. When it fails though the failure can be catastrophic for everyone, we literally cannot do any work without it. Then everyone's eyes, and criticism, is on them.

I love the artwork !! Who is the artist?

According to my googling, they may be by Li-Anne Dias? But the artist's website is so bad you're better off reading the comics when they're reposted elsewhere
But these are so classic they even mention Windows XP

I can see the pain in the eyes of the support fella.

I asked a guy for his host name today and he straight up said "No" wtf man what do you want from me then?

I'm not even IT and yet I feel this

I worked at an office once where the wifi legitimately got worse when it rained. It was because the buildings internet used an antenna instead of being wired, and the building was just barely in range of the source signal. When it rained, it was enough added distortion to make it noticeably worse.

Oh, so the WiFi was fine, but the internet sucked when it rained. Cool.
WiFi != Internet.
- Ive had to explain this soo many times to users that I've gotten tired and just roll with them with the misconception
- I have to constantly explain to my wife that if she can't reach a website it is likely on their end and there is nothing I can do until they fix it. I explain there is a chain of connections involved and me sitting and staring at her laptop for an hour isn't going to fix it.
- No one said that wtf
You could just get a rain-proof router! /s

As somebody who did IT support - the last two seem perfectly normal to me:

Computer "forgot passwords" - obviosly the man is using different browser than regular and it ain't filling in his passwords. Maybee diferent profile in the same browser? Is he using the same account as usual?
Wind blowing away wi-fi. She is likely connected to the internet through a point-2-point wifi connection and there may be a tree or something along the way messing not wifi signal in her house but her connectivity to the outside. I'd refer her to her ISP, just instruct her to formulate the question a bit better.

The password one is also when they're on the wrong site and now they've just typed all their passwords and account names into microsoftoffice365.scammer.ru
I worked at a software developer, occasionally doing support. Had a call from a customer following up on a ticket, I looked at the record and the salty dude who took the original call had written:
Caller asked me to tell him where he saved his file. I told him "well if you can tell me where I parked my car this morning, I might be able to help you."
Quality wasn't a big thing with our software, the senior developer was a stoner who was off his head most of the time, others were either clueless or too busy on side hustles to give a fuck. Amazingly we developed engineering software that was used by amongst others, the atomic weapons establishment in the UK and Buckingham Palace. Happy days.
- Hey, at least your bugs didn't result in the prosecution of 700+ sub-postmasters. Silver linings and all that.
Even the first one.
The mouse is moving. It's potentially the mouse-pointer that is not moving.
Seriously.
On a side note, love you IT guys 💖 and it seems that if you ask nicely if they have time, they'll listen and if you try to do your best they'll be all over it to help you out the best they can.

bruh you cut out half the story

Love these. Reminds my of the CD drive cup holder and my personal favorite at my shop was the computer was afraid of me. Every time I came near to fix the problem they were having it went away. I was told the computer must be afraid of me and knows when I'm coming

The number of people who fail to recognize what it (typically) means when an issue magically disappears while Simone is looking over their shoulder is absurd.

"My computer is broken, it won't turn on!"

"Are you sure it's plugged in?"

"You think I'm stupid? Of course it's plugged in! It's broken!"

"Sometimes the plug isn't in all the way and then it won't work."

"I know how to plug in a plug, it just won't turn on because it is b-r-o-k-e-n!"

"Are you sure the plug is all the way in?"

"It's all the way in. My computer is broken!"

"Im coming down there and if the plug isnt all the way in, I'll be pissed and mock you."

"IT'S BROKEN!"

Goes down there and plugs the plug all the way in

Computer starts

Never ask them if it's plugged in. Ask them to unplug it and plug it back in. Make something up about contact patches on the cables getting corrosion. That way they can see that it's not plugged in without feeling ashamed for not checking it.
- If I'm ever doubtful that someone has unplugged something, I'll ask them to describe something that may or may not be on the plug.
  Color
  metal type
  "can you please read me the serial number stamped on the prongs of the power cable"
  "what color is the plastic inside the plug" Etc.etc.
  Have not had it fail yet
my brain sees "I'll be pissed and mock you" and read it to me as "I'll piss on you".
Not a bad punishment for people don't plug their plugs all the way in.

I remember the pain. Luckily I don't have to deal with customers anymore. I felt a chill down my spine...

'One thing is broken' is usually prefaced with an email explaining why a service is down but it doesn't stop people.

Here's some more pixels

https://i.imgur.com/5izytWM.jpeg

Wind-proof router, here you go

Somehow, my phone number got printed on an ISP provided router that services like trailer parks in Arizona. So I get calls randomly asking "Hey is this ____ Internet?" & I go "No sorry, this is just some dude. But hey, where did you find this number? I just wanna know why people are keeping calling me"

And fuck if it isn't like pulling teeth. I literally just want to know where it's printed.

"Uhh, so this isn't Blank Internet?" Click

"It's the Internet number" "yeah but like where are you reading it from?" "The internet" "Oh like a website?" "No, like the internet... so you can't fix it?"

Voicemail: "Hey this is Joe Oldman. I live at 113 blank drive. My social security number is 0000005. Can you send someone down to fix my internet? Thanks"

Finally someone under the age of 40 called me and finally said "this is the number on the back of the router" but even when I asked "So what router is it? Like where is it printed?" "Idk". Like dude, you literally just read this number and typed it in your damn phone. What are you looking at.

Major “my computer is too slow after I installed 20 search bars” energy.

Needs more JPEG!

Boomers shouldn't be allowed to touch computers. That generation needs to fucking retire already.

Agreed. I recognize it is the Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and The Woz generation. But the technology is so far beyond what they created, even though we use what the Boomer generation created every day, and I get that.
- It's the Jobs, Gates, and Woz generation, but until they step out of the way we won't get a new generation of pioneers in technology. It used to be the dream was to create the next big thing, now the dream is to make something that gets you bought up by Google, Apple, or Microsoft.

My experiences with IT across multiple organizations is that they're understaffed and not hiring particularly competent people.

The competent people they do have are generally egomaniacs because they're the only person or persons in a department full of idiots, and they deal with idiots all day, so they assume everyone is an idiot.

Additionally, IT is SUPER territorial. Like, noticeably so. They have 1-2 people that know what they're doing, but their whole staff acts like they're as smart as their smartest person, which they are, unassailably, not. I give a lot of respect to the competent and knowledgeable ones, because I realize they're also managing a bunch of idiots that don't know they're idiots.

Across three different organizations, I've watched five members of IT fired for their arrogance. If you're interested in doing this, simply hire an attorney, bring the smart person into the room with the arrogant idiot, and make it clear that someone in that room is not going to work for the organization in two weeks, and then explain the situation.

If you feel attacked by this, you're one of the idiot IT staff. I'm good friends with our current CIO and security lead. I hate to break it to you, but they don't like you either. You are described as "cannon fodder for grandpa."

Easy to fire, easy to hire. This cartoon adequately captures the level of questions that incompetent people working in IT can feel superior about. But they're not serious IT issues within a large organization.

That's why you hire kids that graduated with "computer degrees." So they can make cartoons and catch all the bullshit, while the real professionals do the real work.

Yeah a place I worked for had managers that thought that way. Then something broke and since the guy who knew how to fix it was fired a long time ago... well... I was already long gone by then. But their system was down for nearly a week.
Now if the managers established any kind of process then personality conflicts wouldn't be an issue, everything would be documented in advance (ie. planning) and the IT would just be following an agreed upon plan. Both management and the staff know everything that's happening and why it's happening. And if there's staff turnover it's no biggie because everything is documented and the management knows where the documentation is.
But that requires work... by management. So in many places it doesn't happen.
The reason why you have arrogant IT staff is only because they know that you don't know how anything works and they do. They know that if you fire them you'll be fucking over yourself because if something breaks there's a good chance you won't know how to fix it and it may take their replacement a long time to figure it out because you never gave the IT staff an adequate amount of time to document anything.
Sure when you fire these guys things won't break immediately. It might be a year, even several years before that critical thing (that you never required to be documented, no time for that) breaks and the system is down for an extended period of time.
The IT guys are arrogant because their boss is too stupid to know how to manage things properly to know how things are set up. Some managers are too stupid to even know why their IT guys are arrogant. They're arrogant because they know that by firing them, the manager is fucking himself over. They're just underestimating how stupid their manager is.
If you feel attacked by this, you’re one of the idiot IT managers.

I actually want to get into IT. I like tech, don't mind dumb situations, and enjoy helping people, and doubly so if it's sarcastically helping people. Fucking shame every company wants like fourteen degrees and your first born for a level 1.

Certifications certifications certifications. Get your A+ or net+, apply for shitty remote help desk jobs like support.com. They will suck and you'll get back to back calls, but keep your ears to the ground and a few months experience should be all you need to hop to something else. A lot of places are desperate for competent techs. Degrees don't prove anything, I'm fact it seems like kids are graduating with these technical degrees and zero actual practical knowledge.
Source: My decade long IT career off just an associates degree.
- Absolutely correct. Every single place outside of giants like Google take equivalent work experience instead of a degree. I dont even have an AA but I have 16 years experience and 11 certifications and make low 6 figures.

Couldn't the wind thing be true? Moving air rubs on stuff, gets charged and provides a less resistant path for the em waves

Theoretically, but probably just as likely as goblins sneaking into your router and eating all the 1s in your binary
- Meaning very likely.
I doubt that would affect Wi-Fi, but what does affect it (at least 2.4 GHz frequencies) is microwaves. They operate at the same frequency and interfere with the router's output waves.
My wife refused to believe me until I had her run a speed test and watch the signal drop when I started up the microwave, then rise again when I turned it off.

Serious question.

Why is the venn diagram of furries and tech bros a circle?

IT workers != tech bros
But I don't know either.
- Tbh I don't see the difference but that's just me

Also IT guys:

I have no idea why things don't actually work and when presented with a core dump or any previous debugging the user did I panic like a little girl, so I restored to a previous system restore point, because fuck the changes you made since then and the fact that if you do them again the issue will come back, I'm just supposed to close this ticket, not actually fix things.

Yeah, I don't call IT anymore.