Oops! Laptop struggles are real... Tech Support |
| Oops! Laptop struggles are real... Posted: 01 Jun 2021 10:00 AM PDT Let me take you back to the late 90's. Our company had over 150 consultants out in the field all over the US installing PeopleSoft. Consultants would at times be away for a week or two at a time. Most of the time they would fly home for the weekend but if it was 'go live' time they'd stay the weekend for the Monday morning launch. All that to say that one of our best consultants (C) was away on a big account and finally was able to go home after 2.5 weeks. When the consultant supervisor (CS) tried to contact him via email there was no response for a couple days... Me: IT, this is bambam67... CS: Hey, could you give 'consultant' a call he said he's having trouble with his laptop. Me: Of course, I'll call him right now. I hang up and call consultant at home, they usually had 3-4 days between deployments. C: Hello? Me: Hey C, this is bambam67 from the help desk. I heard from CS that you're having some issues. I'm hoping I can help. C: I'm not sure if you can. Me: Why not? What's going on? C: It's kind of embarrassing... Me: Don't worry, I've heard it all. (I had) C: Well, I flew home on Friday night. I hadn't been home in weeks. My wife and kids all came to pick me up at the airport. Me: Okay. (Wondering where this is going) C: They met me in the airport with signs welcoming home. It was adorable. Me: I bet, sounds great. C: We get to the car and we load everything up and I back out of the parking spot. I hit a bump and hit the gas to go over it. Me: (realizing what happened) It wasn't a bump was it? C: No. I set my suitcase and computer bag down so I could load the kids in the car. I put my bags in the back but I missed my computer bag and ran over it. Me: Oh my, okay, how bad is it? C: First off, this was completely my fault. I will pay for the replacement. Me: Let's worry about that later. Do you have it there with you? C: Yes... (sounding a bit dejected) Me: Can you describe the damage? C: it's really bad. You know how laptops are usually flat? This is a 'U'. I can't even open the lid. I'm afraid I've lost all my notes and files. CS will fire me for sure. SIDE-NOTE: IT had just sent out a message a week before asking people to take better care of their equipment and treat it like their own. It was a bit stern and straight to the point and some people thought it could be a termination offense (even though that was never stated). Me: Look, no one is getting fired. What I need you to do is pack that thing up the best you can and overnight it to me. C: Yes, of course. I go right now. Me: Great as soon as I get it and take a look I'll give you a call. The next day we received the package. The IBM 760 laptop was munched! What I found out later that his car was a SUV. It rolled on and over that bag. He wouldn't send the bag back, he's was going to buy his own replacement. I grabbed our department toolbox that we kept in the server room and was able to use a screwdriver to pry open the top. Because it was now 'U' shaped, the hinges finally gave way and snapped. Pieces of laptop flew across the room as my coworkers watched me operate. They cringed at the site and sound of cracking, mangled plastic. As I've stated before, the great thing about that laptop was how all parts were modular and replaced very easily. As I carefully discarded the screen that was shattered beyond imagination, taking the brunt of the tire, I went to work on the keyboard. Like a messed up scrabble board, letters are scattered and missing. I tore the keyboard off to discover the condition of the real treasure inside, the hard drive. As I pull away the last bits of keyboard, there it was, the hard drive nested inside this mangle piece of plastic. I was careful to take the battery out first, it looked slightly damaged. I did my best to gently remove the hard drive. As I took it out I could hear the cracking of plastic not wanting to give up its treasure. Inspecting the hard drive, there wasn't a scratch on it! Me: Someone get me a new shell! Someone scrambled behind me and grabbed a brand new IBM 760 shell and placed on our shared center table in our IT room. I placed the hard drive in and it snapped in like normal. Put in a new battery and was ready to test. I slid the power button to ON and the IBM screen pops up. Good so far. The screen went dark, this was the moment of truth, you could only hear the mechanical sounds of the drive spinning, as we watched holding our breath. When the Windows logo appeared you would have thought we just won the super bowl!! Cheers and high fives for everyone! It booted to the logon screen and acted as if nothing had happened to it. I called C: C: This is C. Me: I've got some good news and bad news. C: What's the bad news? Me: Your laptop is a complete loss...except... C: Except what? Me: Except the good news is we were able to recover the hard drive, we are packing it up right now, you should receive it tomorrow morning. C: Oh my god, thank you so much. I'll have to call CS and let him know. Me: No worries, I just talked to him and let him know we swapped out your laptop for another one. C: Did you tell him what happened? Me: Yep, told him you were having trouble with the shell (not a total lie) and it needed replacement. He was happy to get you back online and setup your next gig. C was a great person and always took care of his computer equipment so I wanted to do him a solid. As for the broken IBM shell...I used that in our training session for new hires on computer equipment responsibility. Needless to say it was very effective! Everyone was happy, back to work and I had a visual aid as a warning to new hires. All right everyone! I have to get back to work myself. Until next time remember, when someone calls you for help, YOU are their solution, helping others is it's own reward. Cheers! Update: Thanks again everyone!! I'm always surprised by your support and comments! I'll keep writing if you keep reading! [link] [comments]  |
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