Give me strength....

[tech_guy]

Just when you start to believe you've seen and heard it all when it comes to computers....

 

...a friend came round this evening and I could tell it wasn't really just a social call. After some idle chit-chat they hesitantly said that they'd gone out and bought themselves "a you know, one of those netbook things you keep telling me about..." but that they were having some problems getting it to work. So I gamely inquired as to whether they had bought it with them tonight and the answer was a predictable oh yes and out to the car they went to get it.

 

They set it down on the table and it was a nice little Samsung N350. I unravelled the power cable, plugged it in to the machine, removed the plastic protective cover from the plug prongs, and plugged it in to the power outlet and turned it on.

 

When I looked up from doing this I saw that they were now looking at me with an expression of complete sheepishness. The machine was now quite happily loading up Windows 7. What exactly was the problem they were having I asked.

 

"It was, erm, that....", they said, pointing at the plastic cover I had removed from the plug. "......I wondered why the plug wouldn't fit into the socket........."

 

 

Edited November 17, 2010 by tech_guy

[kmount]

Wow...

[srochford]

Apart from giving people a reason to make fools of themselves, why do mains plugs now come with those plastic covers?

 

It's not as if the pins need protection against scratching - they're pretty solid chunks of metal. American and European plugs don't seem to be fitted with them.

[elsiegee40]

Priceless!

[Little-Miss]

Ok, i know it dont make a difference....but was it male or female?

[mattx]

When I got a mail this evening stating 'new photos from a friend on Flickr' I did wonder why the hell you took a photo of a plug - and there was me thinking I was going nuts taking photos of inside our washing machine !!

Now I know. Classic and certainly one for WTF.

[tech_guy]

I've been threatened with pain of death never to reveal who the person is but I can reveal that they are male and hold several degrees....

[SYNACK]

It's not as if the pins need protection against scratching - they're pretty solid chunks of metal. American and European plugs don't seem to be fitted with them.

The NZ ones still come with the plastic bits on them, can't say I have ever had someone stumped by them though. At least it was a nice easy fix.

[markcuk]

I sold a sony laptop to someone and the only plug in the box was the UK one confused the poor kiwi chap who bought it even more than my accent (another thing why do all kiwis think your Scottish if your from the north west of England!!) and why do you pronounce Sony sunny.

 

its all good

[Hightower]

I've been threatened with pain of death never to reveal who the person is but I can reveal that they are male and hold several degrees....

 

Hmmmm, you're quite well known in political circles right? Was it young Cleggy? Or what about old Cam?

[gl3nnym]

That is quite incredible. It's always the seemingly intelligent people too -_-

[webman]

I've been threatened with pain of death never to reveal who the person is but I can reveal that they are male and hold several degrees....

 

Are they a teacher?

[teejay]

The amount of common sense is inversely proportional to the highest level of academic qualification gained.

[Gatt]

Apart from giving people a reason to make fools of themselves, why do mains plugs now come with those plastic covers?

 

It's not as if the pins need protection against scratching - they're pretty solid chunks of metal. American and European plugs don't seem to be fitted with them.

 

Answer: an excuse to bump up the price in the form of un-necessary packaging.. I strongly believe that is what we pay the most for.. like a SD card comes in a box that you could fit an old VHS into! - oh and then you can't get into it without the Jaws Of Death!

[SYNACK]

I sold a sony laptop to someone and the only plug in the box was the UK one confused the poor kiwi chap who bought it even more than my accent (another thing why do all kiwis think your Scottish if your from the north west of England!!) and why do you pronounce Sony sunny.

 

its all good

 

I didn't think you were scottish and it depends on where in NZ you are as to how much accent is applied to certain terms.

[markcuk]

he he was only having a laugh but I do get mistaken for scottish quite a bit down here. Edited November 18, 2010 by markcuk

[machin05]

I hope you got a pint or two out of him!

[Zenden]

lol I had a similar thing last weekend. what astounds me is that you fix these things and some people think you are some kind of genius for it!

[Arcath]

lol I had a similar thing last weekend. what astounds me is that you fix these things and some people think you are some kind of genius for it!

 

Yep, or when you come to help and explorer pops up without you using the mouse "How did you do that ?!?!?"

[Zenden]

Yep, or when you come to help and explorer pops up without you using the mouse "How did you do that ?!?!?"

 

Alt+Tab is good for that too! or Win +Tab if you really want to baffle them

[tech_guy]

My favourite bit of voodoo is using CTRL+A in say Word to select all text then using CTRL+SHIFT+> or < to increase or decrease font size. People react as if you've shown them the Holy Grail. One member of staff even kissed me when I showed her that keyboard shortcut.

[webman]

One member of staff even kissed me when I showed her that keyboard shortcut.

 

I'll have to try that one.