The dumbest things you've heard in a computer store?

[Crafty Kisses]

I seen a thread over at the Gentoo Forums like this and it was hilarious! So I wanted to hear your stories! I'll obviously start.

Now I haven't had many experiences like these, but sometimes I overhear the sales representative really misinform the person buying a product. For example, I was at Best Buy not too long ago and the sales person said something to the extent of "Don't buy AMD, they're cheap, and they don't work very well". Now I didn't say anything, but come on, that is being misinformed. As is it stands now I run off of a Intel, but there's nothing wrong with AMD I think, just sounds like he just disliked AMD for some reason, and I felt he should have compared and contrasted to Intel, or something like that. Funny thing is someone over at the other forums had pretty much the same expeirience as me. So what's your story?

[Grant A.]

I seen a thread over at the Gentoo Forums like this and it was hilarious! So I wanted to hear your stories! I'll obviously start.

Now I haven't had many experiences like these, but sometimes I overhear the sales representative really misinform the person buying a product. For example, I was at Best Buy not too long ago and the sales person said something to the extent of "Don't buy AMD, they're cheap, and they don't work very well". Now I didn't say anything, but come on, that is being misinformed. As is it stands now I run off of a Intel, but there's nothing wrong with AMD I think, just sounds like he just disliked AMD for some reason, and I felt he should have compared and contrasted to Intel, or something like that. Funny thing is someone over at the other forums had pretty much the same expeirience as me. So what's your story?

Sales reps get comissions for every computer they sale, and as a result, they want you to spend the most possible, even if it means buying a piece of junk.

http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/comics/20040223.jpg

[cardinals_fan]

On a printed 8.5x11 page ad above mp3 players in a Circuit City


SAVE $20!

$39.95

Normally $69.95

[2hot6ft2]

That I couldn't buy a pc without windows on it.

[3rdalbum]

A salesperson was talking to a lady about some Vista laptops, and mentioned that one of them came with Vista Home Basic. She said "I don't want Home Basic. I heard you can't get onto the internet with that." He corrected her.

[JackieChan]

When to geek squad looking for DDR Ram, and they wanted to sell me a 512MB stick for $55. I said "screw this" and walked right out of the store. I ended up buying a 1GB DDR stick for $44 (this is with shipping and tax) on Amazon.

[init1]

This happened to me in Circuit City
Me: "Excuse me, where can I find the RAM modules?"
Sales Person: "The what?"
Me: "RAM. Computer memory"
Sales Person: "Oh, over here" *directs me to the hard drives*
Me: "Um, not hard drives, RAM. They're chips"
Sales Person: "Oh, chips! Over here"

[Alterax]

One afternoon, my partner and I went to a chain store that has driven out all of the local computer talent. Our goal was to get some DDR modules of a specific speed, for a server that we were building for a client.

I asked the sales rep to locate this memory, as he wouldn't stand aside and let two geeks do any shopping unaided. He couldn't find any on the shelf and said point-blank: "They don't make that."

The sad part was that I noticed an empty peg that was marked for those memory modules. After pointing it out and asking if there were any in the back, he still was adamant that those memory modules were nonexistent.

Nonetheless, he wouldn't go away, so I asked him if he could find any Linux-compatible power supply/case combinations since we needed twelve of them TODAY. When he ran to the back to try and look it up, we went across to the road to a competing store and got our RAM.

Apparently he got (deservingly) ridiculed by his coworkers, as he always had the decency to not bother us after that.

[Kingsley]

Back in 2005 when my mother was getting ready to finish buying a new desktop, the salesman was attempting to convince us to add anti-virus software for "only" ~$70. I told him no thanks because I can easily get a great copy on bootleg. He then tried to convince me that it's a bad idea because pirated copies of software WILL give me a virus. What a joke.

[Alterax]

This happened to me in Circuit City
Me: "Excuse me, where can I find the RAM modules?"
Sales Person: "The what?"
Me: "RAM. Computer memory"
Sales Person: "Oh, over here" *directs me to the hard drives*
Me: "Um, not hard drives, RAM. They're chips"
Sales Person: "Oh, chips! Over here"

Sad. Too. Sad.

The salesmen here are beyond zealous. Since I'm hardly social and would rather contemplate my choices in a rational silence that salesmen are not exactly known for providing, I act completely clueless.


Things I've asked for to deal with salesmen:


(At computer stores)

"The...you know, thingie. Green flat thing, goes into the slot on the computer. Has black whatchamacalits on one side."

"cable looking doohickey that I need to use the google"

"Zero-Point Modules" (deadpan serious, mission-critical, we need six STAT! attitude)

"Linux-compatible case and power supply combinations"

"OS X for Windows"

"Dvorak Mice"

"USB to ATX adapters"

"Cow-bell Hero"

(At non-PC stores with pushy salesmen, I've been known to request "Books for the Deaf" and "Board Stretchers")

[maximinus_uk]

I worked in a general electronics / computing store and let me assure you that while some customers know their stuff, a great deal don't. Some things I've been *TOLD* by members of the public:

All email goes through just 1 computer in the world (from somebody who 'is head of IT')

Internet on Linux doesn't work without special router software.

Microsoft invented the GUI (sadly very common).

CAT-5 twisted pair is physically the best speaker wire you can get.

All software is written in machine code or Pascal.


You learn to ignore them after a while....

[linuxisevolution]

At wallmart a sales person was convincing a person to buy a laptop with Vista Premium because he said it was needed to run Word and he wanted them to buy the 2gb version for $800. I laughed at him and pointed to a Linux EEE pc and told the customers that the other laptop would be faster and do what their son wanted ( office work , web browsing. They wanted to block games..). The sales person looked nervous and said "Yea, but you don't understand, that runs a non-user friendly operating system that doesn't have office software."

Wow. Complete B.S. It might have been at Radio Shack, but I can't remember.

[kerry_s]

toys r us yesterday:
me: "excuse me do you know when you'll be getting the linux eee back in"
them, there was 2: "sorry no, that's a vendor item, we have lots of the windows 1's, there not selling as good, would you like 1 of those?"
me: "?, okay"
me: " :lolflag: "

in short i said i'll check back in later.

[Giant Speck]

I had to stop a clueless mother in the BX the other day from unwittingly buying not only Windows Vista Ultimate, but the full version. You could tell that this woman didn't know a thing about computers. She was with her kids, who were probably seven or eight years old, and they were trying to get her to buy Windows Vista Ultimate for their computer. I walked up and told them that if they are just using it for a home computer, Ultimate was a far too expensive and impractical choice for their computer.

I told her that she should get Home Premium instead, and told her she needed the upgrade version since she wanted to upgrade from XP. In the end, I saved her over $200. She was relieved. :)

Parents should not bring their children with them when buying computer-related products.

[linuxisevolution]

I had to stop a clueless mother in the BX the other day from unwittingly buying not only Windows Vista Ultimate, but the full version. You could tell that this woman didn't know a thing about computers. She was with her kids, who were probably seven or eight years old, and they were trying to get her to buy Windows Vista Ultimate for their computer. I walked up and told them that if they are just using it for a home computer, Ultimate was a far too expensive and impractical choice for their computer.

I told her that she should get Home Premium instead, and told her she needed the upgrade version since she wanted to upgrade from XP. In the end, I saved her over $200. She was relieved. :)

Parents should not bring their children with them when buying computer-related products.

I am a child and I know more about computers than my parents. I'm 15. My fathers site will soon be on my server lol.

[Giant Speck]

I am a child and I know more about computers than my parents. I'm 15. My fathers site will soon be on my server lol.

I understand that there are many kids and teenagers that are very computer-saavy and that they know much more about computing than their parents, but that is not what I saw in the store that day.

When a kid says "Let's get Ulitmate because it has everything," I don't automatically assume the kid knows anything about computers.

[linuxisevolution]

I understand that there are many kids and teenagers that are very computer-saavy and that they know much more about computing than their parents, but that is not what I saw in the store that day.

When a kid says "Let's get Ulitmate because it has everything," I don't automatically assume the kid knows anything about computers.

Very true. I bet the man at my local Radio Shack knows less :lolflag:

[MikeTheC]

I've been at this in a professional sense from about 1992. I also worked at the Sony Customer Information Service Center (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_CISC) for five years, and so I can assure you that every story you've ever heard about things people do and say while on the phone with tech support is absolutely true. Due to the lateness of the hour at which I write this post, I am unable to think of anything specific, but I have dealt with customers who don't understand why physical damage shouldn't be covered under warranty, or why their purchase could be wrong because "the salesman said"... And so forth.

Wait, I just remembered a suitably amusing anecdote for this thread.

About 1998 or 1999, I was working at OfficeMax. I worked in the duplication/printing department (then called CopyMax). A call had come in one Sunday, and as a courtesy I answered the phone just to help them out up front.

The person wanted to complain about how their printer wasn't printing any more. It just suddenly stopped, and so they wanted it serviced. Well, I come to find out that it actually hasn't stopped "printing", as such, it's just that it's got nothing but blank sheets coming out. I finally find out from the customer that it's an inkjet (and, as with most customers, they're too stupid or too unwilling to be functional enough to know what "inkjet" means, that it's an inkjet vs. a dot matrix or a laser printer, etc.) But nevertheless, I ascertain it's an inkjet.

Clearly, the thing is out of ink. The kicker is that they used to own dot matrix printers, and so they're used to the print getting fainter and fainter when the ribbon is out of ink. I try explaining to them about how the printer cartridge is actually an ink tank, with a printing mechanism, and that when the ink tank is out, it will fairly quickly stop putting any kind of image on the paper.

They challenge me based on the fact that I'm not a rep for the company, and I shouldn't just go on talking about another company's products like that. Now, the present-day me would have told the customer at this point to basically go take a hike, but the then-me was not quite as world-weary and so I tried working with them to get a model, etc.

Ultimately they insisted I didn't know what I was talking about and hung up.

You just can't tell some people s**t, you know?

[gymophett]

Well, I was at Office Depot and couldn't find a 56k modem for my grandmother. I asked the worker where one was? He said, "What is a 56k modem". I was like -_-
Then he gave me the wrong thing. =/

[gymophett]

toys r us yesterday:
me: "excuse me do you know when you'll be getting the linux eee back in"
them, there was 2: "sorry no, that's a vendor item, we have lots of the windows 1's, there not selling as good, would you like 1 of those?"
me: "?, okay"
me: " :lolflag: "

in short i said i'll check back in later.

Since when does Toys R Us have laptops?

[|{urse]

I've worked as a computer technician most of my life, by far the dumbest thing i've ever heard was a newly hired co-worker tell a long time customer that "Your boot sector has been infected with linux." yeah not very funny but still the dumbest thing i have ever heard. The customer was a college professor with a suse 9.1/win2k dual boot system and laughed his @#% off.

-facepalm-

[inobe]

bestbuy, i asked for a usb sd card adapter, the fella tried to convince me to buy the tower panel, i ask again "usb adapter", he then says it's all we have, i said i will have a look for myself, i walk three isles over' and see a stack of sandisk mobilemate sd's on the shelf #-o


what gets me is these stores charge big bucks for these items !

i can imagine how much lower the price would be if they dumped some of the rift raft.

[hatten]

Subscribing :)

[dabomb1022]

What is a 56k modem? I'm only 13 years old so forgive me

[tuskenraider]

What is a 56k modem? I'm only 13 years old so forgive me

youth.... lol

well kiddo if your cable internet is a large pepperoni pizza dial up is 1 1/2 eaten pizza roll.

put it to you another way.. i was downloading music from napster before the lawsuit when it was the newest thing out. at 4.2 k a sec. and i'd do a little dance at how great my connection was.

its ungodly slow.

its amazing how tech changes.. i was downloading a discography the other day at 120k a sec and thinking man... this cable internet has slowed to a crawl...

tusken- man im old... wheres my walker? -raider

[Paqman]

What is a 56k modem? I'm only 13 years old so forgive me

In the old days, the internet was based on attaching a small slip of paper with "01011010001001" on it to the leg of a carrier pigeon. The 56K modem was a large box on the back of the PC that housed 56,000 of these pigeons. This was considered a huge leap forward from earlier version which had only 28,800 or 14,400 pigeons.

(More reliable info here) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dial-up_modem)

[Giant Speck]

I had a bad experience in a Best Buy in San Angelo, Texas. I went there to purchase a printer. I was very interested in trying a Canon printer and I wanted to know if it would be compatible with Linux. First of all, I wasn't expecting any one there to know if the printer was compatible with Linux, so I was neither surprised nor upset that the first employee told me that he didn't know.

What did upset me, though, was that he referred me to the "Linux expert" of the Geek Squad. This guy wasn't really a Linux expert. He was more of a "guy who works with the Geek Squad who happens to dabble with Linux from time to time." I could tell he was on a commission, because he really wanted me to buy an HP printer, which everyone knows is compatible with Linux. I told him specifically, that I did not want an HP because I do not like the quality of their ink. Regardless, he continued to insist that I buy an HP printer.

Finally, I asked him if there was a computer in the store with internet access so that I could look up the driver information online (granted, I could have done this before coming to the store, but I did not know what models the store carried). He took me over to the Mac computers, which weirdly enough, were the only computers connected to the internet. I managed to find the driver on the OpenPrinting website.

While I was looking up the driver, the "Linux expert" asks me which distro I used. I turned around and said "Kubuntu." Then he looked at me and said "KDE sucks!"

I walked away, grabbed the printer, some ink, and paper, went to the checkout, bought the printer and left. I never returned that Best Buy ever again.

The bottom line was, while I was not disappointed that they couldn't help me find a Linux-compatible printer, I was very disappointed that they had me talk to this guy who would not listen to what I wanted and then insulted my choice in DE right to my face!

[keplerspeed]

Doing some general browsing in the computer section of my local harvey Norman (they sell all household stuff) and I couldnt help hearing a sales guy talking to a middle ages woman, who was buying a computer for the kids to do homework etc on.

He said "if you dont want to be waiting for things to load or waiting for windows to open, like me, you should be looking at 4 GB of memory".

Damn I know vista is bad... but 4 gb for a household machine?? Get out!

[Giant Speck]

Doing some general browsing in the computer section of my local harvey Norman (they sell all household stuff) and I couldnt help hearing a sales guy talking to a middle ages woman, who was buying a computer for the kids to do homework etc on.

He said "if you dont want to be waiting for things to load or waiting for windows to open, like me, you should be looking at 4 GB of memory".

Damn I know vista is bad... but 4 gb for a household machine?? Get out!

Damn. 4GB of memory is overkill for any operating system, even Vista!

[mangar]

for reference - LC - local currency. LB - local brand

There are some some salespersons who are straight liars:

Two years ago, I needed to fix my LCD screen, so I went to the LB computer shop with the screen, and explained the problem to the technicians (early firmware problem with an Asus 22" lcd, that caused yellow "smears" - not important to the story).

While chatting with the techs, a woman walked in with an ancient 486 laptop, approached a salesperson, and told him her internet stopped working. He examined the machine, and declared the integrated modem as dead. She didn't want to buy a new machine, since she was extremely short on funds. So he claimed she needed the following: a Wi-fi Router Modem, A USB hub, and a Wi-fi dongle, all for 800LC (~200$).

At this point I intervened, and told her she could just buy a used PCMCIA modem for ~50LC. The salesperson heard it, and started to ******** with invented technical terms, and general personal attacks (along the lines of "the guy over there ignores the known problems with the flux capacitor, and since it's not compatible with the HyperChannel connector, yada yada, buy more stuff"). In the, the woman became so confused, she paid the 800LC and went away.

[binbash]

-How many cell does this battery has?
-WTF CEll?

[NE Key]

In a shop in the USA,

Looking at the PCs , "Do you have any dual voltage PCs ?"

Absolute blank look. No idea. Then looks wildly around for help, cannot find any so goes for the safest guess. "No".

I pick up the nearest PC, turn it round - on the back is a 110/240 volt selector switch.
The nearest monitor is labelled on the back "110 or 240 volt input"

Dumb shop staff, but a bit more educated when I left.

[[h2o]]

I could tell he was on a commission, because he really wanted me to buy an HP printer, which everyone knows is compatible with Linux. I told him specifically, that I did not want an HP because I do not like the quality of their ink. Regardless, he continued to insist that I buy an HP printer.
Slightly off-topic, but there is nothing wrong with HP-printers in Linux. I have one next to me which worked fine out of the box with 8.04 and 8.10.

On topic, I don't really go to computer stores very often. But, when I bought the above mentioned HP-printer I wanted to know if it would play nicely in my wireless network. To do that it had to support at least WPA encryption. When I asked the clerk whether it supported WPA or only WEP he repeatedly kept confirming that "it supports WAP-encryption". After realizing that he probably had no clue about the difference between WEP/WPA/WAP I just asked if I could return it if it did not work at home, which I could. And as I said above, the printer has worked fine (even scanning stuff works, thank you HP!).
To the guys defence I should note that the store sold not only computers but all sorts of electronics, and I really don't think it is necessary for all of them to know everything about everything.

[Giant Speck]

;6738107']Slightly off-topic, but there is nothing wrong with HP-printers in Linux. I have one next to me which worked fine out of the box with 8.04 and 8.10.

On topic, I don't really go to computer stores very often. But, when I bought the above mentioned HP-printer I wanted to know if it would play nicely in my wireless network. To do that it had to support at least WPA encryption. When I asked the clerk whether it supported WPA or only WEP he repeatedly kept confirming that "it supports WAP-encryption". After realizing that he probably had no clue about the difference between WEP/WPA/WAP I just asked if I could return it if it did not work at home, which I could. And as I said above, the printer has worked fine (even scanning stuff works, thank you HP!).
To the guys defence I should note that the store sold not only computers but all sorts of electronics, and I really don't think it is necessary for all of them to know everything about everything.

I have no problem with HP printers, and I know that HP printers are highly compatible with Linux.

I just don't like their ink, which is why I wanted to go with a different brand of printer.

[tuxsheadache]

Not computer shop, my dad.
I had a Dell, and upgraded it. I bought a new processor, PSU, RAM, Graphics card, DVDRW-er, sound card, heatsink, case, etc, then finally got around to buying a new motherboard to put this whole system together with *ditches the dell one*
I finally get it, and my dad asks:
"Erm, you did check that you have an AMD processor not Intel?"
I pity him for asking that, I was so close to slamming my head on the desk, swearing and looking shocked for sarcasm, but I couldn't do it.

[bsharp]

When my old laptop crapped out (memory sockets went bad, it was a known problem with that model, $500 to fix it) I went to Staples to see what they had and found the beauty I'm using now for the same cost to repair the old one. Of course, when I said "I'll take it" the salesman tried to sell me the usual: antivirus, firewall, etc.

I said, "I don't need any of tha-" and he cut me off with YOU MUST USE ANTIVIRUS OR HAXORSZ WILL STEAL YOUR SOUL (or something to that effect). Irritated, I replied that I plan to nuke Vista on the first boot and put Linux on it. He then tried to tell me that he knows a friend's brother's cousin or something plays with Linux and that its complicated and will mess up the computer,

I told him that I dual boot at home and will have no trouble and as we are parting ways he gives me this little gem:
"If you are dual booting that must take up a lot of resources..."

LOL he thought that I was running both OSes at once!

[Giant Speck]

When my old laptop crapped out (memory sockets went bad, it was a known problem with that model, $500 to fix it) I went to Staples to see what they had and found the beauty I'm using now for the same cost to repair the old one. Of course, when I said "I'll take it" the salesman tried to sell me the usual: antivirus, firewall, etc.

I said, "I don't need any of tha-" and he cut me off with YOU MUST USE ANTIVIRUS OR HAXORSZ WILL STEAL YOUR SOUL (or something to that effect). Irritated, I replied that I plan to nuke Vista on the first boot and put Linux on it. He then tried to tell me that he knows a friend's brother's cousin or something plays with Linux and that its complicated and will mess up the computer,

I told him that I dual boot at home and will have no trouble and as we are parting ways he gives me this little gem:
"If you are dual booting that must take up a lot of resources..."

LOL he thought that I was running both OSes at once!

Well, to give him the benefit of the doubt, Staples is more of an office supply store than a computer store. :p The line in bold is my favorite.

[Paqman]

"Erm, you did check that you have an AMD processor not Intel?"


That can't be the dumbest thing you've heard, surely? Just asking that question proves he knows a little more about the innards of a computer than the average joe.

[kiddo]

What is a 56k modem? I'm only 13 years old so forgive me

Cute, I'm 22 and now I'm feeling old because of you :) a 56k modem is a modem that allows you to connect to the Internet using a phone line (what we usually call "dialup"). This kind of connection blocks your phone line while using the Internet (which is not the case if you have multiple phone lines, or if you use high speed internet with cable or ADSL). It was pretty much the norm for the home users back in 1999 and earlier. A lot of people (due to various reasons) still use this today. Wikipedia surely has an article on this.

Internet on the 56k was roughly at a theoretical maximum of 56 kbits/s, which translates to 7 kbytes/s if I'm not mistaken. In real world usage, you got something between 2 and 5 kbytes/second.

To compare, my current 5 mbits/s ADSL connection (which translates to 625 kbytes/s), in real-world usage, can download at a maximum of 425 kbytes/s.

[ArtF10]

This happened to me in Circuit City
Me: "Excuse me, where can I find the RAM modules?"
Sales Person: "The what?"
Me: "RAM. Computer memory"
Sales Person: "Oh, over here" *directs me to the hard drives*
Me: "Um, not hard drives, RAM. They're chips"
Sales Person: "Oh, chips! Over here"

Haha!.......Wait.......

Then what happened?

[Skripka]

Cute, I'm 22 and now I'm feeling old because of you :) a 56k modem is a modem that allows you to connect to the Internet using a phone line (what we usually call "dialup").

Strictly speaking- a modem is simply a device which *mo*dulates and *dem*odulates a given signal (hence mo+dem=modem). Taking a digital signal turning into analog and sending it, then recieving data and then taking the analog and turning it back into digital. Yep, they were slow. I *fondly* remember the old 2400 Baud modem my family used many years ago, back when you were the sh*t if you had a numeric processor on your main board :) .... Gawd I feel old for knowing that, you Young Whippersnappers-get off my lawn!!!

Dumbest thing I've heard in a computer store? I'll have to think fo a while--the only things I don;t NewEgg are softwares and printer ink-ergo I stay away from the House of Stupidity (Worst Buy), that I live right next to.

[MikeTheC]

bestbuy ...<snip>...

what gets me is these stores charge big bucks for these items !

i can imagine how much lower the price would be if they dumped some of the rift raft.
Why do you shop there? The only place I go any more for any of that stuff is CompUSA. Well, ok, I'll also go to Walmart for some things, since they also usually have decent prices.

At BestBuy, OfficeMax, Office Depot or Target, you're almost certainly paying 2-4 times the price. Do what Nancy Reagan did. "Just Say No."

[GrandpaLeaman]

I've been at this in a professional sense from about 1992. I also worked at the Sony Customer Information Service Center (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_CISC) for five years, and so I can assure you that every story you've ever heard about things people do and say while on the phone with tech support is absolutely true. Due to the lateness of the hour at which I write this post, I am unable to think of anything specific, but I have dealt with customers who don't understand why physical damage shouldn't be covered under warranty, or why their purchase could be wrong because "the salesman said"... And so forth.

Wait, I just remembered a suitably amusing anecdote for this thread.

About 1998 or 1999, I was working at OfficeMax. I worked in the duplication/printing department (then called CopyMax). A call had come in one Sunday, and as a courtesy I answered the phone just to help them out up front.

The person wanted to complain about how their printer wasn't printing any more. It just suddenly stopped, and so they wanted it serviced. Well, I come to find out that it actually hasn't stopped "printing", as such, it's just that it's got nothing but blank sheets coming out. I finally find out from the customer that it's an inkjet (and, as with most customers, they're too stupid or too unwilling to be functional enough to know what "inkjet" means, that it's an inkjet vs. a dot matrix or a laser printer, etc.) But nevertheless, I ascertain it's an inkjet.

Clearly, the thing is out of ink. The kicker is that they used to own dot matrix printers, and so they're used to the print getting fainter and fainter when the ribbon is out of ink. I try explaining to them about how the printer cartridge is actually an ink tank, with a printing mechanism, and that when the ink tank is out, it will fairly quickly stop putting any kind of image on the paper.

They challenge me based on the fact that I'm not a rep for the company, and I shouldn't just go on talking about another company's products like that. Now, the present-day me would have told the customer at this point to basically go take a hike, but the then-me was not quite as world-weary and so I tried working with them to get a model, etc.

Ultimately they insisted I didn't know what I was talking about and hung up.

You just can't tell some people s**t, you know?

I'll have you know that was me! And when the heck are you going to send someone out to fix my G%@d&@! printer!!!

[Islington]

wanted me to buy an HP printer, which everyone knows is compatible with Linux.

mine works perfectly...

edit: didn't see your response my bad.

edit the second: I once spent 20 minutes trying to explain to someone the difference between RAM and a hardrive. It was not a good day. I stopped shopping at circuit city after that.

[wipeout140]

I heard a few things:

"Does this computer come with a keyboard and mouse?" while pointing towards a HP laptop
"Is this Linux thing like Vista?"

[Bart_D]

..."Does this computer come with a keyboard and mouse?" while pointing towards a HP laptop...

Haha!!!:P

[Mr. Picklesworth]

Having worked part time at a computer retailer for a year, I have a lot of examples burried in memory. Here is one that I have tried not to suppress:

"I don't want Vista! I want Windows"

:S


Further "Vista" misconceptions:

* It has something to do with Linux. (NO. NO NOOO!). Don't worry, I corrected that customer very sternly while succeeding at NOT selling him a new computer; instead I gave him a new free operating system.

* The 60 day trial of Microsoft Office, Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo, Norton, etc. loaded onto Sony notebooks to the point of near collapse (where not even their own engineers can make recovery disks that cope with installing all the junk) is Vista's fault. No, it's the fault of lame manufacturers. Stop supporting them.

* "Vista" is why parallel printers were obsolete ten years ago (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Serial_Bus).

* "Vista" can only be run for 60 days.

* "I need Outlook"

* "Vista doesn't come with Office" (seemingly oblivious to the fact that computers NEVER EVER EVER come with Office, and never did).

* A general, inexplicable understanding that Microsoft Office is Windows.


I love Windows bashing, but it is nice when people blame the right people for the right things. Otherwise it makes no difference.

[HammerOfDoubt]

Oh man. This is so my thread. I work for TigerDirect at their call center. I have heard it all, from people assuming that new CPU's don't need fans and heatsinks to a guy who thought the CD/DVD drive was a cup holder.

I'm having a hard time thinking of which story to tell. They all kind of blur together after a while into a parade of idiocy. This is both on the customer side and the employee's side.

One of the guys in Sales was trying to upsell a customer on this CA Optimizer software they get commission on, and the customer asked "What does it do?"

"Sir, if I knew what it did I wouldn't be working here. I just know that you need it."

Just... Facepalm...

[joey-elijah]

This thread is awesome, i don't really have any funny anecdotes becasue i shop online mostly and get any opinions/advice i need from here or via google.

I have shopped a few times at PC World (mainly for case/GPU fans) but i remember over hearing a sales man explaining to a slightly annoyed customer that they only sold Windows Netbooks because 'linux is a very basic windows 'system' that doesn't support installing Vista yet.'

I think it was the the 'yet' that made me giggle a bit too audibly when over hearing it.

[jomiolto]

Well, I don't go to computer stores that often (there are usually better prices online), but it always makes me roll my eyes when they sell Core 2 Duo systems with 4 gigs of RAM and 500GB of HD space to people that just want to "do web browsing and read e-mail". One day I'm gonna stand up and tell those customers that the 200 euros cheaper computer is perfectly fine for their usage, even if it gets me thrown out of the store :P

[Muffinabus]

Not a crazy big deal, but used to work at Best Buy and had a customer that was shocked to find out the game he was purchasing didn't support Windows 95 /:

[bruce89]

Not a crazy big deal, but used to work at Best Buy and had a customer that was shocked to find out the game he was purchasing didn't support Windows 95 /:

Based on my belief that new games are no good, any that don't support Windows 95 aren't going to be worth having.

FreeSpace 2 comes to mind.

[a_px]

In a popular UK computer store recently, when buying a new PC:

Store: Do you want our extended warranty with that?

Me: No

Store: Well it covers you for all the software support

Me: I don't need that thanks, as I don't use Windows.

Store: Are you installing Linux?

Me: Yes

Store: Do you realise that if you install Linux your warranty is invalidated?

Me: I can imagine my warranty would be invalidated for any software involved, but the intention of my purchase is purely for hardware. Are you saying that there is no warranty on the hardware if I install Linux?

Store: Correct!

Me: Well seems a bit unfair, but the deal you have on the hardware is quite good so I'm going for it anyway (and I know I'd probably never use their warranty but that's not the point)

Store: You're quite right - I don't understand why they have this policy.

Clearly Linux users are of a lower order in this store!

[Keyper7]

"I don't want Vista! I want Windows"

You have to admit this makes sense.

[PhoenixMaster00]

I work part time at an electrical store (Tesco electrical ftw!) and i have yet to hear these kinds of comments i feel left out :( except one were a customer didnt believe that there was any other OS except a Windows variant and thought Linux was a hackers version of Windows...

Im personally looking forward to the coffee cup holder one :)

[cmat]

Surprisingly most people I dealt with at best buy were extremely well versed in Linux. They said back up your install with a DVD and if it goes boom with Ubuntu on it you can just load DVD and it won't void the warranty.

[SunnyRabbiera]

I work part time at an electrical store (Tesco electrical ftw!) and i have yet to hear these kinds of comments i feel left out :( except one were a customer didnt believe that there was any other OS except a Windows variant and thought Linux was a hackers version of Windows...

Im personally looking forward to the coffee cup holder one :)

Actually on my old PC when my DVD player broke (the lens was faulty on it) I did use it as a cup holder :D

[marcgh]

Some time ago I went to a computer shop in our capital to buy a UPS.

The sales person asks what system and stuff I will connect to it and calculated that I will need a 3,000 Watt minimum UPS.

His calculation was as follows:

Dual core processor: each core 500 watt = 1,000 Watt
ATI video card = 500 Watt
Power supply + another 500 Watt
Modem + Router = 400 Watt
Keyboard and mouse = 100 Watt

Needless to say I ran out of the store as fast as I could and went somewhere else to buy a 600 W UPS !

And I never went back there again.

[scottuss]

In a popular UK computer store recently, when buying a new PC:

Store: Do you want our extended warranty with that?

Me: No

Store: Well it covers you for all the software support

Me: I don't need that thanks, as I don't use Windows.

Store: Are you installing Linux?

Me: Yes

Store: Do you realise that if you install Linux your warranty is invalidated?

Me: I can imagine my warranty would be invalidated for any software involved, but the intention of my purchase is purely for hardware. Are you saying that there is no warranty on the hardware if I install Linux?

Store: Correct!

Me: Well seems a bit unfair, but the deal you have on the hardware is quite good so I'm going for it anyway (and I know I'd probably never use their warranty but that's not the point)

Store: You're quite right - I don't understand why they have this policy.

Clearly Linux users are of a lower order in this store!

Did the name of the store start with C and end with omet? If so, I was in the same boat.

Anyway dumbest (funniest?) thing I ever heard was whilst working at a small computer shop back home. This guy brings in a computer, infested with malware, viruses, you name it this computer had it.

Anyway he goes on his jolly way leaving this computer with us, stating on the way out that his wife may come in to collect it. Sure enough she pops in 3 days or so later and I go fetch the machine for her.

Just before paying she says "so what was wrong with it?" and I explained that it had malware, bad stuff (the usual malware talk) and then I said "and you had a couple of viruses"

At this point all colour drained from her face, she went as white as a sheet and then she said (I'll never forget this...) "oh god, my kids cant catch it can they?"

I went for my dinner break at that point, not sure whether to laugh or cry. :lolflag:

[WatchingThePain]

Whenever I buy an AMD processor I get looked at with disdain and disgust.
Last time the sales assistant said AMD is S#@t (I think that was his unbiased opinion).
Nontheless I still use AMD because it's cheaper and does what I need it to do.
Plus when building pc's theres a risk of killing the cpu so I tend not to buy high end cpu's.
Who cares what salespeople think.

[Moop]

I'm lucky enough to live near a Fry's Electronics. I heard a sales person there tell a customer that wireless routers are more secure because everything is encrypted. :)

[WatchingThePain]

Oh and as for dumb computer stories: Years ago I fixed a windows pc for someone who had called a 'technician' out and paid for 1 hour £50. This guy told them that the pc could not be fixed because their windows installation disc was warped.He held the disc upto the light to confirm that the disc was somehow supposed to be bent.

[Bölvaður]

I cannot recall anything hilarious from a computer shop but I guess some people might find my misfortune in one of these to be a little bit amusing.

To make this story short. I was supposed to build a computer for my father that lives far away, so I sent him a very specific shopping list which he followed to the letter with some help from the shop he visited.
But they did not sell RAM for some reason so my father had to go to a different shop to find one. He took all the info about the motherboard (the box and manuals stating that it took non-ECC... I think you can guess what happened) and asked for a working ram for it.... only to be handed over a non supported ram which is made for servers and is clearly stated on the vendor's website.

The rig did not work and I had to take a looooong trip to find out if the RAM or the motherboard was faulty. So to begin with we sent the motherboard to the original shop where they found out the ram was perfect.... for different motherboards that my father had.
The person in the store bashed the stupidity of the sale person in the shop that sold my father the ram.

So we went to the ram shop to ask for a replacement that would work. The sale person (the same as sold my father the ram) refused to do so and argued that the ram was working (which it did for other computers than my fathers...) and that it was my father's fault to buying the wrong ram. He even argued that this ram was supported by the motherboard and according to him it was not for servers but desktops.....
He sure did not want to admit that he made a mistake reading the motherboard's details.

To top it off the sale person said I was a hypocrite and that I had no idea. (I really should have brought the mother board guy over which would have flamed him so hard for saying that).



I had bad experience from that sale person before. Back in my windows days I dual booted and because of strange reason I was unable to install windows on 1 of my HDDs. So I took backup of all the stuff and put it on the linux HDD and UNPLUGGED ALL THE WIRES TO THE LINUX HARD DISK.
Then I asked the "computer guru" to install windy on the connected harddis because I had big problem installing it on that particular hdd.

When I got the computer back he had been very nice and connect my Linux hard disk :) but to my disapointment it looked as if he only formated the windows hard disk to ntfs and said he fixed everything. :(
When I booted the computer I found out that something was missing.... and something was replacing it....

wt* was he thinking? Just because he couldn't figure out how to install it on that hdd he must have thought "hmmm perhaps I can plug this other hdd back and try that one..." man I will always remember to remove the hdd before taking the computer anywhere.

[Boaslad]

Dumbest thing I've heard? "This game is great! and it only cost $50... plus the $20 a month service charge to play it..." (N)Everquest

Charge me for the soft ware.. or for the service. But to charge me for both is just flat out wrong...

[Crafty Kisses]

Whenever I buy an AMD processor I get looked at with disdain and disgust.
Last time the sales assistant said AMD is S#@t (I think that was his unbiased opinion).
Nontheless I still use AMD because it's cheaper and does what I need it to do.
Plus when building pc's theres a risk of killing the cpu so I tend not to buy high end cpu's.
Who cares what salespeople think.

I agree, even though I don't use AMD, I don't think there's anything wrong with AMD. They're great I think!

[joey-elijah]

I agree, even though I don't use AMD, I don't think there's anything wrong with AMD. They're great I think!


I'm an AMD fanboi (well, not really, but i prefer AMD) and that kinda snobbery is so pathetic and rather telling about how professional they are! He's obviously not that 'in to' tech or he'd know just a few years ago AMD were outperforming Intel.

It's also by no chance that AMD is still over-clockers choice.

[Trail]

Based on my belief that new games are no good, any that don't support Windows 95 aren't going to be worth having.

Quoted for truth.

[forrestcupp]

"Cow-bell Hero"


Now that's funny! :D

[mohitchawla]

I've worked as a computer technician most of my life, by far the dumbest thing i've ever heard was a newly hired co-worker tell a long time customer that "Your boot sector has been infected with linux." yeah not very funny but still the dumbest thing i have ever heard. The customer was a college professor with a suse 9.1/win2k dual boot system and laughed his @#% off.

-facepalm-

:lolflag::lolflag: That *was* funny !

[insane_alien]

i went to a computer shop where i'm sorry i say, i used to work, to get a new hdmi cable after accidentally crushing one of the connectors when moving a cabinet(a VERY heavy one). the cheapsest cable they had was £130.

i called the guy over and asked why it was so expensive, he said that was cheap for HDMI and that it was on a half price offer (so its actual price was £260!). he then said it was a good quality cable and didn't suffer from signal degradation, he actually made direct comparisons with RF coaxial cables.

Desptie me running through the difference between analogue and digital signalling he still yammered on about. eventually i was asked to leave because i was laughing so much.

popped on amazon got a 'el cheapo' cable for £20 and works fine all the way up to 1080p which is what i wanted it for. no interference problems either, even if there are electrically noisy things like tesla coils near by.

uneducated cretins, i swear they've just got dumber and dumber since i left, and when i was there they didn't know the differnce between a PC and a monitor.

bloody morons.

[speedwell68]

I went into our local PC World and asked about mobile broadband, I asked how well Linux was supported. They told me that I should uninstall Linux as it would damage my PC. They also told me that PC World doesn't support Linux, so I asked them why they had Linux netbooks offered with Mobile broadband deals. He had no reply.

I have discovered that if I go into PC world wearing an Ubuntu Tshirt or Hoody the staff will run a mile.

[TenPlus1]

A while ago I went into a Curry's store and bought what I thought was a colour ink cartridge for my printer, but on returning home it turns out that the cartridge inside the box wasn't what was labelled on the outside, so I promptly drove back to the store and complained only to find that the floor manager somehow got it into his head that I switched them on purpose in order to get a free cartridge and asked if I could leave the store...

Needless to say I kicked up merry hell and eventually after 30 minutes got a refund and took my business elsewhere...

[PhoenixMaster00]

Actually on my old PC when my DVD player broke (the lens was faulty on it) I did use it as a cup holder :D

Old stuff is built well though these new ones are to weak sometimes im surprised they can hold up the dvd :p

[SonnHalter]

Me fighting over someone that Java and Javascript are not the same.

Him:you idiot! all programming languages are called scripts! C scripts C++ scrpt B script!

[scottuss]

I went into our local PC World and asked about mobile broadband, I asked how well Linux was supported. They told me that I should uninstall Linux as it would damage my PC. They also told me that PC World doesn't support Linux, so I asked them why they had Linux netbooks offered with Mobile broadband deals. He had no reply.

I have discovered that if I go into PC world wearing an Ubuntu Tshirt or Hoody the staff will run a mile.

Come on, you should know that most PC World employees are no doubt very nice people but know absolutely nothing about computers other than which product it is they should try to sell more of this month.

Disclaimer: (I know several people who have worked at PC World, one of which is a close friend yet I still stand by my statement.... and so does he!)

[Rillanon]

I work in computer retail and every now and then i get customers that come in and the first thing they would say i'm a developer, please don't try to pinch sale at me, find me something that does x and y and can support x and y applications.

Luckily for them i did computer science as undergrad, a few other sales guys are not so forgiven. one sales dude convinced a developer to buy a brand new computer because he convinced him that pentium dual cores doesn't support 64 OS lol?

So you see, sometimes we do know, we just act dumb to make you spend more money >:)

I've also had a developer that bought a graphic card but refused to answer my question about if she had agp or pci-e slot, her answer was that she works in I.T so i shouldn't tell her what to buy. Guess what? She returned the card the next day. If she wasn't so hot >.<... hehe

[Rillanon]

Come on, you should know that most PC World employees are no doubt very nice people but know absolutely nothing about computers other than which product it is they should try to sell more of this month.

Disclaimer: (I know several people who have worked at PC World, one of which is a close friend yet I still stand by my statement.... and so does he!)

One of my collegue is a free-lance fashion designer, she had absolutely zero idea about anything but she does alright because most of the time, customer don't even care, if she can't answer a question, she would get one of us to jump in.

[damis648]

Not really something I've heard, but my friend just told me he was at best buy the other day and when he was browsing around he saw a sales lady showing a couple a nice LCD monitor. She had long fingernails, and was lightly tapping the surface of the display talking about the specs (contrast ratio, etc) and you can probably guess what happens next. She taps a bit too hard and punctures the surface, ruining the LCD and the liquid started seeping out a bit. :popcorn: My friend said he had to go back around some shelf to hide his laughter.

[Bart_D]

...I've also had a developer that bought a graphic card but refused to answer my question about if she had agp or pci-e slot, her answer was that she works in I.T so i shouldn't tell her what to buy. Guess what? She returned the card the next day. If she wasn't so hot >.<... hehe

Ahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Hah ahahhahahahahaha!!!!!

[RiceMonster]

Me fighting over someone that Java and Javascript are not the same.

Him:you idiot! all programming languages are called scripts! C scripts C++ scrpt B script!

Oh man please tell me that didn't actually happen. How could anyone think Java and Javascript are the same thing even think they know what they're talking about.

[ntowakbh]

Oh man please tell me that didn't actually happen. How could anyone think Java and Javascript are the same thing even think they know what they're talking about.

I've run into people like that before...

[MikeTheC]

I've run into people like that before...

Ah, but for a hundred Altarian Dollars, can you tell us why Java and JavaScript are similarly-named things?

[MikeTheC]

The bottom line was, while I was not disappointed that they couldn't help me find a Linux-compatible printer, I was very disappointed that they had me talk to this guy who would not listen to what I wanted and then insulted my choice in DE right to my face!
Yeah, but... KDE really sucks, man... :p ;) <J/K>

The reason Macs are the only computers to have Internet connections is they're the only ones they dare risk exposure to any public network. Hell, when CompUSA was still CompUSA and had an Apple store-within-a-store, Macs were the only computers they gave a live Internet connection to which they didn't restrict in any way. (Now-a-days, since they no longer sell Macs, none of their computers on the floor have an Internet connection at all.)

[the8thstar]

I've had my share of funny encounters in various computer stores. I've come to realize that most of the so-called 'salesforce' is not trained to sell anything. They're just low-wage workers hanging out in the aisles, loudly sharing their personal lives on their cell phones.

[swoll1980]

In the old days, the internet was based on attaching a small slip of paper with "01011010001001" on it to the leg of a carrier pigeon. The 56K modem was a large box on the back of the PC that housed 56,000 of these pigeons. This was considered a huge leap forward from earlier version which had only 28,800 or 14,400 pigeons.

(More reliable info here) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dial-up_modem)

I remember using Q-link on my old C=64. I couldn't tell you what the speed was on that modem, but it would take a good 20 minutes or so to make a connection to the server, and yet we were in awe over it.

[SunnyRabbiera]

Old stuff is built well though these new ones are to weak sometimes im surprised they can hold up the dvd :p

My current DVD player seems to be much better, but I suspect my old DVD player broke because it was in my old Emachine (yes I had an Emachine, but believe it or not it was a good machine that lasted me a good long time)

[MikeTheC]

I've had my share of funny encounters in various computer stores. I've come to realize that most of the so-called 'salesforce' is not trained to sell anything. They're just low-wage workers hanging out in the aisles, loudly sharing their personal lives on their cell phones.

Any more, yeah, that's pretty much how it is over here in the 'States, too...

[dabomb1022]

In the old days, the internet was based on attaching a small slip of paper with "01011010001001" on it to the leg of a carrier pigeon. The 56K modem was a large box on the back of the PC that housed 56,000 of these pigeons. This was considered a huge leap forward from earlier version which had only 28,800 or 14,400 pigeons.

(More reliable info here) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dial-up_modem)
Nevermind, delete please

[swoll1980]

I remember trying to get a dns address from a at&t service rep one time, and she kept telling me I didn't need to use a dns. After arguing with this lady for ten minutes, she told me to call my router manufactuer. I siad "How is belkin going to know the address to your dns". She said "You could try google" I siad "sure do you know the address?" she said "It's google.com" I exploded in laughter, and asked to speak to her manager, she put the manager on, and he gave me the address. 68.92.157.1 I will never forget that #

[dabomb1022]

LOL that was a funny read

[dabomb1022]

Thanks a lot I know what dialup is though. Had it a long time ago...

[trepid666]

Well, I was at BestBuy looking for some RAM for my parents computer. It only had 512mb in it and i wanted to upgrade to 2 Gigs. The computer is only about a year old and the kid working said "oh, you don't want to do that, the computers still new, u don't need to upgrade"

I just laughed and walked out. I found the RAM i needed on kijiji. Best upgrade ever, especially running windows, took like 3 minutes to open My Documents with 512mb.

Another thing that gets me going is when I tell people about Linux and they get that blank stare. I tell them its like a free anti-windows. And they say "theres something other than windows?"

[MikeTheC]

I remember trying to get a dns address from a at&t service rep one time, and she kept telling me I didn't need to use a dns. After arguing with this lady for ten minutes, she told me to call my router manufactuer. I siad "How is belkin going to know the address to your dns". She said "You could try google" I siad "sure do you know the address?" she said "It's google.com" I exploded in laughter, and asked to speak to her manager, she put the manager on, and he gave me the address. 68.92.157.1 I will never forget that #

A friend of mine who is a long-time AT&T (remember "WorldNet"?) subscriber keeps being told by them they don't support this-Mac OS or that-Mac OS even though: #1 - He's been using them right along and they have always worked with no issues; and #2 - They've supported them in the past, and my friend is only looking for settings data, not anything else.

I really do wish he'd drop them and go with a cheaper dial-up carrier (for when he's up in Georgia, otherwise down here he has DSL). Anyhow...

In unrelated news, I'm almost surprised Cleveland has high speed Internet service, considering how long it took them to allow cable TV into their city bounds. (The suburbs had cable long before. I know this because I used to live in Euclid and a neighbor had cable tv.)

[swoll1980]

In unrelated news, I'm almost surprised Cleveland has high speed Internet service, considering how long it took them to allow cable TV into their city bounds. (The suburbs had cable long before. I know this because I used to live in Euclid and a neighbor had cable tv.)

Not only do we have it, we have at least 4 diferent service providers to choose from(that I know of). I'm no longer a member of the at&t family.

[MikeTheC]

Not only do we have it, we have at least 4 diferent service providers to choose from(that I know of). I'm no longer a member of the at&t family.

The area I now live in offers either DSL or Cable Modem service as basic categories of choice, and for DSL we have Embarq, and for Cable we have Comcast.

Back in the early-to-mid 90s, another cable company came in and wanted to be able to also offer services to the residents. After a few years fighting with the city (who at the time was basically being bought off by the existing cable provider), they gave up and left. The building is still standing, but is now some other business. Anyhow, that original provider changed hands to Time Warner somewhere along the way. It stayed TW until roughly the best part of two years ago, when TW agreed to sell off this city account to Comcast in exchange for one of Comcast's accounts.

We as citizens had no choice and no say in the matter, and so when services switched over, I felt absolutely no compunctions about never singing their T&C, etc. We get their monthly bill in the mail ($13.50 for minimum cable tv service, $55 for cable modem service that's now gone up to about 8MB, plus assorted taxes, etc.) and I mail in a check. I don't even have an ISP-based email account. If I'm going to be forced into having my ISP changed against my will, then I'm going to do it by my own rules.

(And no, DSL isn't an option for me as I don't subscribe to land-line phone service.)

[swoll1980]

I swithed to time warner, and get 300 channels and 9mbs highspeed for $87/month. I get phone service unlimited through Vonage for $15/month

[MikeTheC]

I swithed to time warner, and get 300 channels and 9mbs highspeed for $87/month. I get phone service unlimited through Vonage for $15/month

Really? That's cool. However, I don't watch TV myself, and we just have minimum basic so that the majors come in clearly. Since we're now in the middle of the on-air switch-over, who knows... we might just drop the minimum-basic and continue to fly with cable modem service.

The only way we would be willing to pay for any other cable tv service is if -- and only if -- we could pay for (and receive) just those specific channels we were interested in and no others.

Channels we would collectively be interested in:

NBC
ABC
FOX
Weather Channel
History Channel
Discovery Channel
HGTV
Turner Movie Classics (though that's a bit of a stretch)

There was a point in the past when I would have said "And the SciFi Channel", but they've sold out and what they have is crap now, so forget it. Anyhow...

</Now Returning This Thread To Its Original Idiosyncratic Topic of Discussion>

[swoll1980]

Really? That's cool. However, I don't watch TV myself, and we just have minimum basic so that the majors come in clearly. Since we're now in the middle of the on-air switch-over, who knows... we might just drop the minimum-basic and continue to fly with cable modem service.

The only way we would be willing to pay for any other cable tv service is if -- and only if -- we could pay for (and receive) just those specific channels we were interested in and no others.

Channels we would collectively be interested in:

NBC
ABC
FOX
Weather Channel
History Channel
Discovery Channel
HGTV
Turner Movie Classics (though that's a bit of a stretch)

There was a point in the past when I would have said "And the SciFi Channel", but they've sold out and what they have is crap now, so forget it. Anyhow...

</Now Returning This Thread To Its Original Idiosyncratic Topic of Discussion>

I wish there was a way to pay for just the channels I use, but I want the networks that are in one package, Discovery, History, TLC, and Tru tv(used to be Court tv)which are in another, and Fox Sports Ohio(GO CAVS),and ESPN 1, 2, and classic which are in a third package, so I'm stuck.

[MikeTheC]

I wish there was a way to pay for just the channels I use, but I want the networks that are in one package, Discovery, History, TLC, and Tru tv(used to be Court tv)which are in another, and Fox Sports Ohio(GO CAVS),and ESPN 1, 2, and classic which are in a third package, so I'm stuck.

Take this in the friendly spirit in which it is intended, but you are in a prison of your own making, my friend.

Cable companies have no reason to change until a sufficiently-compelling argument is put forth. Stopping funding their machinery is as good of a way as I know to achieve this. Letting them know why you're stopping funding them obviously helps. The problem is that it seems like nobody wants to ever be a part of anything that isn't an already-established "sure thing".

Guess I don't make much of a follower, then. ;)

Anyhow, good luck with that whole TW cable package thing. Hope you're continuing to enjoy Big Chuck & Lil' John. Oh yeah, and Papa Joe's subs. (What the heck is life worth without those two things?)

[Crafty Kisses]

I've had my share of funny encounters in various computer stores. I've come to realize that most of the so-called 'salesforce' is not trained to sell anything. They're just low-wage workers hanging out in the aisles, loudly sharing their personal lives on their cell phones.

Very true nowadays my friend.

[wolfen69]

Why do you shop there? The only place I go any more for any of that stuff is CompUSA. Well, ok, I'll also go to Walmart for some things, since they also usually have decent prices.


newegg.com rules if you live in the states. lowest prices anywhere.

[HavocXphere]

I was looking for a female-female RJ11 cable adapter. The sales rep spent 15 mins in front of the USB cables...and wouldn't believe me when I told him that I'm not interested in USB cables.

[swoll1980]

Anyhow, good luck with that whole TW cable package thing. Hope you're continuing to enjoy Big Chuck & Lil' John. Oh yeah, and Papa Joe's subs. (What the heck is life worth without those two things?)

Yeah Dr. Ben Crazy, and hot buttered cheese steaks make life worth living.

[MikeTheC]

Don't they know that a Linux forum isn't the best place to find idiots?

Yeah, I thought it was quite ironic he chose to stick that kind of post in this particular thread. You?

[Trail]

Don't they know that a Linux forum isn't the best place to find idiots?

Well I am one, for what it's worth. I just read all of this, waiting for a punchline before I noticed the post count. Bah.

Read that before as well, btw.

[MikeTheC]

Yeah Dr. Ben Crazy, and hot buttered cheese steaks make life worth living.

Oh, there you go again, making me hungry and jealous. Ok, so I've got the best new "dumb" thing that could be said in a computer store (say, Micro Center)...

PERSON 1: Why not move to Florida instead, where there's no Papa Joe's and no Dr. Ben Crazy?
PERSON 2: Duh... Ok.

[hanzomon4]

Don't they know that a Linux forum isn't the best place to find idiots?

Lol thanks... I just died of laughter

Hanzomon4( 2/27/86 to 2/18/09) rip

[swoll1980]

Oh, there you go again, making me hungry and jealous. Ok, so I've got the best new "dumb" thing that could be said in a computer store (say, Micro Center)...

PERSON 1: Why not move to Florida instead, where there's no Papa Joe's and no Dr. Ben Crazy?
PERSON 2: Duh... Ok.

yeah, and all the huricanes you could ever hope to see.

[swoll1980]

Well I am one, for what it's worth. I just read all of this, waiting for a punchline before I noticed the post count. Bah.

Read that before as well, btw.

As soon as I seen "making money" I looked at post count, and laughed

[swoll1980]

Yeah, I thought it was quite ironic he chose to stick that kind of post in this particular thread. You?

the dumbest thing you ever heard in a Linux forum.

[MaxIBoy]

AltaVista is good for searching for long strings.

http://www.altavista.com/web/results?itag=ody&q=Keep+in+mind+that+everything+stated+below+is+100 %25+legal+as+stated+by+the+U.S.+Post+Office+(1-800-725-2161).+A+little+while+back%2C+I+was+browsing+throu gh+newsgroups%2C+just+like+you+are+now%2C+and+came +across+an+article+similar+to+this+that+said+you+c ould+make+thousands+of+dollars+within+weeks+with+o nly+an+initial+investment+of+%246.00!+%3A+So+I+tho ught%2C%27+Yeah%2C+right%2C+this+must+be+a+scam%27 %2C+but+like+most+of+us%2C+I+was+curious%2C+so+I+k ept+reading.+Anway+it+said+that+you+have+to+send+% 241.00+to+each+of+the+following+names+on+the+list% 2C+stated+at+the+end+of+this+article+using+Paypal+ (our+new+form+of+transferring+money+safely+and+sec urely).+You+dont+have+to+be+preferred+or+verified+ to+transfer+and+recieve+money%2C+so+you+lose+no+mo ney+through+transfers.+Now+honestly%2C+what+is+six +dollars%2C+especially+out+of+a+Pay&kgs=1&kls=0

[3rdalbum]

The sales person asks what system and stuff I will connect to it and calculated that I will need a 3,000 Watt minimum UPS.

His calculation was as follows:

Dual core processor: each core 500 watt = 1,000 Watt
ATI video card = 500 Watt
Power supply + another 500 Watt
Modem + Router = 400 Watt
Keyboard and mouse = 100 Watt

Needless to say I ran out of the store as fast as I could and went somewhere else to buy a 600 W UPS !

At least he didn't say "The ATI video card has 180 stream processors, so you need a 94,000 watt UPS." :-)

[3rdalbum]

Well, I don't go to computer stores that often (there are usually better prices online), but it always makes me roll my eyes when they sell Core 2 Duo systems with 4 gigs of RAM and 500GB of HD space to people that just want to "do web browsing and read e-mail". One day I'm gonna stand up and tell those customers that the 200 euros cheaper computer is perfectly fine for their usage, even if it gets me thrown out of the store :P

A lot of the time it's the customers who demand 4 gigabytes of RAM, and they complain that the 4 gigabyte machines don't come with 32-bit Windows and that "64-bit doesn't work with anything!". Well, it works with your last 700 megabytes of RAM...

[groeswenphil]

Didn't hear these....but I've used them a couple of times.

1) That's a nice new laptop that you've got. Now take my advice, don't load too much stuff onto the hard drive.
"Why not?"
"Because it makes it heavy to carry around."

2) When asked to fix a colleague's office desktop, I looked around the back and noticed the monitor lead was loose....so I pushed it in...problem solved.
"What was wrong?" she asked.
"Well," says I, "You know all computers use binary code, which is a code made up of zeros and ones? Well, your wire was kinked...and what happens then is that the zeros can get around the kink, but eventually the ones get caught up. Unkinking the wire gets them going again."
"Oh, thanks"

Phil

[gnomeuser]

When I buy something in a store I always make sure to research it first so I know it is supported well under Linux. Regardless I always make sure to ask in the store as well, my thinking is that the more often they hear requests for Linux support the more likely it is they will take the inquiries to their suppliers.

Buying my first cdburner when something like this:

Me: Does this support Linux?
Him: hrmmm.. I think so.
Me: Is there anyone you can ask to make sure or can I take it back if it doesn't work?
Him: No, but I can sell you Windows.
Me: <sigh>*


* translation
I fear for mankinds miniscule chances of survival should you ever reproduce.

[beercz]

A few years ago I went into a large computer store to buy a network wireless access point and a wireless pci card for my PC (I was setting up a wireless network at home). As there wasn't that much choice and I was in a bit of a hurry. I picked up a Linksys wireless access point and a Netgear wireless pci card. Both were IEEE 802.11b/g compatible devices.

When I was walking through the store to the checkout I was stopped by a spotty teenage store "assistant" telling me that I would not be able to get the two devices to work together.

"Why not?" I asked.

[Here's the dumb bit]

"Because they are made by two different manufacturers." was the reply.

WTF!!! I thought, what was this guy on about!

I replied, "Well, I do have two computer science degrees and have been working in the IT industry for over 15 years. I think I will be able to manage thank you."

When I got home it took me a whole 10 minutes to unpack, install and set up both devices, which both worked first time and have been doing so ever since.

I wonder if the "assistant" concerned is still working there.

[beercz]

I have discovered that if I go into PC world wearing an Ubuntu Tshirt or Hoody the staff will run a mile.
I must try that sometime! :-)

[Swagman]

I must try that sometime! :-)

It's better than a cloak of invisibility !!

Think of it as you ringing a bell and shouting "UNCLEAN...UNCLEAN"

[Mr. Picklesworth]

I was looking for a female-female RJ11 cable adapter. The sales rep spent 15 mins in front of the USB cables...and wouldn't believe me when I told him that I'm not interested in USB cables.
That reminds me of the dumbest thing I have seen in a computer store. RJ45 (ethernet) coupler: $26.99. Not kidding.

They sell about two a year to desperate techies. Bunch of lunatics.



I wonder if the "assistant" concerned is still working there.

Of course he is. That's how they upsell people into the bigger, fancier, not-on-sale wifi devices. Information be damned; computer stores are all about misinformation. For example, they would prefer that people believe copying files from one device to another is somehow a laborious effort so people will happily pay the 80 dollars for every hour spent "waiting" while doing something else.
A lot of these businesses would be absolutely SLAUGHTERED if people learned how many lies they were being fed. They would immediately start making intelligent decisions on their purchases with new-found accurate information and the entire business model of those retailers would collapse.

PS: People should have comp-sci degrees attached to their forum names somehow. Respect!

[MikeTheC]

the dumbest thing you ever heard in a Linux forum.
*nods*

Yeah, pretty much...

[orc_dragoon]

Well I went to office Max (of all places). To find a DVD-ROM(Drive) because my last one went out.

Me: Where Can I find a DVD-ROM(drive)?
After a 5 minute Adventure..
Him: Here they Are.
Me: Thank Your.
Him: You know how to hook it up right?
Me: Yes.
Him: Yea, I opened my machine. Took a while to find out how to do it, but I eventually got it. So your good with computers,
Me: Im a gamer. I know some stuff Im not a expert, but I can move some stuff around and put this baby in.
(For Some reason the he got mad)

Why do the expect you to buy something if you don't know how to use it?

[HammerOfDoubt]

newegg.com rules if you live in the states. lowest prices anywhere.

They have good prices, I've even bought some stuff there, but their return policy sucks especially for monitors. You need to have like 6 or 8 dead pixels and the...

(Oh god I'm doing work stuff off the clock)

[mmstahlman]

-How many cell does this battery has?
-WTF CEll?

Have you not heard of a 6 or 9 cell battery? The 6 cell where standard for Dells and the 9 cell where the "expanded" batteries. These last longer, but normally protrude from the side or back of the laptop. Not sure what the standard cell is now... A D630 Dell laptop with a 6 cell battery will last about 2 hours or so, and a 9 cell will last about 3 or 3.5 hours. I have seen some that lasted almost 5 hours with the power options / screen brightness tweaked.

Stupidest thing I ever heard, some punk high-schooler at an Office Depot pushing Norton AV for a laptop. I would use Clamwin or AVG free and pay $0.00 for a lighter footprint on my system resources, but he insisted that we pay almost $60 for Norton or we should never hook it to the Internet... worst of all, I told the manager because he was so annoyingly persistent and the manager said that was weird because the kid didn't make commission... lol. Must have been bitten by a virus recently or something...

[hobo14]

-How many cell does this battery has?
-WTF CEll?

Hmm? Where's the dumbness in this question?

EDIT: Haha! Sorry mmstahlman, didn't know you'd posted that, I just quoted directly from page three, hadn't made it to this page yet...

[Presto123]

In the old days, the internet was based on attaching a small slip of paper with "01011010001001" on it to the leg of a carrier pigeon. The 56K modem was a large box on the back of the PC that housed 56,000 of these pigeons. This was considered a huge leap forward from earlier version which had only 28,800 or 14,400 pigeons.

(More reliable info here) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dial-up_modem)

I actually snorted at this...

[PhoHammer]

This happened to me in Circuit City
Me: "Excuse me, where can I find the RAM modules?"
Sales Person: "The what?"
Me: "RAM. Computer memory"
Sales Person: "Oh, over here" *directs me to the hard drives*
Me: "Um, not hard drives, RAM. They're chips"
Sales Person: "Oh, chips! Over here"

This is why I ask a sales person only as a last result.

[upptown]

I had a bad experience in a Best Buy in San Angelo, Texas. I went there to purchase a printer. I was very interested in trying a Canon printer and I wanted to know if it would be compatible with Linux. First of all, I wasn't expecting any one there to know if the printer was compatible with Linux, so I was neither surprised nor upset that the first employee told me that he didn't know.

I walked away, grabbed the printer, some ink, and paper, went to the checkout, bought the printer and left. I never returned that Best Buy ever again.

I've been to that Best Buy back 2006 when I was going to a school at Goodfellow AFB. They should have put me on the payroll for the number of customers I saved from their clueless employees!

[upptown]

I am stationed in Japan. In late 2006 the base Exchange had an older 19" 4:3 lcd with a 750:1 contrast ratio on "sale" for $600. I asked the Electronics manager if he'd come significantly down on the price because it was not wide screen and there were several "new" monitors that had better specs. His reply: "I'll throw this in the trash before I discount it further"

Fast forward to May 2009. The same very same (but dustier monitor) is now on "sale" for $200 (what I offered in 2006). I asked the very same manager if he was now ready to throw the thing in the trash.

Navy Exchange electronics motto: "Yesterday's products at today's prices"

[gashcr]

ohhh, I have lots of them, but I think this is the best I heard

"So, you're telling me you can't send my earphones (the ones included with the ipod) on warranty just because they're thorn apart and I did this little welding here? You are a burglar!!"

and then, when I sent back a defective hard drive on warranty at a local store.

me: "what was wrong with it"
tech: "well, nothing, It has some currupted partitions"
me: "really, how is that"
tech: "yes, there was a 2mb one, a 20GB one, a 2 GB and a big one, and all of them were in a weird filesystem"
in my brain: boot, root, swap and home... mmm, what was wrong with that?
me: "yes I know, I set them up like that"
tech: "oh, well, but the 2mb was too small, and you should know you can't install windows in a partition so small, obviously the system would never start like that"
me: "WTF?"
tech: "so we erased all that mess and formated it in NTFS for you
me: thank you??

[ade234uk]

I have just currently dealt with a customer who had issues with our company website. The site was not redirecting him. I told him this is probably a browser issue his end, and asked to him to try download Firefox.

The message I received was, I have been using computers for 20 years, It is nothing to do with my machine. My machine runs perfectly. I am running Nortons, and I know what I am doing when it comes to Windows.

I am not going to download any Firefox, Fireslash or whatever its called. I get enough rubbish emailed to me.

In the end you just give up with these knobs.

-------------
Another time I did a favor for a friend mums. I reinstalled Windows, the machine was perfect when she got it back.

About 2 hours after dropping the box off, I got a phone call. "What have you done to Solitaire, the card size has changed."

GGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrr

[Giant Speck]

I've been to that Best Buy back 2006 when I was going to a school at Goodfellow AFB. They should have put me on the payroll for the number of customers I saved from their clueless employees!

I was at tech school at Goodfellow when this happened, too!

[Johnsie]

When I tell them I'm a full time professional programmer they usually treat me like some sort of god.

I've actually never heard anything really dumb in computer shop. Yeah, they're not programmers but most young people in my country have a decent amount of computer knowledge and most of the people working in computer shops work there because they are into computers.

[Roadbloc]

"....and it is has a very resonable price, to say it supports 74bit windows vista home ultimate edition....."

[Linux_Kid66]

I went to PC World and asked if they they had any computers with Ubuntu, Red Hat or Fedora on, he promptly directed me to the Mac section.
When i pointed this error out he told me to stop making up names!
The CHEEK, if you read this mr luke tyndall, you sir, fail.

[lisati]

One time my ADSL connection broke. After a frustrating hour or two troubleshooting without success, I eventually manually configured dial-up and dropped a note to my ISP to let them know and ask if they had any suggestions. After another couple of hours waiting I rang the helpdesk, who walked me through some stuff to check at my end. We eventually concluded that the problem was at the ISP's end (and there was actually something showing in their system to that effect). Another hour or two later and the connection was working again, with no further action having been taken at my end. Next morning, there's an email waiting, sent after the connection was fixed, "What makes you feel you can't connect?" Aaaargh!


<aside>We had our own version of the movie "Flushed away" today - while I was out tending to some errands, Mrs Lisati thought she'd noticed something in the cupboard where we'd set a mousetrap. When I checked the trap on arriving home, I discovered a mouse had somehow got caught by its rear end and was still alive and kicking. Most visiting rodents get caught by the head with this particular trap.....</aside>

[mousestalker]

I went into our local PC World and asked about mobile broadband, I asked how well Linux was supported. They told me that I should uninstall Linux as it would damage my PC. They also told me that PC World doesn't support Linux, so I asked them why they had Linux netbooks offered with Mobile broadband deals. He had no reply.

I have discovered that if I go into PC world wearing an Ubuntu Tshirt or Hoody the staff will run a mile.

All the more reason to wear Ubuntu gear. After all, they say we don't get enough exercise these days. If every third customer wore Ubuntu-wear into their local computer shoppe, then all the top marathon runners would be computer store workers.

A truly noble goal, that is.

:D

[tadcan]

This isn't really a dumb thing more a funny thing.

I took my granny to buy a computer. I then had to translate the sale guy talk to something she would understand. Which involved long simplistic explanations. He tried the usual anti-virus, MS office ad-ons which I said, no I'll take care of all that.

However when he said she can buy technical support for 60 euro per month, even she said, to his face, that's a rip off. :D

[swoll1980]

Linux won't work on those hard drives.

[jadelee]

Hello to everybody! Cool examples you give! As for me recently i was asked by a salesman why i need mouse if i don't by a computer? He didn't think i already have it. May be it isn't very funny, but he really couldn't get it!

[bobbob1016]

When CompUSA was "closing" I heard some woman talking with another customer


Her: But they said it'd work

Him: No, it needs an Intel chip

Her: But the Apple Store said I could use Parallels on my iMac G5

Me: You *might* be able to, but it'd be slow.

Her: They also said I could run Windows on it with Boot Camp

Me: The G5 is an IBM chip, and it won't run Windows that fast, and definitely won't run Windows through Boot Camp

Him: Yeah, I used to work at the Apple Store, but they had no idea what they were doing

Me and Him: Basically you'd need a Mac with an Intel chip, or you could buy a cheap PC since the G5 is still good for your uses, $300 for a cheap PC just to run that program would be cheaper than $600 for the cheapest Mac.

Then when she agrees and leaves, he hands me his card, if I ever need someone to fix my computer... Not sure who was more confused.

[LowSky]

I was in Best Buy

Me, "Excuse me do you have any HDMI cables"
Clerk, "Sure Over here," walking me to the cables.
Me (looking at a 6 foot cable), "Whoa do you have any that cost less than $90"
Clerk, "Nope, Sorry HDMI is a new technlogy"
Me, "OK Thanks, I guess I'll wait until the price goes down."
Clerk, "You do know they are made of gold, the price wont go down that much"
Me, "OK well thanks"

I went home, went to Newegg.com and purchased a 6 foot HDMI cable for $10, it too was made of gold (plated connectors!!!!11!)

[adrianx]

Me: "Do you think Linux will be ok with this router?"
Him: "Linux? How is Linux nowadays?" - with an arrogant smirk on his face.
Me: "It's great." - with a confused/disappointed look on my face.
Him: "Oh, Linux was made by DOS." (This was a statement, not a question.)

I put down the package, turned around and walked out of the shop.

[capnthommo]

hi
when i went to pc **rld to buy a laptop i asked the salesman if it was possible to install ubuntu instead of vista. salesman said very clearly andin no uncertain terms 'no it won't, they are not compatible'.
of course, i wiped vista and installed linux and have had little trouble. in fact no trouble that can't be put down to stupidity - not knowing how it worked. in fact i use ubuntu on it every day - not bad for incompatible systems

but then he was more concerned with making a sale than giving accurate information
cheers and thanks for the laughs
nigel

[Giant Speck]

but then he was more concerned with making a sale than giving accurate information

If that was true, he would have said something along the lines of "Of course it'll work."

[jbruced]

I work in computer retail and every now and then i get customers that come in and the first thing they would say i'm a developer, please don't try to pinch sale at me, find me something that does x and y and can support x and y applications.

Luckily for them i did computer science as undergrad, a few other sales guys are not so forgiven. one sales dude convinced a developer to buy a brand new computer because he convinced him that pentium dual cores doesn't support 64 OS lol?

So you see, sometimes we do know, we just act dumb to make you spend more money >:)

I've also had a developer that bought a graphic card but refused to answer my question about if she had agp or pci-e slot, her answer was that she works in I.T so i shouldn't tell her what to buy. Guess what? She returned the card the next day. If she wasn't so hot >.<... hehe


Your post. Not funny.

[zakany]

I remember using Q-link on my old C=64. I couldn't tell you what the speed was on that modem, but it would take a good 20 minutes or so to make a connection to the server, and yet we were in awe over it.

I think it was as fast as 300 bytes/second. You could practically read the text as it came over the modem.

And yes, it was truly awe-inspiring to dial into the local university and connect with their computers.

[Deamos]

Some time ago I went to a computer shop in our capital to buy a UPS.

The sales person asks what system and stuff I will connect to it and calculated that I will need a 3,000 Watt minimum UPS.

His calculation was as follows:

Dual core processor: each core 500 watt = 1,000 Watt
ATI video card = 500 Watt
Power supply + another 500 Watt
Modem + Router = 400 Watt
Keyboard and mouse = 100 Watt

Needless to say I ran out of the store as fast as I could and went somewhere else to buy a 600 W UPS !

And I never went back there again.

Holy crap I almost spit up my lunch at this.

[Rackstar]

My dad gives adult computer lessons and he always comes home with very funny stories.

Two which I think were the best:
- A woman in his class had pressed F1 and got mad at my dad because he didn't came to her and helped her.
- Some woman wanted the latest Photoshop on her old laptop, just for resizing pics. My dad tried to explain that it was a "heavy" program, she replied: "Oh no, the thing already weighs a ton!"

[PacSci]

After reading all of these things, I think that some day this summer I'll go into Best Buy and mess with the sales associates. Any suggestions for what to ask them to get the funniest responses?

I'm thinking that I might ask them for a computer, but then ask if they can wipe Vista off of it and give me my $120 back so I can install Linux.

[ezsit]

Skripka wrote:

I *fondly* remember the old 2400 Baud modem my family used many years ago, back when you were the sh*t if you had a numeric processor on your main board .... Gawd I feel old for knowing that, you Young Whippersnappers-get off my lawn!!!

Good to see some people here with similar experience to my own. I was starting to think this forum was full of teenie-boppers.

I remember the days when adding memory meant pushing individual memory IC chips into banks of sockets on the memory expansion ISA board, setting the DIP switches on the card and the motherbaord, and praying you got correct speed and capacity memory IC chips in the right banks and didn't bend any pins along the way. And all this to add 1MB of RAM that cost the company $500, so if you bent a pin or fried a chip, that was your week's pay down the drain.

As for funny stories, years ago, back in 1995, I was running OS/2 Warp on my home computer and my mother just bought a brand new, custom built Pentium I running at 66mhz! (I think she spent $2500 back then) The computer shop owner over-heard me talking with my mother and told both of us very sternly that if I installed OS/2 on my mother's new computer I'd ruin her computer and he would not fix any damage. Too bad, OS/2 was so much better than Windows 3.11.

[Eamon1]

On a trip to pcworld to get a netbook for my sister, the sales guy told me I shouldn't get one with Ubuntu because "she won't be able to talk with friends online who use msn because messenger isn't compatible with linux"...

[chris200x9]

Surprisingly most people I dealt with at best buy were extremely well versed in Linux. They said back up your install with a DVD and if it goes boom with Ubuntu on it you can just load DVD and it won't void the warranty.

off topic but I was looking for a USB 56k modem compatable with linux and asked the guy at best buy if they had any that weren't windows only...and the guy actually said "Oh you mean for like linux or a mac no I'm sorry we don't, the world would be so much better if we got off of microsoft windows" I was like...whoa...

[bobbob1016]

hi
when i went to pc **rld to buy a laptop i asked the salesman if it was possible to install ubuntu instead of vista. salesman said very clearly andin no uncertain terms 'no it won't, they are not compatible'.
of course, i wiped vista and installed linux and have had little trouble. in fact no trouble that can't be put down to stupidity - not knowing how it worked. in fact i use ubuntu on it every day - not bad for incompatible systems

but then he was more concerned with making a sale than giving accurate information
cheers and thanks for the laughs
nigel

Maybe he didn't know.

[hobo14]

After reading all of these things, I think that some day this summer I'll go into Best Buy and mess with the sales associates. Any suggestions for what to ask them to get the funniest responses?

I'm thinking that I might ask them for a computer, but then ask if they can wipe Vista off of it and give me my $120 back so I can install Linux.

I read an article about a guy who did that. There was some wording in the EULA (or a contract he signed?) that allowed him to wipe windows and get a refund.

The refund wasn't from the retailer though, it was the manufacturer.

He wasn't very popular for trying, but he succeeded, and got his refund.

[renzokuken]

I read an article about a guy who did that. There was some wording in the EULA (or a contract he signed?) that allowed him to wipe windows and get a refund.

The refund wasn't from the retailer though, it was the manufacturer.

He wasn't very popular for trying, but he succeeded, and got his refund.

you mean Dave Mitchell?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6144782.stm

[KegHead]

trust me.

[Firestem4]

I was contacting HP Tech Support last night to hopefully get my laptop fixed. The heat from the CPU has warped the top left portion of my keyboard (ESC-F6 and the line below that: ~ (through) 5). As a precursor - I always have my laptop elevated so the air can flow properly, and i clean it out regularily.

The keys work fine when the laptops off and have been on for like an hour. But when I turn it on and the area gets warm. The keys stop working.

The Tech asked me if my Keyboard Drivers were installed....

*facepalm*

[billgoldberg]

I was contacting HP Tech Support last night to hopefully get my laptop fixed. The heat from the CPU has warped the top left portion of my keyboard (ESC-F6 and the line below that: ~ (through) 5). As a precursor - I always have my laptop elevated so the air can flow properly, and i clean it out regularly.

The keys work fine when the laptops off and have been on for like an hour. But when I turn it on and the area gets warm. The keys stop working.

The Tech asked me if my Keyboard Drivers were installed....

*facepalm*

Those guys probably just go down the list they have in front of them.

[Firestem4]

Those guys probably just go down the list they have in front of them.

Unfortunately they do.. But it only takes a little common sense. *sigh*

[jal4568]

Compared to some other stories in the thread, this is fairly tame but here goes...Last September, my old computer died while I was on a business trip. I came home to find a dead machine & went out late on a Sunday to replace it. I figured the local Best Buy wouldn’t have any Linux machines so I tried another approach....

Me: (foolishly asking first person I see) Do you have any computers with no Windows’ OS installed?
“Trainee”: The Macs? (points)
Me: Nooooo, I’m looking for computers with no operating system installed. I don't want to pay for software when I'm just going to wipe the OS off the HD first thing.
“Trainee”: You're going to wipe your HD on purpose?! (backs away)
Me: I was using Linux on my old computer that died and I don't want to go back to Windows.
“Trainee”: (to passing Asst Manager) She wants to intentionally wipe Windows off her HD!
Me: To install Linux, Ubuntu specifically.
Asst Manager: (to “Trainee”) I got this. (“Trainee” flees)

Later when checking out:
GeekSquadGuy: Did you want to upgrade to Vista Premium?
Me: No, I'm installing Linux without ever booting into Windows.
GeekSquadGuy: So, skip the next question. (at my quizzical look) You really won't need anti-virus software. Actually, the rest of these questions don't apply to you either. Your total is $XXXXX.

Also, during this same trip, for every Computers’ department employee which passed by the Assistant Manager introduced me saying “She uses Linux” like my overall appearance was indicative of all Linux users in some key way that would help them more readily identify us in the future (if for no other reason than so they could send Linux users to him before we said or did something scary).

[northwestuntu]

I was in Best Buy

Me, "Excuse me do you have any HDMI cables"
Clerk, "Sure Over here," walking me to the cables.
Me (looking at a 6 foot cable), "Whoa do you have any that cost less than $90"
Clerk, "Nope, Sorry HDMI is a new technlogy"
Me, "OK Thanks, I guess I'll wait until the price goes down."
Clerk, "You do know they are made of gold, the price wont go down that much"
Me, "OK well thanks"

I went home, went to Newegg.com and purchased a 6 foot HDMI cable for $10, it too was made of gold (plated connectors!!!!11!)

$90!!!! that's crazy!!

[suitedaces]

$90!!!! that's crazy!!

But it's gold!

[Maverick7687]

Also, during this same trip, for every Computers’ department employee which passed by the Assistant Manager introduced me saying “She uses Linux” like my overall appearance was indicative of all Linux users in some key way that would help them more readily identify us in the future (if for no other reason than so they could send Linux users to him before we said or did something scary). Maybe you seemed like you had less "bugs" than everyone else? :D

[northwestuntu]

But it's gold!

LOL :p

[Pasdar]

I can get HDMI cable at the local store for 2 euro or nearly 3 USD.

Anyway a store owned who was trying to sell a laptop with 2GB of mem said it was useless to have more because windows doesn't use it.

[Pasdar]

The following might be funny (and it might not):

I was banned permanently by my ISP from using their services ever again. So I didn't have Internet anymore. They banned me for "illegal hacking activity" and included a whole list of things they had proof on. Corporations and what not caused me to be banned, I'm happy I didn't get sued. They didn't know I had full access to the PC of one of their top people at the ISP for example.

So anyway, this stupid ISP had monopoly on broadband Internet back in those days and I didn't have any choice. This was a period I didn't have Internet for one year. After a year I thought let me call them and ask for an Internet subscription (they still had monopoly), surely they've forgotten by now. (I figured)

Anyway, this is not in the U.S. btw, but in Europe and I was 17/18 I think. I'll call the ISP, ISP, heh.

ISP: "Good morning, this ISP helpdesk, how may I help you?"
Me: "Yes hello, you're speaking with X. XXXXXXXX, I would like to sign up for ISP Internet"

ISP: "Okay, please give me your ZIP code so I can check if it's available in your area"
Me: "My ZIP code is, XXXXXX"
ISP: "I'm happy to say our broadband services are available in your area."

ISP: "I'm going to sign you up, could you give me your full name please"
Me: *gave name*
ISP: *tap* *tap* *tap*
ISP: "And your address"
Me: *gave address*
ISP: *tap* *tap* *tap*
ISP: "One moment please"
... ... ...
ISP: "Thank you for waiting, I'm sorry to tell you that we can not provide you any services"
Me: "Eh? Why not?" (I realized why of course, and I thought it sucked)
ISP: "You have been banned from ever using our Internet services for illegal activities on the connection provided by us"

Me: "REALLY?"
ISP: "Yes, your name is X. XXXXXXXX right?"
Me: "Oh no, you must be mistaken... that must be my father.... we have the same exact initials"
(My father barely knows how to move the mouse on the computer)

ISP: "Oh okay, but you live on the same address?"
Me: "Yeah, unfortunately... but this connection is for me, not for him"
ISP: "Okay, then its okay... I will sign you up for the broadband Internet services"

That's it... I had Internet again... I used that connection until there was more competition and moved to something better.

[megamania]

Among dozens of examples...

My friend calls me and says "I can't open this letter".

I say "ok, what's the extension of the file?". "What?"
"You are using Windows, right?" - "yes"
"What program are you using to open the letter?"
She says "I'm using Windows"
"ok, but you need a program to open the letter. Can you see any icon or menu entry like 'Office' or 'Word'?".
she says "I don't know, I use Windows".

We go on in a loop with this. After half an hour, I realize she was trying to open a word 2007 document with word 2003...

Most people think that Windows has an embedded pirated copy of Office.

[lisati]

Among dozens of examples...

My friend calls me and says "I can't open this letter".

I say "ok, what's the extension of the file?". "What?"
"You are using Windows, right?" - "yes"
"What program are you using to open the letter?"
She says "I'm using Windows"
"ok, but you need a program to open the letter. Can you see any icon or menu entry like 'Office' or 'Word'?".
she says "I don't know, I use Windows".

We go on in a loop with this. After half an hour, I realize she was trying to open a word 2007 document with word 2003...

Most people think that Windows has an embedded pirated copy of Office.

Someone who has used Windows machines longer than me and who probably wouldn't know Linux if it hit him on the head:
What's Windows?

[xpod]

Someone who has used Windows machines longer than me and who probably wouldn't know Linux if it hit him on the head:

I`ve had that same situation myself on more than one occasion and everybody i know with a computer has used Windows longer than me.

[toupeiro]

You don't want to run windows 2000 anymore now that ME is out. It's by far the safest and most stable windows you can run, not to mention its the newest so of naturally its going to be better.


My favorite piece of unsolicited noise pollution at CompUSA.

[VCoolio]

Back in 1995/96 my father, still a complete noob, bought our first pc. All new and slick, windows 95, 1.66 MHz and a 1.6 GB harddisk. My father told the salesman that it was a nice and promising pc and all, but with the development going that fast it would be outdated in a few years, not? The salesman looked at him like "boy are you stupid", smiled pitiful and said: "Sir, you won't be able to use up this 1.6 GB in a lifetime."

[lisati]

"Sir, you won't be able to use up this 1.6 GB in a lifetime."
<embarassed confession>I used to think something similar when all I had experienced was hard disks that were measured in 10s of megabytes. I soon learnt otherwise when I got my first Windows machine, which, at the time, had a 1Gb hard drive (it currently has a 3Gb hard drive, the original drive is sitting sadly in a corner somewhere, having shown signs of dying when I checked it out the other week) I could easily fill hundreds of gigabytes these days with the video footage I've collected over the use</embarassed confession>

[Mason Whitaker]

So I was hanging out with my friend at a computer store while he bought a new computer...

Employee: "Can I help you with anything?"
Me: "We're computer literate enough to know what we're looking for, thanks"
Employee: "Do you work for a software company?"
Me: "Well, no"
Employee: "Well, I think I have more experience. They train us to understand computers."
Me: "Alright, but we're comfortable, thanks again"
Employee: "Can I help you with anything else?"
Me: "Um, no we're good"
Employee: "All of our PC's run Windows Vista, which is the industry standard for computers. It is better than everything else in terms of security and..."
Me/Friend: *Walk out of door*

It was ridiculous <_<

[3rdalbum]

I bought an Aspire One. As I was at the checkout paying for it:

Me: I just want to check; this is definitely the blue one with Linux installed?
Her: Yes.
Me: Good. I don't like Windows, I'm a Linux user.
Her: You must be a programmer, to use Linux?

*facepalm*

To be fair, she wasn't trying to upsell me to a Windows model by spreading FUD, she was saying that she thought I must've been a programmer because I asked for Linux.

[benj1]

Back in 1995/96 my father, still a complete noob, bought our first pc. All new and slick, windows 95, 1.66 MHz and a 1.6 GB harddisk. "

1.66 mhz??? a 486 is like upto 66mhz i think.

only reason i ask is because it can't be 1.66ghz, with win 95 and a 1.6 gb hard drive.

[VCoolio]

1.66 mhz??? a 486 is like upto 66mhz i think.

only reason i ask is because it can't be 1.66ghz, with win 95 and a 1.6 gb hard drive.

Well, feel free to add my post to this dumb thing thread. I'm not sure, it was a Compaq pc and it sucked from the beginning. The processor specs had some strange decimals, it was definitely 1.xx but maybe 1.33, I don't know anymore. It needed at least 3 minutes to boot because it had a phone application that took ages to load while no one used it. Anyway, here (http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:qvNfo4oKjAIJ:www.jb4x4.com/linux/CompaqWriteup.htm+compaq+presario+1.6+GB+harddisk+ %22windows+95%22&cd=8&hl=nl&ct=clnk&gl=nl&client=firefox-a) is something similar.

[Crafty Kisses]

I bought an Aspire One. As I was at the checkout paying for it:

Me: I just want to check; this is definitely the blue one with Linux installed?
Her: Yes.
Me: Good. I don't like Windows, I'm a Linux user.
Her: You must be a programmer, to use Linux?

*facepalm*

To be fair, she wasn't trying to upsell me to a Windows model by spreading FUD, she was saying that she thought I must've been a programmer because I asked for Linux.

Wow. Hahahaha!

[Dr. C]

1.66 mhz??? a 486 is like upto 66mhz i think.

only reason i ask is because it can't be 1.66ghz, with win 95 and a 1.6 gb hard drive.

The 80486 went up to 120MHz, the 8088 in the original IBM-PC ran at 4.77MHz. It was probably a Pentium MMX running at 166MHz for Windows 95

[0per4t0r]

Haha!.......Wait.......

Then what happened?
He pointed to a bag of Doritos.

[Mr Bean]

Back in 1995/96 my father, still a complete noob, bought our first pc. All new and slick, windows 95, 1.66 MHz and a 1.6 GB harddisk. My father told the salesman that it was a nice and promising pc and all, but with the development going that fast it would be outdated in a few years, not? The salesman looked at him like "boy are you stupid", smiled pitiful and said: "Sir, you won't be able to use up this 1.6 GB in a lifetime."

heh, on our first PC, Windows 95 with a 2GB hard drive, I found a good way to save space was to resave all my bitmaps as JPEGs. Those were the days, when compressing a handful of images made a noticeable difference to disk usage.

The computer store near where I work seem to know what they're talking about. Unfortunately everything they sell costs 3 times what it should.

[0per4t0r]

I remember using Q-link on my old C=64. I couldn't tell you what the speed was on that modem, but it would take a good 20 minutes or so to make a connection to the server, and yet we were in awe over it.
So, how many messenger pigeons is that?

[0per4t0r]

invoke power on "thread" = revive
Basically, bump

[kc3]

Well, not realy a computer store but in the electronics section of Walmart I overheard someone tell a customer that there is no such thing as a digital camera that can play back video and look at the pictures on the camera itself hahaha

[Regenweald]

Once was shopping for power cables, trying to get original dell, pc tech shouts from the back room that they're all the same. Considering I had gone through 2 cheap ones at the time, one of the other techs had edify his friend on resistance.

[kc3]

So I was hanging out with my friend at a computer store while he bought a new computer...

Employee: "Can I help you with anything?"
Me: "We're computer literate enough to know what we're looking for, thanks"
Employee: "Do you work for a software company?"
Me: "Well, no"
Employee: "Well, I think I have more experience. They train us to understand computers."
Me: "Alright, but we're comfortable, thanks again"
Employee: "Can I help you with anything else?"
Me: "Um, no we're good"
Employee: "All of our PC's run Windows Vista, which is the industry standard for computers. It is better than everything else in terms of security and..."
Me/Friend: *Walk out of door*

It was ridiculous <_<

haha I would have started asking question that he'd have no way of knowing (being as he probably doesn't know as much as he thinks by the sound of it) until he shuts up haha than I'd probably walk out :P

[MikeTheC]

I remember having a conversation with a co-worker at OfficeMax (back when they still sold computers) and when I was in the middle of explaining something and talking about head parking and spin-up times on a hard drive, he honestly told me I couldn't be expected to be taken seriously if I didn't use the correct terminology with computers. So, I was like, "Well then, you mind explaining to me what the correct term is for a hard drive's initial startup?"

They later had to let him go when he crapped all over the floor one day. Poor man, I believe he wound up losing all his marbles to either dementia or alzheimers. Sad, really.

The level of stupidity out there never, ever fails to amaze, surprise and sadden me. Here, I think Kevin Brown, a.k.a. "Agent K" of Men In Black, said it best:


A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it. Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow.

[Eviltechie]

I was at office depot picking out a hard drive to install linux on, and my dad asked the sales person if it would work with linux. He said something along the lines of drivers and such wouldn't likely be a problem. That is true, but I wonder if he actually knew that or if he just wanted a sale.

I also tried standing around the anti virus section in staples once to so I could do this...
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/linux_user_at_best_buy.png/

[lisati]

Well, not realy a computer store but in the electronics section of Walmart I overheard someone tell a customer that there is no such thing as a digital camera that can play back video and look at the pictures on the camera itself hahaha

Someone forgot to tell the manufacturers of the video cameras and digital stills camera I use!

[kc3]

haha no kidding, I've had a few also and I've NEVER had a digital camera that didn't have that. The person saying it was a bit older so I think they were still mentaly in the days of standard film lol (which I guess wasn't realy that long ago)

[lisati]

haha no kidding, I've had a few also and I've NEVER had a digital camera that didn't have that. The person saying it was a bit older so I think they were still mentaly in the days of standard film lol (which I guess wasn't realy that long ago)

That thought occurred to me too - one of the first cameras I ever bought (about 26 years ago) was one. I still have the thing and some unused film for it.

[kc3]

Yeah, I had a 35mm camera back in, 96 I think, so it wasn't too terribly long ago and I was a kid so took some dumb and wierd pics lol, I actualy still had the film for the longest time and got it developed like two years ago haha