Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for November 27, 2022

Is Stephan still honoring Charles Schulz with that potted plant?

Whack-a-tech-support.

Because that’s how it IS, and that’s what it makes you want to DO.

Hard to bear.

When you’re in a clothing store, you see signs that people there have dirty mouths: “Men swear,” “Women swear,” “Children swear.”

Duck Pig, its an “ambush”

There there.

Underwear!

We referred to it as “Dreaded Finger-Pointing Syndrome”, except it was 3-way: hardware, software, and network.

… We’re sorry that you’re having difficulties. Seems to be a User Error. Please call 555-Van-Pelt for assistance. Ask for Extension L-U-C-Y.

Of course ya knows the real culprit is always one of em Windows “Updates”.

Software season ! … Hardware season ! … Software season ! … Hardware season ! … Software season ! … Hardware season ! … Elmer season ?

Must be something in the air.

You must dare to clear the air by shouting “I don’t care!”

Rat’s lucky to get tech support that fast, I have waited 1/2 hour on hold and said the heck with it and hung up!

At work, my Tech Guy use to guarantee his work for 30 ft or 30 seconds, whichever came first. Appreciated the honesty. (I was his supervisor).

I think Rat wants to kick someone in the derriére.

Potts! ( Italian for Nuts) ! ☺️

Linux!

What problem was GoComics having recently?

Is that Charlie Brown’s shirt print on the pot?

Remember the Microsoft business plan: “If it ain’t broke, ‘IMPROVE IT’ until it is!”

I used to work in IT for a bank and one evening I found myself in an ATM room with an AT&T tech, one from the ATM company and one from the network hardware company. I stood at the door and said, “I don’t care whose ‘fault’ it is, you don’t leave until it’s fixed.” It got fixed.

Another reason I use Mac

User error.

And this is why, when I plan to retire from an IT career after 30+ years, to have as little to do with it as I can. Going to leave it to the younger crowd.

As tech support, I troubleshot hardware, software, firmware, and somewhere problems.

Makes one want to rip out one’s hair.

Both the software and the hardware companies just want to pin the blame on each other instead of actually doing something about the problem.

By the time he gets through to someone who can actually help him, it’ll be out of warranty.

I was in tech support many lifetimes ago. This makes me grateful I left that behind.

PICNIC issue.

Decades ago I worked in computer operations at a major American credit card company known for its Express customer service. We ran IBM 3090 mainframe computers and along with IBM printers, we also had some high-speed (300 pages per minute) HP 9700 Laser Printers. One week, they stopped working. For over a week, we had field engineers from IBM and HP pointing fingers at each other, with nobody actually trying to resolve the issue.

And that, provided you can understand “Bob” in tech support, IS EXACTLY how it works. "Customer Service/Tech Support should be known as “The Run Around”

Be-ware.

Reminds of having a problem streaming. Roku says it’s Hulu’s fault and Hulu blames Roku.

At the beginning of my IT career I did what was then called desktop support. It was a lot like working retail or in a full service gas station.

I don’t know if it has been discussed but Charles and Stephan both lived in Santa Rosa CA.

How many programmers does it take to change a lightbulb? None; that’s a hardware problem.

My radio is busted I call up for the music.

Sticks and stones, maybe, but not rhymes!

Hey! Yesterday was Schulz Tribute Day, and now you’re gonna smash the pot with the canting zigzag decor and color scheme?!

slow idea week

Trust me, they always blame the firmware.