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Co-workers.
Okay, we've seen a rash of posts complaining about customers, but what about the people you work with? Is there anybody at your job who's in line for a serious @$$-whooping? https://forums.windrivers.com/
There's a guy at our shop who does printers and small business machines. He can fix ANYTHING you throw at him, no matter how mucked up it is. But he's irritating and gets under everyone's skin. He's real big into CBs & Ham radios, and he gets deeply insulted if you don't turn on your CB when you go out on a call so he can run his mouth. And every day...he turns the radio up and listens to Paul Harvey and laughs at EVERYTHING he says. Plus, he has no concept of billing. He'll spend 3 our 4 hours taking apart an inkjet printer to clean it, and then try to charge the customer for all of that time. 3x45 = 135. We can't make him see that no one wants to spend that much on an inkjet, so we have to majorly slash the bill.
He's 6'4, 300lbs, and weak as a kitten. I've had this guy's "help" moving a copier, and he just let the thing go going down a set of stairs, and I nearly got crushed. "My wrist gave out" was his explanation.
One of these days, he's gonna catch me in a bad mood....
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What about co-workers that fry everything they touch with static (some people seem to have more static than others)? Yet these people still refuse to use any anti-static devices!
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i just did a lil contract last week and i was quite amused/pissed after the first day. it was quite funny to listen to this person and that say their certs: A+, MCSE, CNE, etc etc. yet when time came down to work, it showed what they knew. granted, they could have been certified, but most of em were paper techs. i havent seen so many botched jobs evver in my life.
it was funny. the first woman got a call on her cell phone. instead of pollitely removing herself to talk, she walked deeper into the crowd of people and began her convo. "uninstall your printer port in the BIOS"(WTF?!?!) "set lpt1 to com5, irq 11 (umm what kinda computer have YOU been using. personally, i think it was a staged call. nevertheless...she put out the most errors, completely messing up every DNS setting possible. the sad thing is that they gave detailed instructions as to what needed to go where and even gave screen shots.
it was quite annoying to have to go back and fix peoples work after the second day of this crap. some people need to learn just to keep their mouth shut.
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prompt$p$g [dos = elite]
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before I got to this site there was a guy here that everyone wanted to kill. He would get drunk at lunch and do lines in the bathroom. He got bored one night came in late and un-clustered our servers! He would migrate server information without bothering to check if it was used and without informing the department whose data he was moving! Just mentioing his name around here bring laughter and raise bolld pressure.
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We had one female technician that used to wear ACDC and Kiss T-shirts to work with socks pulled over her sweat pants. She would do the most manly burps ever (about 2x per hour). She also would eat with her mouth open while talking to customers and use impressive english skills by diagnosing the problem to the customer by saying "it' don't work".
We also had a guy who just couldn't grasp the concept of computers using primarily 2 different types of screws/threads and would force a screw if it didn't go in easily.
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we had one guy who would spend andywhere up to 3 hours out of an 8 hour day in the toilet - he would spend up to 40 minutes out of every hour in the can - but the kicker is before he went into the toilet he would stand at his desk, take off his tie (yes we are backward here in aust, we still have to wear nooses at work), unbutton his shirt, take off his belt then walk to the toilet, stand out side the door and smooth his clothes down then spend anything up to 40 minutes at a time in a small white room with nothing but the toilet and himself for company - unfortunately noone had the nerve to ask him what he was doing before he left so it has now entered the world of the twilight zone
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Some of my bosses have been overly impressed by degrees and certs, later I have to go and undo the damage these dorks have inflicted on my or my clients networks. ***disclaimer!!this is not to say everyone with degrees and certs and no practical experience outside of a classroom are nits!***
But when I have to re/train them, they'd bloody well drop that arrogant "I have pieces of paper that proclaim my knowledge" facade so I can "unlearn what they have learned."
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"I can't help you right now, I'm venting.."
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About six months ago my old boss hired some kid off the streets. He said that he took the A+ class and was taking his test soon. Anyway, he had many iD10t errors. Once he asked me if the HDD LED hooked where it said MSG LED. Then he asked me if a VGA monitor was color, the list just goes on and on. Then after he didn't come to work for two days we fired him. Turned out he got arrested for posession of pot. He's hatin' it.....
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OMG we got a new tech were i work MCSE guy with chip on his shoulder 3rd day on the job were are heading home i tell him to lock the servers and we leave, next morning i can hear my phone rining as i unlock the door
it stoped before i could get it i look at the servers and they are safe to power off AHHHHHHHH phone rings again.
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We have one tech who picks his nose and dam it look's like his whole hand goes up his nose! What more he is a beer drinker and bean eater. Nothing against that, but after lunch..front door and back door and all fans on. Even when itis cold out. I am glad no one smokes or else the whole darn place would go up with a bang.
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My "Genius" boss just hired a new tech to replace one of our team members who was smart enough to get away. This new tech has "been to all of the MCSE classes but "has not had time to take the tests" wink wink. She also said that she was a network Admin before but wanted to do help desk for a while! I am told that she is supertech and I should try and learn as much as I can from her! Well on supertechs first day I am supposed to show her around. I figure I can skip all the B.S. since she was supertech. Well to shorten this up she has no clue when it comes to anything with a powercord. I.E.: does not know how to hook up a monitor, does not know what a driver is, Could not figure out why CAT-5 cable is useed when we already have phone lines. It just goes on and on.
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"Stupidity should be painful"
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I am sure everyone has one of these guys around: He is very good at his job and very friendly, but always is talking about himself and playing the "one upmanship" game. If you mention anything, ANYTHING at all about something you've seen or done you can bet he's seen or done it better. Ex: "Wow, you should have seen that wreck down the road, there must have been 3 cop cars, 2 ambulances and a firetruck..." "Oh yeah, well you should of seen the one I saw last year, 8 cops, 5 ambulances ,2 firetrucks and a helicopter!" or "Man am I beat, I've worked 70 hours this week." "Oh that's nothing, I used to work 90 hours a week with no breaks on my last job and I did that for a year!" etc., etc. The worst part is how he always steers the conversation to himself. Insecure I guess.
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We had an idiot here that was Certified to the gils on one of those power trip 3 week courses. He totally Freaked out when he got back to the world here and discovered that the Device Manager had DISAPPEARED on all our operating systems. After we laughed our butts off we finally told him that we were using NT.
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I'm happy I'm the only tech here. Our company DID hire a weekend tech because I just refused to work weekends anymore. They hired what they call a "paper tech" is right! He couldn't even install a CD Rom on a Dell. He never checked the master/Slave setting, and after force-deleting the bus mastering (Intel) he was ready to re-install windows without permission from the customer.
I walked in just to get some supplies, and walked into him doing the job. He took over 3 hours trying to "figure this one out". I asked him about the jumpers, and he swore he looked at em...sheepishly. Uh, oh. 20 seconds, I boot the thing up with the jumpers in the right place. I called him a lazy turd who didn't deserve the A+ he's got. I walked away, and he was apologetic promising me coffee on Monday.
"Don't bother!" I said.
What burns me, is this ectoplasm of a tech could have been a much larger raise for me. Since he's fried 4 computers, they keep him away with anything with a cord.
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Yeah.... I know all about paper techs. At one place i worked they hired a guy with all the right acronyms, and papers to back them up. Only he hardly knew how to open a computer case, and was always asking me (a rookie) how to fix things. Turned out this guy had done time for Bigamy, fraud, and several things. He is wanted by the Police for ripping off some US Postal Service employees.
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This is really a sore topic for me since I am a corporate technician. I have insulted many a MCSE, CNE, MCP and A+.
On my job I have to deal with people face to face and also on the phones. I even train the new guys here. First thing I say is take the A+ and file it. They don't understand then I say that you will learn much more than that 2 wek course. a week later they say I was right. The people on the phones call and say that they are any of these and I innediately cast doubt and ask a stupid question. Alot don't get it and will look for a while. I am not by far saying that I know more but from working on the same problems over and over I have gotten good at fixing things.
It really makes me laugh when I see these people and how I can play with them.
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Some things are best left unsaid.
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I used to work with a guy at a helpdesk who thought he was the S... He just finished getting his MCSE, but yet he had no clue of how to even unlock an NT account. He got fired and in turn got himself an Administrator job at Kennedy Space Center - no exactly the type of guy I would want touching any computers that in any way shape or form may be interconnected with the roman candle I would be sitting on top of if I were an astronaut!
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"Light is faster than sound .. Maybe that explains why some people appear bright until we hear them speak."
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My last coworker was so lazy that they promoted him.
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I think every place has its village idiots (well, some more than others). Most of the computer techs around here, instead of saving the customers money (business and public), they like to spend it. I mean, when a computer gets a windows exception error, Page fault or whatnot, instead of making a safe assumption that it's either WINDOWS or the BIOS memory settings, just whip in a new mainboard. Heck, whip in a new harddrive, modem, sound, video, memory, cpu and even a floppy! Maybe that'll fix it! Okay, 8 or so hours later, I'll come in the next morning with all the original hardware, narrow it down to a bad video driver. I'll update it, and you'll have wasted 8+ hours.
I love these people.
Man, when I do "Market Research," (going incognito into your department and asking you some questions that a fart-vapor-paper tech would know), you'd be very suprised at how many "Grossly-certified-fresh-outta-college-so-I-have-a-big-head," techs will fudge on the simplest questions.
jazzisdn
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"Uhh, I think it's broken," says the Tech. In reply, I say, "Well, that bright blue spark might have done it, but the screwdriver through the board trick really screwed it!"
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I applied for a position in a school department. The job required a BS in Computer Science. I didn't have that, but have tons of practical experience.
Well, during a technology exposition at the high school, I met the Technology Instructor. This guy was supposed to have all the answers and have it all under control.
While talking to the guy, he said he was having problem getting to one of their servers and for the life of him couldn't finy ANY reason why.
Turns out, I solved it for him in 2 minutes. He had the wrong IP address for his gateway!
By the way, I didn't get the job because I wasn't qualified!
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Is it me? I don't have any of these problems. I work for myself and get my pick and choose of customers. Because I have to part of their teams in order to properly understand their problems, my cutomers are my coworkers.
The result? All of my customers treat me like gold. The truth is that there is only one customer a year I cut loose and even those I could get along with if I had to.
I love my job, the people I work with and bend over backwards to make sure that things run as smoothly as possible. Even when a repair turns ugly I find everyone is patient and understanding as a rule, even if they are losing money/time whatever while it's straightened out.
Even people who are testy when I first meet them warm up pretty quick and stay good as soon as they figure out the PC tech isn't going to screw them.
It's gone so well that one of my customers offered me a position with my own department and several *****ious projects to bring to fruition.
"I'm a happy boy. Ain't it great when things are going your way - hey hey." - Beat Farmers
Noah Vail
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Hate to say it but if you tell me you are a cert red flags go way up. Seems everytime I have had to rely on a cert. Give me a Tech that hangs out on Windrivers and I will have some faith in him or her. Now I dont know much about Novell and I had a customer who had mirrored raid servers running novell and they needed to replace their HDs with larger unit and not loose anything. Sounde like a simple cloning process but I was not comfortable with the systems but told my customer I had a Novell Certed tech I could call in. This tech? had came by the shop numerous times and I had put him in our file. I called him, explained the situation and he said No Sweat. Fortunatly we had a complete back up an we were mirrored. It only took him about 30 minutes to Completely disable 8 work stations and one of the two servers. Customer Told tech to hit the road and told me I had to have the system in two hrs. I called a friend who had been working hands on with Novell for about two years. He had them finished and on line in less than two hrs. You cant beat hands on experience. I am dead cold on most certs. Real techs are not afraid to say "I Dont Know"
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If life is a bitch then what is death? I believe I will take the bitch!
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The workshop at my last job was a wide open room with benches running along the walls. We had a guy who was a reasonably competent tech, but he answered every incoming call on his speakerphone. And I mean EVERY call. He absolutley would not use the handset, even for very personal calls. He had to speak loudly to be heard, and would talk about about anything. Strange dude.
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I understand all the bashing on Certs (paper techs). I am what some of you would call a paper tech. I am an MCP (not a boot camp, but 10 months schooling and $9000) but I have about 2 years hands on hardware experience in addition to being a journeyman electrician with 12 years experience. I will be the first to admit that I have a lot to learn and I know that "labs" in a classroom do not substitute for real world experience. However after the classes I have taken I know of some "techs" with lots of experience whose answer to most software problems is "reinstall windows" and don't know a thing about TCP/IP and subnetting. It can go both ways and just because a guy is Certified doesn't always make him an idiot. I respect a guy who knows what he is doing, but we all have to start out learning somehow, and some of us chose school before our first computer job. Give us a little time, we'll learn! Thanks for sharing your wisdom with me guys (and gals).
PS- To all "paper techs": Lose the chip on your shoulder and let's learn from the ones who have been doing it for a while.
Mark
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How did this turn into a MCSE bashing... I just got my MCSE, and I don't claim to know everything. Any ways....
We got a dude at work that is constantly passing gas and picking his nose. What is wrong with these people??!
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I have worked with the "paper techs" before and even worked for one once, but not all certified technicians are "paper techs".
I have A+, and 2 MCP's (NT Workstation & Server). I also have the experience to back it up though. Problem is though, most companies see the certs as experience. You have to show them to get your foot in the door. They become a "necessary evil".
As for the worst co-worker, it was the "paper tech" that I worked for. He had certs all over his wall and was an administrator for a small (100+ employees) business. He was always talking about how much he new about Windows and how long he had been working with it. Turns out his certs were for programming and were over 8 years old.
One glaring problem I remember was when he couldn't figure out why no one could she shared drives on the network (NT), "I put a $ behind the name to denote a shared folder." It was only my first week on the job when I told him the $ denotes a hidden folder, not a share. (I didn't even have my MCPs yet). https://forums.windrivers.com/
He didn't like the fact I made him look like an idiot in front of the rest of his crew, (not my intention, he just had a fragile ego I guess) so he didn't talk to me much for the rest of the contract.
Sometimes being a contractor has it's benefits. When the boss is an idiot, request a new assingment. https://forums.windrivers.com/
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I keep hitting Escape...Why am I still here??
[This message has been edited by jvalliere (edited October 04, 2000).]
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Got a new guy to support our branch offices. Just out of the Marines with all this high tech experience with maintaining computers and networks. Here are just a few of the many questions he asks me daily: How do you make a directory in dos? What is that black box on the data card? (Pentium II processor on the motherboard), He tried to make changes on the server, and when it told him he was unauthorized, he decided to “treat it as a power failure” and pulled the plug on the server. Found out he is related to some manager at one of the branches.
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Is working on MCSE and personally cannot stand these people who just do enough to pass a test. I work for a government agency and even here I have to perform on my knowledge at an every day basis. I studied and took practice tests alot, but learned the most when I was forced to implement an NT network. You guys are right, a cert can give you the edge on getting the lastest and greatest job, but companies will hopefully start asking what their knowledge is instead of just a piece of paper.
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Seems like every tech job I have had in the last few years has some guy/gal who think that they are god's gift to a tech shop, but when it comes down to it they don't listen to advice or seek help and I end up cleaning up their messes. This happen to anyone else?
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I work with several idiots.
Our company is several hundred strong, so you ar bound to have a few idiots in the bunch.
We have nicknames for most of the wacko's.
Giulliani Jr - A tech with a slurring speech impediment. Dont stand too close or you will get wet.
Rainman - Another tech with the looks and mental abilities of Rainman.
Meow Mix - A former sales rep who may have suffered from turets syndorome, but would blurt out loud cat calls in the middle of the office for no reason!
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I own my on shop now, but when I first got into the business I worked for another small shop in this area.
We had this one dude that worked there. His wife would call and I'd answer the phone. She would ask for him, I would put him on, they would talk for a half hour, then he would tell the boss that he had been talking to a customer and that he was going on a service call. Often, he wouldn't come back that day.
That really takes balls...........geezzzz!
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:)
WildTech
MasterMind Computers ... Bring your PC to the Master!!
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<h3>"Why B.Slisk doesn’t like to fly!"</h3>
A co-worker got a machine with a dead CMOS battery on his desk.
The motherboard was designed to use a rechargeable battery, but he managed to hook a Lithium cell to it...
After the machine had run for a few hours he called me over and asked if I thought the battery was bit hot. And hot it was... Real hot, as in the plastic almost melting!
I told him what he'd done wrong. That you never use a Lithium cell when there is a recharge current, and that he would have to install a NiCad cell instead. He nodded and I got back to my own stuff, assuming that he understood what I've told him, and would do as he was told...
NEWER ASSUME that boneheads understands what you tell them! You have to check, check and check again. And even then they will on occasion manage to surprise you...
The next thing I heard about this particular machine was when the customer called, saying that there was something wrong with the machine. I sent the call to our friend, the bonehead, and continued working with my stuff.
After the call he came to me and said that apparently some thing had happened with the machine, as there were smoke coming from it. At this I remembered which machine it was and asked if he had replaced that Lithium cell. I'll give you three guesses as to what he answered...
As the machine worked he couldn't see that it would be a problem. That the battery got a little warm couldn’t be that serious. So he just closed it up, let it run for a few more hours and called the customer. After all what could happen?!!!
When the customer arrived there soon was a crowd of some 15 - 20 people surrounding their machine. I've never before or later seen a computer so demolished!
It looked as if a stick of dynamite had been used. The side panels were standing almost straight out, and of the plastic front there wasn't a trace...
Both the customer and his son had been in the room when the machine exploded, and both had a bit of a problem with their hearing. As luck has it, none of them suffered a permanent loss of hearing, or suffered any other injuries. But the apartment needed a thorough cleaning. Everything inside it was covered with dust.
Of the machine only the HDD survived long enough for a backup to be made...
What compensation the customer received I don't know, but my co-worker left the company shortly after as he got a job at the local air traffic control centre, servicing their computers...
For some reason he didn’t last more than a month there, but still it makes me a bit queasy to think of him lurking amongst their computers… ;-)
Regards,
B.Slisk
*/ Been there, done that, cried myself to sleep... /*
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Yep....been in the "paper tech" situ before. Though I NEVER claim to know it all, I take a deep interest in all I do and learn as much from hands-on as possible. And it paid off too:
I had just passed my first Computer tech test (A+, which meant I had finished an 12 mo. course in just 8 mos.), and was throwing out a few resumes.....and I ran accross one for a "Computer Geek Wanted". Well, of course, that just suited me, so I applied ASAP. Within 2 weeks, I was working there, as the sole Admin for an ISP. LoL, fresh outta tech school, and a Admin....BIG boost of my ego! ;o)
As time went by, and most of my shakiness went away, I learned more of the former Admin, who I had replaced. he had set up the servers, routers, internal network....just everything. He had Dual degrees from some University in TX in computers of some sort, LOTS of big names & companies on his resume....and was also a fromer Navy Seal! I thought, wow.....how on earth could I fill these shoes???
As more time went by, I started to find LOTS of MAJOR probs w/the servers & network in general. NO defrag software, NO anti-virus updates, major ports left open for NO reason on the firewall, actually NO schedule for ANY maintainance AT ALL....and NO way to remotely access anything there.
Once I spent a month or two filling the owners in on the lists of tragic problems w/the whole system(s)....they told me why they let him go:
Turns out he had NO computer degrees WHATSOEVER...he has used phone tech support to set up EVERYTHING there, so he had bacically faked thru it all! The main owner also worked High security for a Gov't plant, so his profile was kept tabs on very closely. He had to fire this guy when he found out that his computer experience had been learned thru experience while serving 5 to 10 in an Ohio State Prison for Armed Robbery of a Grocery Store! If the owner would have kept contact with him, he would have been fored from the security job, and under suspicion as well.
And, to add the most insult to injury...the guy was NEVER a Navy Seal! And, let me tell you....he will suffer for that lie for the rest of his life. I've seen SEVERAL Websites out there dedicated to exposing the deadbeats that claim to be former Seals....and he is on MOST of them. Last we heard of him, was via mail, and he was wanting his W-2 sent to a friend's address....lol
Maybe I didn't work with this individual but I'm still yet irritated w/him just the same. Maybe I was VERY "green" when I started the job.....but after about 3 months, our ISP downtime was at almost nill, service was much faster and more effecient, and I got many compliments, from customers and management too! https://forums.windrivers.com/)
So, what can I say.....I sympathise with ya, folks! https://forums.windrivers.com/
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We all have messed somthing up once in our careers. I always give people a few tries to fix themselves. If they start to learn and look like they are going to become good techs or network guys then i help them as best as i can, if they don't, then i try and direct them to another field. Karma always comes back to bite you in the *** or kiss you where it counts. and the good old boy network is still alive and well in this field, the tech your busted on yesterday could be your interviewer tomorrow or at least be his drinking buddy. I've seen it happen. As for idiot co-workers, I worked with one guy who shattered two laptop screens after he put a HPLJ 5si in the truck bed with them. The printer slid when he took a turn and smashed them like pancakes. Then he tried to blame it on the business he picked them up from. Sometimes a little common sense takes the place of knowledge, at least you can blind them with BS if you can't dazzle 'em with brillance.
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How do you set a laser printer to stun?
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I don't mind my co workers so bad but my bosses are a pain in the ***. I like how whne someone call with a problem and you have no idea what they are talking about or how to fix it. But they expect you to do the job in record time. That's the main thing that pisses me off. I did have one co worker that just did nothing really all day. I feel I could probably do his average day in maybe two hours. He resigned and went for another job and they told him before he left that he could have his job back if he ever wanted it. Makes a lot of damn sense doesn't it.
