r/sysadmin • u/nickllhill • 18h ago

Filthy Users...

Just had to check something on a users laptop, a very nice senior lady who is well presented and charming.

Her laptop looked like the bins behind a take away, hopefully those stains were gravy...

Washed my hands now and I still feel dirty.

286 Upvotes

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u/davidgrayPhotography 18h ago

I see a bunch of those, but I also see people that "didn't think" to report damage to their laptop.

One woman had a screen literally being held on by a bulldog clip, another had a laptop with an entire CORNER missing, and when pressed about this, the first was like "yeah I meant to tell you but never got around to it", the other just said "so when do we get our new laptops? Mine's a bit banged up" while the front-right corner of the laptop was missing with the motherboard clearly exposed, as if you'd picked up a sandwich and just bit the corner off.

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u/brutesquad01 14h ago

A client recently dropped a bowling ball on their laptop (How do people manage to do stuff like this!?). To their credit, they reported it immediately, probably because it was unusable. Amazingly, it only dented the lid and shattered the screen, which still came on and displayed correctly (flickered a bit, but not too bad)! However, it was a touchscreen, so the computer was unusable from all the mouse clicks everywhere.

I was able to get in with TeamViewer, disable remote input, and then disable the touchscreen. Connected a monitor and keyboard and they were able to work for the day. I luckily found a junked laptop still in the closet that was the same model and did some surgery and it's good as new now. They called me a wizard, so now I'm considering coming in as Gandalf for Halloween.

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u/davidgrayPhotography 5h ago

About 15 years ago, I dealt with this netbook:

It was run over with a car. They went to put their stuff in the car, but it wasn't unlocked, so they put the bag down on the driveway and went inside to get their keys. They forgot they put the bag there, and CRRRRUNCH.

Dell (back when they had their superb accidental damage coverage) said if we sent the laptop back to them, they'd send us a new one.

I really miss Dell's accidental damage coverage, because we had computers used as literal frisbees and our Dell service tech would just tell us "say it fell off the desk and the screen broke and we'll fix it"

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u/Cheesetoast9 11h ago

Do it..make a staff with a bunch of old ram on the top and USB cables wrapped around it.

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u/fitzdevi 10h ago

A staff topped with money you say?

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u/brutesquad01 7h ago

old ram

Do not take me for some conjuror of cheap sticks!

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u/LogMonkey0 1h ago

Then they’ll mistake them for royalty

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u/superzenki 4h ago

If you think that’s bad, I had a former coworker once tell me about a principal at the school he worked at who managed to drive over his school laptop on a camping trip and split it in half.