PEBCAK=Problem Exists Between Chair and Keyboard

[Moirae]

We've all seen them. The pebcaks are the ones who couldn't find their own butt from their face.

And today most of my calls were filled with them.

I was trying to explain to a man how to log out of his email. Now, he couldn't find the very obvious "sign out" on the top right after almost two minutes trying. So, I told him to close the program and reopen it. He asked me "How do I do that?"

After taking a second to realize that I actually heard that question, I told him to look at the very top right of the screen and asked if he could see the grey button with the black "x" on it. (he also apparently couldn't find where it said "Files" at the top left) He couldn't find it for the life of him even when I described the fact that if he looks at the very top, he's going to see a blue bar with words in it. If he follows the words and moves his eyes all the way to the right, he'll see three buttons. Then I described them to him.

Almost another two minutes trying to explain this to him and finally he says "The only thing I see at the top of the screen is *name of the page he's looking at". I almost wanted to smack him then but I just said "Yes, and the background behind those words is blue, isn't it?"

So now, finally it sinks in, at least a bit. I tell him to move his eyes to the right on the blue bar and he FINALLY noticed the grey button with the black "x".

And I had a whole plethora of calls like that today. I took quite a few calls and most of them were 20 minutes long or more because of the utterly stupid people that shouldn't own a computer because they're likely to burn down the house with it.

What's worse is that this man wasn't an old man. He couldn't have been much older than I am.

[Naaman]

The persistent favourite when I was on helpdesk was the customer managing to move the Windows taskbar off to the side. First the innocent "I didn't do it, it changed by itself" and then the 20 minutes inability to "Click and hold on the grey bar, making sure it's clear first, and move it to the bottom of the screen".

After much painful experience we found it was quicker to memorise the keyboard shortcuts and get them to put the mouse away.

[Comp_geek]

haha this is like the call I got on the weekend

"can you tell me how to use the computer?"

No I can't. Get some classes.

[kerrisan]

I don't know why, but I always seem to get the comptech people who have to read out of the manual. I have no idea what I did to cause this, but I had apparently hit some combination of keys on my board to INVERT THE SCREEN IMAGE. That's right: the time/date was now upside down on the top left corner! I was freaking out, so I called the techs to help me fix it. While I was on hold, one of the automated messages told me about the System Restore. I tried that and it worked! But I still wanted to know what I had hit, so I stayed on. When someone answered, I told her what had happened, how I had fixed it (read: I told this lady that I had done a system restore), and then asked her what I had done. She got really quiet, then said:

her: "If you will just go down to "Start," "Accessories," "Tools," and "System Restore . . ."
me: no ma'am, I already did that. I would like to know what I pushed to get my screen to invert like that so it won't happen again.
her: That is not something I can help you with, but I can tell you how to fix it. If you will just go down to "Start," "Accessories," "Tools," and "System Restore . . ."
me: . . . umm, no, listen . . . it's FIXED. You can't tell me how it happened?
her: No, I am sorry, but if it happens again just go down to "Start," "Accessories," "Tools," and "System Restore . . ."
me: *click*

I wish you actually had to KNOW something about computers to help someone with them. And y'know, it's not the fact that she couldn't tell me exactly what I had done wrong. It's the fact that she was IGNORING my telling her that I had already fixed it.

And no, it hasn't happened again since. Maybe because I haven't dropped a full 3-ring binder on my keyboard since . . .


I don't suppose anyone here can tell me what I hit?

[Moirae]

Unfortunately not. I know it's possible, I just don't know how to do it.

[AFpheonix]

I imagine if you google it, there'll be a forum out there somewhere with some 13 year old telling others how to totally freak out some other computer user with that little trick

[HappyCthulhu]

me: no ma'am, I already did that. I would like to know what I pushed to get my screen to invert like that so it won't happen again.

The answer to that questions is to hit CTRL+ALT+DOWN ARROW to invert the image and CTRL+ALT+UP ARROW to bring it back to normal. Some can even use the side arrows to put the image sideways.
(This all depends on your graphic card.)

[kerrisan]

Gaaah, I knew it had to be something easy! Thanks HappyCthulhu!

[Ljt09863]

The answer to that questions is to hit CTRL+ALT+DOWN ARROW to invert the image and CTRL+ALT+UP ARROW to bring it back to normal. Some can even use the side arrows to put the image sideways.
(This all depends on your graphic card.)

dude, im so going to use that to freak people out

[Dreamstalker]

While I was on hold, one of the automated messages told me about the System Restore. I tried that and it worked! But I still wanted to know what I had hit, so I stayed on. When someone answered, I told her what had happened, how I had fixed it (read: I told this lady that I had done a system restore), and then asked her what I had done. She got really quiet, then said:

her: "If you will just go down to "Start," "Accessories," "Tools," and "System Restore . . ."
me: no ma'am, I already did that. I would like to know what I pushed to get my screen to invert like that so it won't happen again.
her: That is not something I can help you with, but I can tell you how to fix it. If you will just go down to "Start," "Accessories," "Tools," and "System Restore . . ."
me: . . . umm, no, listen . . . it's FIXED. You can't tell me how it happened?

BTDT. This wasn't an inverted screen, but my desktop would not boot at all (this was back in the day when I had a Dell). I knew how to fix it (repair reinstall from CD) but wanted to know what had happened so I could send the desktop for repair under warranty if needed as it was fine ten minutes prior (I literally walked up to the corner, came back and it was dead).

I never did find out what happened, but I humored the tech anyway.

The followup phone call came at 3 AM my time the next morning

[Tria]

I don't suppose anyone here can tell me what I hit?

No clue but if you can tell me what I hit to end up changing the language I type in I'll try to find out, granted I can fix it but it an annoyance.

[Heksubah]

Just a random note - Depending on what windows and what skin, it's not always a grey box with the X. Mine is red on a blue bar.

[Primer]

The answer to that questions is to hit CTRL+ALT+DOWN ARROW to invert the image and CTRL+ALT+UP ARROW to bring it back to normal. Some can even use the side arrows to put the image sideways.
(This all depends on your graphic card.)

I guess I have a cheapie--I tried it, and it won't do anything but sit there upright. Oh well...If it were screw-upable, I'm sure I'd have already done it by now!

[CanadaGirl]

Just a random note - Depending on what windows and what skin, it's not always a grey box with the X. Mine is red on a blue bar.

Hehe... Mines a series of three colored dots (yellow, green, red) on a grey bar! Can anyone figure that one out?

[stormtreader]

I flipped my screen by accident at work once.
I had no idea what id done, and was very panicky until someone rescued me.
As im a programmer, it was rather embarrasing