Exchanges with People that Make Your Brain Hurt

[Piratelvr1121]

Now you are probably thinking "OK, just buy the house and paint it." Noooooo.  The last time it came on the market the sellers insisted on a covenant in the sales paperwork.  Any new owners had to agree to leave everything pink.  IIRC, they also had a condition that the old owners could inspect the house on an annual basis to check that it hadn't been repainted.  Not surprisingly, they didn't find any buyers willing to agree to that.

No, no, nuh-uh.  When I buy a house, I will be *buying* it. Not purchasing a license to use said house, so I will not be signing a glorified EULA thankyouveryruttingmuch.  I'm sorry, built once you sell it, it's GONE.  Paint your new house Pinkie-Pie pink for all I care, crazy over-obsessed former house owners, but leave me out of it.
[/quote]

Don't give my DH any ideas!  Lord, no! The man loves Pinkie Pie and I wish I had enough money to retaliate with toy pirates!

[Diane AKA Traska]

Now you are probably thinking "OK, just buy the house and paint it." Noooooo.  The last time it came on the market the sellers insisted on a covenant in the sales paperwork.  Any new owners had to agree to leave everything pink.  IIRC, they also had a condition that the old owners could inspect the house on an annual basis to check that it hadn't been repainted.  Not surprisingly, they didn't find any buyers willing to agree to that.

No, no, nuh-uh.  When I buy a house, I will be *buying* it. Not purchasing a license to use said house, so I will not be signing a glorified EULA thankyouveryruttingmuch.  I'm sorry, built once you sell it, it's GONE.  Paint your new house Pinkie-Pie pink for all I care, crazy over-obsessed former house owners, but leave me out of it.

Don't give my DH any ideas!  Lord, no! The man loves Pinkie Pie and I wish I had enough money to retaliate with toy pirates!
[/quote]

Why can't you both be happy?

[Yvaine]

^ That hurts my brain... why not just give the address originally as where you want it delivered to begin with?  I UPS daily, you can absolutely deliver stuff to be dropped off in weird places. I had one customer who's UPS delivery was "Joe Schmoe, Throw box over fence, 123 Anywhere St, Brooklyn NY"

Throw box over fence! I love it! 

[amylouky]

Midnight Kitty wrote:

"OK, her brain probably hurt, too.  I don't think she had an answer as to how rebooting fixes problems, only that it usually works."

If you want an answer as to why rebooting often fixes problems with computers, it's both simple and complex.  Computers store the data they need for running programs in RAM (random access memory, in case you care about the acronyms).  RAM only works when it's powered, which is why a computer forgets everything you were doing when the power goes out.  Many problems that computers develop are because something in RAM went wrong, like a program getting scrambled or loading into the wrong section of memory or whatever.  Rebooting a machine clears the RAM and forces the computer to reload it all, which will sort out a pretty big variety of errors and get things working as expected again.  The reason for turning it off and back on is that sometimes a computer will reboot without properly powering down the RAM, which means that the (messed up) data can still be there when the system restarts, and power-cycling the machine prevents that.  How memory gets messed up can be a very complex issue, but the simple answer is that a lot of computer problems are related to messed up programs in memory and rebooting is a simple and usually effective fix for it, so most technicians will suggest it as a first resort to try to clear up a problem.

Virg

This. And, if you want an answer as to why help desk techs are so insistent about it.. I could tell you stories of users who have insisted that they rebooted, when what they really did was turn off their monitor. Or close the program they were using, and restart it. Or those who have instructions for installing a simple piece of software, in which step ten is bolded, twice the font of the other text, and red.. "IMPORTANT -REBOOT YOUR COMPUTER. TURN IT COMPLETELY OFF, THEN ON AGAIN". Trying to troubleshoot their installation, I get "Oh, no, I didn't reboot. Instructions always say that but I just ignore it."

It's always a tossup between talking to people as if they don't know what you're talking about, and talking over people's heads.. both seem to equally offend people. I generally opt to explain things simply, unless I know the person has some tech knowledge.

[Diane AKA Traska]

Rebooting to fix a computer problem is to computers what preheating is to baking.  It doesn't take long, and it actually works, so JUST DO IT.

[goldilocks]

Just about any conversation with my mother is brain-hurty.  Now she's decided to hijack other conversations.

SEveral weeks ago, my sister-in-law's sister bought a new house.  My SIL and my brother bought her several items from the company I work for, and I arranged their order and shipping, etc.    SIL's sister lives about 3000 miles from me and my mother.

SIL and brother are in town and we are visiting with my mother.

Me:  SIL, did sister get moved into her house?
SIL:  Yes, she finally got it all done.
Me:  Did she get all the items we sent?
SIL:  Oh, yes, and they look great:
Mother:  Sister had a shower?   I didn't get an invitiation!!!  (note, sister lives 3000 miles away, and my mother is broke anyway!)
Me:  No, sister just bought a house.  That's all, there was no shower.
Mother:  Well, I didn't get invited.
ME:  There was nothing to be invited to.
Mother:  You know I like to be included in these events and send a gift.

[AfleetAlex]

So Mother got the idea there had been some sort of gathering because your SIL had seen the house and said gifts in it?

[VorFemme]

Rebooting to fix a computer problem is to computers what preheating is to baking.  It doesn't take long, and it actually works, so JUST DO IT.

Unless your call is because the computer won't turn on. 

I answer computer questions on Yahoo! Answers - three people will thank me for including the steps to take and why to take them in that order.

The fourth will email me privately and chew me out for making them wade through a long answer......three paragraphs of two sentences each.  It was long only if you limit your Reading to 140 characters at a time.

But the people who tell me that they fixed the problem following my directions are why I answer questions there (only in the limited area where I have experience - not all possible questions).

[siamesecat2965]

My husband is currently employed, but not very happy where he is, and he's applied online to a few places.   One company's website asked that he provide a desired salary.  His current salary is $85,000 per year, and he hasn't had a raise in years (which is one of the reasons why he's unhappy), so he put "$95,000/year".

VERY shortly afterwards (less than a day), he got a call from the company.  They were very excited about his resume and qualifications and couldn't wait to set up an interview.   There was just one little thing:

"I see here that your desired salary is $95,000.  I'm afraid we can't go quite that high."
"Oh?  (Thinking that they were going to offer $80,000 or so.)"
"Yes - but we CAN offer $45,000 per year!"

Cue expectant pause, as though the guy was waiting for my husband to go into rhapsodies at the idea of cutting his salary almost in half.      He seemed very disappointed and perplexed when my husband said politely "I'm afraid that won't work for me."

My first job out of school I worked in publishing, and was looking for a second job, to move up into.  So I was looking, and had a few interviews. One which was a fair distance from my office, and was scheduled during lunch.  we chatted a bit on the phone, AND they had my resume (this was back in the early 90's so no Internet, online anything).  I get there, and the first question was "do you have any x experience?" I said no, as I didnt, and that was the end of it.  that was what they needed, yet had they bothered to READ my resume, or even ask while setting it up, they would have known I didn't have that experience.

[Kiara]

Rebooting to fix a computer problem is to computers what preheating is to baking.  It doesn't take long, and it actually works, so JUST DO IT.

Amen.  I'm proud that I've taught my parents three things.

1) Before you call me for computer help, reboot.

2) Before you call me for help with the DVR, unplug it, wait 15 seconds, and plug it back in.

3) If neither of the above work, THEN call me.

[Hillia]

This reminds me of a call I took back when I did tech support for an ISP.  We also hosted websites, so there were a lot of people who had their own website but really didn't know anything about how to upload files etc, despite numerous tutorials that were available.

A lady called one night and said that she couldn't upload her files.  OK.  I find out what program she is using to upload (ws_ftp if anyone cares) and walked her carefully through the 4 pieces of information that needed to be entered in a dialogue box.  The one that people had trouble with most often was the IP address of the destination.  This is 4 numbers separated by periods, thus: 129.111.55.12.  I was careful to check that she was looking at the correct box to type the numbers.  I carefully read off the numbers, specifying the periods and verifying that she wasn't entering spaces.  She couldn't connect to the server.  Meanwhile, I was using her login and connecting/uploading files, no problem. 

I sat on the phone with her for 45 minutes after the end of my shift, going over the same information again and again.  She assured me that she was typing the exact numbers.  I had her read them back to me, along with the text that was next to the box where she was typing.  Nothing.  I was losing my mind.

After 45 minutes, she says, 'Oh, am I supposed to be typing 129.111.55.12 in the box that says 'Destination IP'?  Oh, there it goes.  Ha ha!'

I have no idea what she had been doing for that 45 minutes while she was swearing to me that she was typing those numbers into the 'destination IP' box.

[EmmaJ.]

Hillia, that loud BONK you heard was my head hitting the desk.  Holy cow!   

[Elfmama]

Many many years ago, I was into ceramics. Christmas stuff, mainly, and sold them at craft fairs. Back then we were on a pretty tight budget, so I made a lot of my Christmas gifts.  One year I made trees for both my mother and MIL, like this:
 
 
 
 only with a fancy base that looked like wrapped packages and toys.  I personalized them with the package tags having names of their kids and grandkids as well as Mom/Dad MIL/ FIL themselves.  The "lights" are clear plastic; what you are seeing as glowing bulbs is light shining through them from an ordinary light bulb inside the tree.  Mom was thrilled with hers and still displays it every year as her Xmas tree; MIL was decidedly underwhelmed. (Handcrafted items were only so much second-rate junk to her.)

"So just how do I replace one of those little lights when they burn out?" she snapped. I explained that they couldn't burn out, because they didn't have electricity going through them.  I took the tree off its base and showed her the light bulb inside.  I showed her the posts of the little lights inside, how there were no wires running to them, and explained how they are glued into the tree. DH and FIL both tried to explain.

Nope, she wasn't having any of it.  Those lights were going to burn out, I was refusing to tell her how to replace them and she'd have to just throw the whole tree away in a year or two because it wouldn't light anymore. 
 
 And I guess she did, because I never saw her display it, and it wasn't in the things that we cleared out of the house when they moved to Assisted Living.

[Diane AKA Traska]

Many many years ago, I was into ceramics. Christmas stuff, mainly, and sold them at craft fairs. Back then we were on a pretty tight budget, so I made a lot of my Christmas gifts.  One year I made trees for both my mother and MIL, like this:
 
 
 
 only with a fancy base that looked like wrapped packages and toys.  I personalized them with the package tags having names of their kids and grandkids as well as Mom/Dad MIL/ FIL themselves.  The "lights" are clear plastic; what you are seeing as glowing bulbs is light shining through them from an ordinary light bulb inside the tree.  Mom was thrilled with hers and still displays it every year as her Xmas tree; MIL was decidedly underwhelmed. (Handcrafted items were only so much second-rate junk to her.)

"So just how do I replace one of those little lights when they burn out?" she snapped. I explained that they couldn't burn out, because they didn't have electricity going through them.  I took the tree off its base and showed her the light bulb inside.  I showed her the posts of the little lights inside, how there were no wires running to them, and explained how they are glued into the tree. DH and FIL both tried to explain.

Nope, she wasn't having any of it.  Those lights were going to burn out, I was refusing to tell her how to replace them and she'd have to just throw the whole tree away in a year or two because it wouldn't light anymore. 
 
 And I guess she did, because I never saw her display it, and it wasn't in the things that we cleared out of the house when they moved to Assisted Living.

It's times like that where you discover just how much your feelings means to someone.  I'm betting she got the idea, and wanted an excuse to throw it away.

[turtleIScream]

Many many years ago, I was into ceramics. Christmas stuff, mainly, and sold them at craft fairs. Back then we were on a pretty tight budget, so I made a lot of my Christmas gifts.  One year I made trees for both my mother and MIL, like this:
 
 
 
 only with a fancy base that looked like wrapped packages and toys.  I personalized them with the package tags having names of their kids and grandkids as well as Mom/Dad MIL/ FIL themselves.  The "lights" are clear plastic; what you are seeing as glowing bulbs is light shining through them from an ordinary light bulb inside the tree.  Mom was thrilled with hers and still displays it every year as her Xmas tree; MIL was decidedly underwhelmed. (Handcrafted items were only so much second-rate junk to her.)

"So just how do I replace one of those little lights when they burn out?" she snapped. I explained that they couldn't burn out, because they didn't have electricity going through them.  I took the tree off its base and showed her the light bulb inside.  I showed her the posts of the little lights inside, how there were no wires running to them, and explained how they are glued into the tree. DH and FIL both tried to explain.

Nope, she wasn't having any of it.  Those lights were going to burn out, I was refusing to tell her how to replace them and she'd have to just throw the whole tree away in a year or two because it wouldn't light anymore. 
 
 And I guess she did, because I never saw her display it, and it wasn't in the things that we cleared out of the house when they moved to Assisted Living.

I'm sorry she didn't appreciate your gift. It sounds lovely and very thoughtful!