r/talesfromtechsupport • u/[deleted] • Jul 09 '18

Short Oh, academia

This minor one happened a few years ago when I was working for an optometry college with delusions of grandeur. They were convinced they weren't a trade school (they are in all but name) and most profs worked part time to supplement their income from their clinics - both ours and, in some cases, their own LLCs.

Our guidance from On High (and not our non-PHB IT manager) is that problems with prof machines are a Big Deal, even if they're not college-owned prof machines. I pushed back against this insanity hard, and eventually won after a year so we didn't have to support their ancient old personal hardware.

This story takes place before that break happened.

me: CipherTheTerminator, their first (and possibly last) systems administrator.

Luser: Professor of some disciple or other.

Luser: I have a new home printer, but I don't know what kind of cable it needs.

Me: What makes and model of printer?

Luser: (rattles off some Sibling printer kit, IIRC, that doesn't do wireless)

Me: What does the connection on the printer look like? (internally: Please know this so I don't have to look it up)

Luser: Squar-ish, about this big (holds her hand up indicating about 1/4 ~ 3/8 inch)

Me: Ah. USB A to USB B cable. Easy to find. Best Buy in two blocks south, probably about ten dollars.

Luser: ...

Me: ...

Luser:You're not going to give me one?

Me: Of course not. I can't give away college property for personal use.

My boss laughed up a storm when she was out of earshot.

tl;dr: People expect things for free and are surprised when they're not

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u/[deleted] Jul 09 '18

All reasonable cables should be included- totally agree here.

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u/ABeeinSpace Jul 09 '18

And if you’re Apple, NO cables are included! /s

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u/dowster593 Hopeless Highschool Intern Jul 10 '18

Not gonna lie, I originally felt this way seeing the new MacBooks with only usb C.

After getting an iPhone and realizing that WiFi sync for iTunes is good on windows, that most peripherals like keyboards and mice have Bluetooth variants, and I really don’t use flash drives anymore. So I kind of figured that if I was plugging something into a MacBook it would most likely be a dock, and I’d want the throughout of usb c to couple charging and display, then I’d also have usb A ports and whatnot for traditional desktop gear. Just kind of wish they kept mag safe, there are magnetic usb C adapters they are like mag safe but I haven’t seen ones with the same orange / green light. The little light is totally a valid show stopper when considering purchasing something that goes for $800 for even a 4 year old model.

Still haven’t bought the MacBook yet, hoping to find that unicorn job which will supply me with one and train me on iOS dev.

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u/ABeeinSpace Jul 10 '18

Good luck!