Electrocution? All part of the service, sir!
- Reference: 1628497812
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/08/09/who_me/
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Today's story comes from "Thor" (obviously not his name and a sign the Regomiser has watched too many movies in lockdown), the solitary member of the after-sales department in one of a chain of stores that sold anything from dishwashers to external hard drives. His role also required him to repair customer computers and perform file transfer from the old and busted to the new and shiny.
Occasionally the customer didn't want their old computer back, and some of those the store turned into loaners. "The law dictates," explained Thor (and we'll leave it to you to guess the country), "that a consumer has the right to get a loaner product while his or hers is in for repairs."
[2]
So old machines were wiped, reinstalled, and made ready to hand out to customers in need.
[3]
[4]
Of course, eventually it occurred to the powers that be that this might not be the best thing to do considering the potential for personal information whoopsies. The chain therefore replaced the recycled computers for new units and issued a diktat that customers borrowing the kit should not store personal information on them.
Good luck with that.
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But what to do with the old loaners? The answer was to scrap them. As the new machines arrived, the old ones were destroyed. On the final one, Thor yanked the hard drive and had at it with implements of destruction. He then gave the motherboard a mauling before putting the whole thing into the electronics recycling bin.
He thought no more about it until the day a customer came in with a broken desktop computer and, as was his right, wanted a loan machine while his was being repaired. Thor wasn't around when the salesperson dealing with the customer came to his office, looking for a loan desktop to hand out. All of the new machines were laptops, but that wasn't what the customer had.
But there, at the back of the office, was a desktop machine. Sure, it was in the recycle bin, but it was probably OK, right?
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The salesperson proudly carried the loaner PC back to the customer and, because good service is what matters, fired it up in order to configure Windows.
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At this point it is worth noting that Thor had also flicked a switch on the PSU from 230V to 110V. "Don't ask, I don't know why," he admitted. We suspect the fsck-up fairy was sat on his shoulder at the time and anyway – this machine was destined for the recyclers.
The power lead approached the PC...
"Half of the store went instantly dark when he plugged the power cord into the PSU," said Thor, "but not before some heeeuuuge bangs and cracks came from the crippled computer. Black smoke poured from the innards, and the salesperson had to rush it outside before the smoke alarm went off."
There's no record of whether the customer required a change of undergarments, but Thor described the look on his face as "priceless." The moment had also been recorded on the in-store CCTV, much to the amusement of the store manager.
In the end the customer saw the funny side of things, doubtless helped by the arrival of a brand new loan laptop.
"Technically not my fault," insisted Thor, "as nobody should've taken anything from the recycling bin – but I could've just removed and destroyed the hard drive. Oh well..."
Not my fault? Hmm. We're not so sure.
"I did, however, refer to my beloved colleague as 'Sparky' for some time..."
We imagine his co-worker had a ruder name for Thor.
Ever wondered what would happen if you flicked that switch? Or had a slightly too helpful colleague unleash chaos of your making? Share your story with an email to [11]Who, Me? ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/Tag/who-me
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[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/02/who_me/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/26/who_me/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/19/who_me/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/12/who_me/
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Thor is popular because
folks just like to get hammered. =-D
*Runs away*
And no, it's not connected to either paganism or superhero movies.
But that's just what they want you to think!!!
(Applies to both Superheroes in disguise and those sneaky pagans!!!)
Nordic electrocution
Did he check to see if the mains lead was freyad?
He was very Loki he didn't go bang
But it did make quite Odin...
Been there
Done that.
Well not exactly. Had a unit with a dead mains transfomer, O/C primary - quite a common fault on one of the small potted types, so replaced it and switched on...
only to discover it had an O/C primary. Eventually noticed it was set to 120V.
Definitely not his fault, but somehow still is?
People do stupid things and it’s hard to be fail safe.
In a recycling bin in a controlled room an unauthorised person removes something to give to a customer.
Just as well they checked it in store.
Clearly a long time ago especially as so little regard for users data.
When my MacBook went in last year I had wiped it, I had to wait there while they reinstalled iOS 10 wiping the drive again in the process, took over an hour.
"The power lead approached the PC..."
I lived a moment like that - and I was the one holding the power lead.
It was at the beginning of my career in Luxembourg, all those years ago (my daughter wasn't even born yet). Our company had just recieved shipment of a gaggle of tower PCs (they were for the training room that was being set up) and I was tasked with creating an application that required server access.
I needed a server.
I went to the head of IT and asked him if I could take one of the new arrivals to use as a server and he agreed. I went down and took one out of its box and brought it our corner office. I set up the requisite peripherals and went to plug in the PC.
POW !
Flash of light and short tongue of flame shot out of the PSU. The PC was dead.
What I didn't know is that the shipment came from the US. It was configured for 110V, and I hadn't thought to check that the tiny red switch on the PSU was in the proper configuration.
I went to explain myself to the head of IT, who was a bit miffed but told me to get another server. I completed my task, wiped the server from the machine and brought it back to storage.
By that time, all the boxes had "110V !" written on them in big red letters.
Ever since, I systematically check any new PSU or desktop box to ensure that it is in the right setting.
I recall the time I was working on a PSU for something. I had it out on the bench, upside down whilst I was diagnosing. I don't recall if it was a scope or multimeter I was using but what I do remember was that just as the service centre manager walked in with some potential new clients in tow, giving them the grand tour, the caps on the PSU chose that exact moment to go bang.
Bizarrely I didn't even jump. They did though.
And then after about a second of silence, the manager pipes up "And of course anything we can't fix, we just kill".
Now that was a brilliant off-the-cuff quip.
Good on him !
Those of us in the US
Miss out on all this fun. Connecting a PSU set for 240v to a 120v volt source tends not to produce much in the way of fireworks, though I suppose it may induce some head scratching as to why things don't seem to be working.
Most PSUs these days seem to be 100-240v auto ranging, so hopefully this is mostly a thing of the past for you guys.
110V ? -- I'll raise you 415V .... quess what happens when someone connects up a 3-phase genny but an error is/was made - how long do you think 240V pc power supplies last when 415V is applied to the office UPS ring main?
Clue --- ? ---- not long but slightly longer than the sparkies job ......
Worked in a building in Paddington where the local 'leccy board managed to connect the building's supply across 2 phases, so again 415V.
AFAIK most of the kit survived (it all did on our floor) but we did spend a lot of time (and petty cash) traipsing up and down the Edgware Rd buying up their supply of various fuses
(this was back in the day when every other shop on that stretch of Edgware Rd sold electronics of one kind or another)
Where's the Kaboom!?
I once changed the power supply in an Amstrad 2286, onsite, in front of a customer. That involved taking the machine completely to pieces, removing the power supply, opening the cover for that, remove PCB, unsolder mains cables, solder cables to new PCB, re-install and put back together. Not a particularly hard job, only took a few minutes and the gas powered soldering iron worked nicely. It was only when I went to plug it back in, I discovered the mains cable had been live the whole time.
Knew a science/math teacher who had morphed into 'the computer guy' back in the day. Much to his disgust, the main use of PC's in the school was to teach typing.
So the typing teacher walked into the 'business studies' classroom, switched on the first computer and *BANG* it died. OK, that was loud, but she recovered and bravely approached the second computer. *BANG*, it died. That made her even more edgy, but *BANG* and *BANG* This is not a technical person: she's a typing teacher and this was the 1980's. She approached my friend severely shaken and almost in tears.
Unknown student had switched all the computers to 110....
"Today's story comes from "Thor" (obviously not his name and a sign the Regomiser has watched too many movies in lockdown)"
FWIW, Thor is quite a common name in Scandianavia, even (slightly) increasing in popularity.
And no, it's not connected to either paganism or superhero movies. People just like it as a traditional name.