NSFW: tech support workers share their oddest job experiences

It’s not unusual to hear stories about tech support workers rolling their eyes at peoples’ pleas for help. It turns out there are thousands of good reasons for that. Just take a look at the photographic evidence on why some of us can’t be called “tech-savvy.”  

There’s a ton of pictures on r/techsupportgore that perfectly fit the name of the subreddit. Dreadful technology mishaps that people working in tech support encounter daily: USB’s hammered in slots, melted PC cases, and pillowed batteries - we’ve collected it all, proving that sometimes the DIY approach is not the way to go.

With almost half a million subscribers and eight years of runtime, “tech support gore” has a lot to offer, accurately describing the content as ‘you will cringe to the brink of passing out after a few minutes looking at this subreddit’.

“Plugging in your USB receiver with a hammer for that flush-mounted look.”

“My grandpa thought his headphone jack was a screw hole.”

Some Reddit users expressed doubt since they saw no logic in putting a screw in a hole simply because it is open. One user replied, claiming that this is exactly the reaction to 99% of the issues users have caused themselves.

“The Internet is down? Better pull the power plug from the company file server and then call tech support to complain that they don’t have the Internet nor internal services anymore.”

“I left my old MacBook on my shelf and didn’t use it for over one year. That’s what happened.”

“Got to keep the Press brake working.”

“The Press brake from Ursviken has been operating almost 24/7 in 10 years now with almost no problems. But I guess time takes its toll on things. The original cooling fan lost two blades and the bearing. So a little ghetto mod until a spare fan arrives.”

“Someone unplugged something, and now the office internet doesn’t work.”

“Oh, and can you check the speaker? It sounds a bit muffled.”

“I straightened bent pins with a tweezer, but it won’t work afterwards.”

The author of the post claimed that the client was somewhat pedantic and was not satisfied with the “straightness” of the pin. The “maintenance” that the client had managed to finish himself is said to have taken him over two hours.

“My space heater stopped working.”

“My friend’s mom needed to change the “batteries” in her thermostat.”

“End-user had a heater next to the PC which was randomly shutting off, and she thought she had smelled burning a couple of times. It is literally screaming.”

The author of the post explained that the client said she did not notice that the heater affected the PC casing. However, the heater damaged the computer over multiple uses, and the mangled computer was discovered only when it was due for a software update.

“Our entire factory relies on this.”

“My girlfriend’s Xbox 360 hard drive was rattling. Can I recover the data?”

“Apparently, she hadn’t noticed until the mousepad started detaching itself from the laptop.”

Users commenting on the thread warned others to never try poking or deflating the batteries as they would explode and melt the device and fill the air and possibly their lungs with toxic fumes.