Job: cashier
Item doesn’t scan
Customer: “That means it’s free, right?”
🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
Only about 4 weeks in as a cashier and I’ve heard this enough to last me a lifetime.
Can you change the report for this one customer who has a nonstandard completely fucking stupid set up that none of your collection points account for and goes against the entire point of this report?
Well, maybe not those exact words. It’s more like:
- rep: customers XYZ doesn’t like what they see on the report
- me: well tell them to clean up their shit and stop leaving orphaned systems in their environment
- rep: well can’t you just exclude the orphaned ones
- me: the point of the report is to help you clean up your environment. If they did that it would show improvement week over week until it got to the levels they want to see.
- rep: they don’t want to do that, they just want them excluded from the report
- me: no
I hope this customer is being charged for these orphaned systems. They’ll care more if it’s costing them money.
My husband did report-writing for a few years. #GIGO
Patron using the computer: “Your Google is broken! No matter what I search, it just shows me books!”
Me: “…you’re typing in the library’s catalog. This isn’t Google.”
I was going to suggest putting signs up that clearly state the search bar isn’t Google, but I realized that even if you did, they would likely get ignored. You may even already have them up.
I worked in a office supplier at one point. People would enter the office, put some documents on the first desk they see and look at the guy sitting there. No hello… No sentence… Nothing… That is usually the point when we knew what was up. The guy would look at the documents and say "you aren’t at the right place. Wrong floor. Wrong door. " They would look at us in shock. Sometimes complain that you couldn’t tell where you are. It was always the same. They wanted to get something from the government. They had an office in the same building. There were multiple big sign. There was literally 2 signs outside telling you which floor. Obviously our office had a sign too. They passed at least 3 signs in an office building while they were looking where to go… People don’t read signs… They just don’t.
Used to work in this exact environment. This tormented me daily.
Along with crap like “You look pretty smart.” or “Hey I bet you’re a genius.”
Or just typing their email address into the URL bar.
Or just barking at you “PRINT.”
Or “Why this no work, I click ‘E’ for ‘internet’.” (We had a stubbornly archaic IT lead who insisted on keeping Internet Explorer around for ages.)
In Australia, if it scans higher than the price on the shelf, it is free.
Maybe that’s the policy at some stores, but according to the ACCC, it has to be sold at the cheaper price, or not sold at all.
Correct. However, Woolworths, Coles, Aldi, and some IGA stores are signatories to the voluntary code of practice for computerised checkout systems in supermarkets.
Generally, this means that if an item is scanned at the checkout at a higher price than it says on the shelf or as advertised, a customer is entitled to receive the first item free and all multiples of the same item at the lower price.
So not all stores, but generally speaking it’s a thing. I’ve seen it in action with a cocky teenager demand his coke free, and got it.
Huh. That actually sounds familiar now that you write it out in full. I guess we’re both right.
“Can we integrate AI into this app?”
“Can you do a browser version of this high-end VR training application?” somehow makes a browser version “Why isn’t this running on my iPhone 3GS?!”
To be fair, WebXR does make VR stuff possible in a browser. But I guess that wasn’t what they wanted.
I think their point was that it’s just never gonna run on a phone that came out in 2009.
From many years ago, in a previous career.
Job: IT
Issue: hardware of some kind is broken
Customer, incredulous: “…but it wasn’t broken yesterday!”
Yeah, no shit. That’s how things break. They’re fine, then become broken. Why is this even being discussed?
Maybe a niche issue, but “that doesn’t scale!” In the context of software development.
We’re writing software for usually very well defined user groups, but so many of the architects and seniors want to build a second Netflix, which costs 4 times as much as the simple solution and in the end usually isn’t even better, because those morons have no idea how to do that.
Currently, I’m in a project where I fought tooth and nail to avoid having a micro service architecture for a batch job that inserts less than a million entries per day.
premature optimization is a root of all evil.
also when those morons decide to do ‘microservices’ but end up creating glorified SOA with one messy DB where half the tables are not even used by anything, updates in place are the standard and there is nothing like one team per service, but instead everyone is expected to navigate millions of lines of spaghetti code with poor documentation, barely any reuse and inconsistencies all across the board with this oh too-fucking-common entity service anti-pattern.
and so much fucking coupling that you better start deploying your dev cluster just right after waking up so it maybe is up and running by the time your daily is over.
Fun fact, I used to work at a company where a lot of projects use Elixir and a bulk share of my coworkers have been outspoken critics of microservices precisely because OTP manages to power fault tolerant and scalable systems but not by insane levels of complexity like kubernetes does but by CoC that rarely gets in your way.
Wow, Elixir and OTP. I envy you.
so many of the architects and seniors want to build a second Netflix
Good old Resume-Driven-Development
I wouldn’t even call it that. It’s a weird lack of a sense of scale combined with organizational hurdles.
They basically can’t estimate, how much resources a proper app would need and they don’t know how to manage teams to work on a common codebase. So they simply draw a diagram of the functionalities, spin out each block as a “Service”, assign that to a team and call it a day.
I’ve talked to several of them about this and I had to do very simple math directly in front of them to convince them. I’ve had to explain to a grown man, an experienced engineer, that 16 cores and 96gb memory are more than enough to handle a million simple inserts per day in a batch mode. He wanted to split the job into 4 services, each essentially running 10 lines of actual business logic, each using the resources mentioned above. Absolute madness.
I work retail. People walk up to me like I’m a robot.
“Duck tape??” They just… Bark at me. I have gotten to the point that I refuse to tell them where something is until they treat me like a human being and ask a very simple question, “where’s duck tape?”
Makes me think of this guy.
You’re gonna hate me for this but since it’s your job you might want to learn it’s “duct” tape.
But that’s not what the customer asked for.
There is such a thing as duck tape though, It’s a brand of duct tape
Not what they asked for. Duck tape is a brand, and is in my department. Duct tape is in plumbing which also does HVAC products, and is actual foil tape with a peel off backing, actually used for ductwork.
Job: Software Dev
Internal stakeholder or C-Suite: presents nebulous idea for workflow/product/feature with no actual end goal
“We have a CRITICAL need for this product. It will REVOLUTIONIZE everything we do here. The stakes could not be higher. THIS MUST BE COMPLETED ASAP”
My boss: Okay. We will move heaven and Earth to get this done for you.
Me: Works 60 hours a week for two months to ensure the new product is successful
Also me: checking usage statistics six months later…last used by me during go live testing
I hate my life.
“That’s literally the first sentence in my email”
I do tech support on the phone.
When I can’t take remote control, the person on the other side is not following instructions, and they just keep repeating “no, not working!” while trying multiple things one after another, that I can’t see.
Like, I can understand not being good with technology, I’ll be patient. But if I tell them to try loading the site in a private/incognito window and they’re telling me “but I tried in Firefox and it’s not working”, it’s not what I’m asking them to do. And if they’re like “wait, I’ll try again in Chrome” then repeat “nope, not working!”, it’s still not what I’m asking them to try!
On a related note, error messages. When I ask you what it says, tell me what it says, not what you think it means. If it meant what you thought it meant, you wouldn’t be asking me for help.
I got a ticket for a remote site that said “there’s an error message and the computer doesn’t start” . there was no clarification what the error message actually said.
I spent about 20 minutes driving out there, turn the computer on:
“System battery voltage low. Press F2 to continue”
I did not have a battery with me. If they just said what the error was, I would have brought a battery with me. Now they have to wait for another tech to be scheduled to drive out to this location which could be a week later.
When I used to do phone support I stopped telling them the entire picture and started saying things like look in the left hand side of your screen what do you see there…they say blah blah blah and I go click on blah blah blah then I move on to the next step what do you see on your screen now. Seemed to get me to my goal quicker then OK I’ll have you open a chrome window and do xyz because they won’t do that.
If they waste my time ignoring my instructions, I return the favour with a lengthy response on every infraction with “the need to follow a structured troubleshooting methodology in order to be able to resolve the root cause at hand, including strict adherence to each individual step in the provided action plan, such that we can progress toward blah blah blah…”
After a few tries they usually get the message that it’ll be faster to just follow the instructions 😄
I always wanted to ask someone in tech support: is there a useful shorthand to indicate “I have a decent understanding of how to operate my computer, and I’m calling you because I don’t have the security clearance to fix this myself”?
I have no problem following the specific instructions I’m being given, but we could speed this along if you know you can just tell me to “open command prompt” instead of explaining the steps of how to do so.It’s been over 20 years since I did phones, but I don’t imagine it has changed that much. The “techie” callers fall into two categories: Those who actually know what they’re doing and those who think they know what they’re doing. The latter group are the worst of all callers. I’d rather be on the phone to an 80-year-old who has trouble finding the start menu than with a caller who thinks they know more than they actually do.
If you honestly do know what you are talking about, the way to get this to tech support is to tell them what prompted you to call. An actual competent caller will open the call with something like:
“Hi, this is Cile. I’m calling from ______. My UserID/AccountNo etc is _______. I’m having a problem with ___________. The error message is [EXACT MESSAGE]. I have done a, b, c, but that resolved it.”
For your example where it’s an access matter, adapt the above accordingly. Something like “I need to do ________, but I lack the access to [steps you would take if you did have access]”.
Finally:
Unless you are experiencing something super weird, the tech support people have probably seen this problem before and know how to solve it. Follow their instructions even if it’s something you wouldn’t have done. Even if their way seems less efficient. There will be a reason why they’re doing it that way, and it won’t always be apparent to you.
“X is down/broke.” No, Kelly, the internet isn’t “down.” You typed the URL wrong in your browser.
People will state it like the entire company has lost internet connectivity, or an entire department cannot access files or run a certain program, when actually, only a single user is having a problem.
Also people not knowing the difference between log out, restart, and shutdown. Even after explaining it to them.
Ive already said it on another comment here, and i no long work support so im a user myself now but, FUCK USERS!
At one point, I had to explain to my dad that we’re paying for internet access, not for all servers to be available and sufficiently fast. He was not happy about that.
It’s frustrating when you know there’s a huge gap between your comprehension and theirs, but they think you’re the idiot.
Yes but you see if I close the lid, then it’s off. And that’s why my system has an up time of 208 hours.
208 hours.
Those are rookie numbers. I’ve had users that didn’t ever shut down. A power outage was the only relief that poor system got.
I can’t really sympathise with you here. You’re clearly an IT guy, so the difference between log out, restart and shut down is as natural to you as breathing. For the average person is not that intuitive. For many people the computer is “on” when they press the power button and enter their username and password. And the blurring of the distinction is increased by most people having a smartphone where just lifting it up to your face wakes it up and logs you in (technically) at the same time.
I know you’re explaining it to them, but if that’s not something that they live and breathe, they’re just going to forget the explanation. I’m a molecular biologist, so to me the differences between genome, transcriptome and proteome are bleeding obvious, but I have a colleague who’s not a scientist but needs to become familiar with these terms. I explained them to her last week in an meeting that lasted an hour, but this week I had to do that again. She’s not stupid, it’s just all very abstract to her.
If people too stupid to use computer, their computer license should be revoked, because they clearly cheated on the test
I’m mean, it’s literally in the name. These are not concepts that require a degree to understand, much less an hour long meeting.
Logout means ending your user session, restart means your computer turns off and then comes back on, and shutdown means it turns off and stays off.
The buttons are all in the start menu, they are clearly marked, and these concepts have existed for 30 years at least.
It’s like driving a car for decades and not knowing what the difference between reverse, drive, and neutral are.
I still think your promoting the view of “this is obvious to me so it should be obvious to everyone”. Even your explanation would be confusing for someone who’s not an IT guy - what does it mean “end my user session?” People rarely go to the start menu to deal with their computers’ “on-ness”, they just press the hardware button that has an incomplete circle with a line on top or often no marking or label at all. Or they close the lid and that makes them think of their laptop as “off”.
It’s not about being “obvious.” It’s about understanding the most basic concepts involved with using a piece of equipment that is central to their job and has been that way for decades.
I wouldn’t want ride in a car with somebody that couldn’t remember what the difference between red, yellow, and green traffic lights are, or couldn’t remember how to activate their turn signals or windshield wipers. And I certainly wouldn’t want them operating a vehicle as a core part of their everyday job.
Now I’ll grant that in general, a car is far more dangerous than a computer. But the principle still holds, these are not tough concepts to understand, takes literally 5 minutes to explain at most. Plus, they haven’t changed in at least 30 years, so it’s not some new fangled techno-babble.
People should know basic concepts about tools without which they can’t do any part of their job.
Your colleague will learn this terminology at some point. I’m sure her job isn’t litterally juggling these three terms all day every day, otherwise I’d expect her to already have come in with that knowledge too.
When I used to work in a supermarket, I hated the stupid customers. This is a classic example. One of the soft drink companies fairly regularly gave away 50% free.
Therefore, for the same price, the bottle would be 3 litres in size rather than 2.
The amount of people who didn’t like that.
“Excuse me, where’s the 2 litre bottle?” “Oh, it’s the same price miss, you get an extra litre for free.” “But I don’t want 3 litres, I only want two!” Sigh!
To be fair, if someone is trying to cut down on how much soda they’re drinking…
…well, in that case, they probably wouldn’t be asking for a two-liter bottle, but…
I’m with the customer on this one. Soft drinks only stay good so long so having them in a larger container works against you. Also, having a larger container means needing more space to store it, and it is heavier and more unwieldy to carry. For some that extra litre of cola might be more like a white elephant than a boon.
Yeah, when I hauled my groceries by bicycle, I wouldn’t want the larger sizes… But I also wouldn’t be bitching out the person who isn’t involved in the decision process…
People asking me if I’ve tried turning it off and then turning back on again, sometimes while seeming to imply next I should try reversing the polarity, inserting blinker fluid into it, and giving it a good talk like it’s a homegrown tomato or something.
Did you try burning sage?
I was working at a tool checkout in my shop for a while, and the sheer amount of ignorance and repetition blew me away.
People would come in, see signs stating things like “Don’t throw your hazardous waste in this trash can!”, and people would straight up ignore it. Things got so bad that we had to stop offering a trash can in our part of the shop.
A lot of people would also just repeat the same statements, day after day, week after week. For example, we have iPads that contain maintenance manuals. We have to update those manuals every week, on the same day. Without fail, the same people always forget which day Update Day is, and have to ask.
The worst ones happen when people come to turn in their gear before end of shift. Most people are fine, but every toolbox has to be thoroughly inspected before being scanned back in. Often, somebody misplaced a tool, left garbage in the box somewhere, or there’s some other undocumented discrepancy.
Most people are cool about it, and willing to make things right. But, some people act like you’ve purposely screwed them over, or react with total apathy and disrespect. I don’t make the rules, man, I’m just trying to do my job.
I don’t make the rules, man, I’m just trying to do my job.
I feel this so much.
“These Samsung appliances look nice…”
Yes they do— and that’s all they do well. That, and break in expensive ways, often and early.
Avoid Samsung appliances.
That’s disappointing since Samsung is such a big and well-known brand. Good to know though, so thanks.
Even as an iPhone guy, I’ll say that their consumer electronics are just fine. Very good, even.
But their appliances are crap. Apparently, they used to be quite good, but once they got a bug up their ass about sticking a bonkers amount of tech into them, they started cutting costs on build quality, so they just don’t last more than a few years before parts start crapping out.
Companies like LG and GE are much better at balancing tech, quality, reliability, and price points.
I can’t stand “fancy” electronic appliances. I hate all the musical beeping and half the time the panels don’t even recognize my finger taps. It makes doing chores more frustrating than it already is.
We recently bought a fixer-upper and have had to replace a bunch of old appliances. I told my husband the simpler/cheaper the appliance is, the better. Knobs over digital displays.
The only time I like the newer digital versions is with microwave ovens.
Get commercial washer and dryer, Speed Queen, on the used market.
A used model will cost as much as a new Samsung consumer model, but it’ll last far longer and has replaceable hardware inside.
it will also tear your clothes apart while using 3x the water and power as a newer model LG or GE without an agitator
no thanks!
Right, right.
Because commercial laundromats don’t have to pay for water or energy.
Pray tell, how would a washer tear your clothes when they’re the same washing mechanism as a consumer model - a tub with paddles on the sides.
Donyour clothes get torn at the laundromat? Not seeing how they’d stay in business if that were the case.
Right, because I want to pay a huge amount for water and power like a commercial laundromat does. Lol.
I love it when people argue with me like I don’t do this for a living.
I hate to break it to you, but even with the knobby versions, it’s still electronic under the hood. But I know what you mean about the annoying bleeps and bloops. Again, though, the Samsungs were always the worst offenders in that regard, omg…
GEs make little noise, and LGs are pretty low-key. Whirlpools and Maytags just beep a couple of times.
Of course they’ve been electronic for decades, but lately it seems they have overdone it so the thing actually becomes less convenient. Kinda like in cars.
And some of the high-end models yes, but there’s still a wide range available with different levels of “functionality.”
You should check out Electrolux. They make some really nice laundry appliances without any smart features at all. They’re great.
My husband and I literally just unwrapped a new Whirlpool washer.
Have you ever rebuilt and repaired old electrical appliances? An old microwave with a turn dial timer is most certainly not electronic. Electrical sure, but not electronic.
Those only basically have a mechanical timer dial, high voltage transformer, high voltage diode, magnetron, light, fan, turntable motor, fuse, and some safety switches for the door.
Absolutely nothing electronic about them, they’re as dumb as an old-school toaster, they just happen to use high voltage to generate microwaves instead.
i’m not referring to old appliances
Well, generally speaking, most people discussing the benefits of appliances and stuff with turn dials are referring to older/simpler appliances, back before they started adding in unnecessary electronics and ‘features’ and stuff.
I’ve never actually seen any microwave with a turn dial that has any sort of electronics in them, those are all built almost identical in schematics, aside from different sizes and wattages.
When I bought my house it came with an induction stove.
I thought it was pretty great being able to boil water in 2 minutes.
It was a GE profile, and it just suddenly mysteriously failed on me. Kind of sucks, it wasn’t that old of a stove, maybe 5 years.
The board that it needed to have replaced cost $1,700.
So I said fuck that, I went and bought a Whirlpool induction stove. $900.
It has worked really well for the last year and a half, but the one thing that I truly and honestly despise about it is that the controls are capacitive touch and that means instead of flicking your wrist and setting it on medium heat you have to hit a button to turn on the stove and then hit a different button three or four times to adjust it down to medium heat and it doesn’t always respond to the button touches.
If I end up having to buy a stove again in the future, it’s got to have a knob on it. It’s such a tiny thing but it’s so fucking annoying.
I’ll say this about GE appliances, until they were bought by Haier in 2016, they sucked too. But once they were bought out by Haier, their quality improved remarkably, and so did their customer service. They’re pretty great now.
I’ve had exactly two dishwashers completely stop functioning in my entire life. Both were GE post Haier and within the last 6 years. Also had a Haier made GE microwave completely fail.
I replaced the microwave (and the matching stove) with Samsung and haven’t had one bit of trouble with either.
I thought I had just gotten a lemon, but three separate failures within a couple of years has really soured my opinion of them. I was a lot more worried about the Samsung appliances I bought, but they’ve been a dream.
Note: I am not recommending Samsung appliances, at all. I got an amazing deal and fully expected them to fail shortly after the warranty was up. I’ve had to repair several of my friends and family’s washers, dryers, and refrigerators. Samsung’s poor reputation is well earned, I just got lucky
Ironically just repaired my samsung dryer. Two drum felt gaskets, and the belt since it was disassembled. Front gasket failed and tore out. After examining all components, the torque of belt drive pulls on one side of drum, this puts extra pressure one one set of the drum rollers (Rh side). The rear one is near the hot air duct so it gets more extreme working conditions. bearing has worn shaft slightly and plastic wheel was partially fatigued, so looks like that rollet was dragging and so belt pulls down more front of drum pinching seal from extended weight and torque. The paint was worn off the housings in this section so felt gasket had more friction in that zone. The rear roller near the heating generator duct is a bad design. especially since it hangs off the back housing which is quite flexible in that area. Thankfully the repair was simple, other than completr disassembly , but not convinced it will last long.
Note for those reading -
This doesn’t apply in Europe, or large swathes of the planet. Samsung appliances are excellent.
The US has virtually nonexistent consumer protection laws, so companies will get away with selling poor quality, because they can.
See the Hyundai scandal. Only happened in one country, because it could
Breathe easy, EU folks
How can I buy a European made(?) samsung fridge?
Go to Europe
Enter shop
Buy fridge
Carry home
Realise it doesn’t work because you have girly electricity
It won’t fit in the overhead compartment.
Really? How can a company make terrible appliances for a single country? They’re not made domestically.
Same factory just send the units that normally wouldn’t be sellable (defects and such) but still function to the US
You say that, but my experience is different. After my Samsung washing machine failed, I took it apart and found blatant evidence of planned obsolescence. If the units elsewhere are good, then the ones in the US aren’t just the same things with defects, but rather ones with spider arms cast from an entirely different metal alloy.
Fair enough, I was just guessing at a way one country could receive only/mostly inferior products
So long as voltage and frequency match
The massive volume of sales for North America is too big to be met by factory defects. They’d have to have entire factories making defects.
It only works if that one country is the good ol’ US of A. Lol
Just because all defect stock are routed to the US inventory, doesn’t mean that US inventory is made up of all defect stock.
as someone who deals with this professionally, i assure you: they are.
every samsung appliance consistently fails in one of a few ways, so much so that it’s not simply a matter of by-chance defects. they’re design flaws.
With Samsung it’s almost always caused in my experience by either the use of plastics that are not up to the stress requirements of the application, or the use of electronics that are not capable of standing up to the use duration.
Samsung appliances that I have had have always had either broken plastics or fried circuit boards.
And they’ve got to know that these things break because there are always replacement parts for the specific ones that break, but if you’re not a DIYer you will pay 70% of the cost of the original appliance to install the part that broke.
Sure, if they were designed that way, I would not call them defects either.
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You’re missing one big thing - there’s only one country that has horrendous consumer rights laws and a huge market, and 110v electric
Well worth making models just for that one market
ahem the actual standard is 120volts, but can tolerate down to 110volts
That’s irrelevant to the advice in this thread
Hope you get your adenoids sorted
Why does the voltage matter?
If there’s only one country that uses 110v, you have to make an appliances for that country specifically. If that country has really shitty consumer rights laws, why not also make the appliances shitty?
Damn… it’s all a 110 volt conspiracy
The main manufacturing of Samsung appliances takes place in South Korea, with a washing machine manufacturing plant also located in South Carolina, USA.
The main manufacturing of Samsung appliances takes place in South Korea, with a washing machine manufacturing plant also located in South Carolina, USA.
It’s more than just their washing machines
For sure, their are model numbers specific to regions. Sometimes you see US Products available for various manufacturers and some say not for sale in Canada, which could be distributor rights or maybe won’t pass canadian electric standard or warranty requirements
That usually has to do with the fact that American appliances are 110 V for everything but ovens and dryers
We have 110 /120 as our standard regular voltage also
I never even considered this and now I am enraged.
I am surprised to hear this. I have not had any issues with my Samsung devices. I have a fridge, washer, dryer and television.
My entire Samsung appliance experience is one dishwasher but it was so shit that I was happy when it broke after 18 months and I will never buy another Samsung appliance. Didn’t clean things and smelled like death if we didn’t manually clean it once a week and run it empty on sanitize and never leave the door closed. Searching the internet told me it was widespread and people were considering class action lawsuits.
It looked nice though. And was quiet.
I seem to have had great luck with the brand if these comments are any real sample.
The only Samsung products I have never had not fail on me is RAM and ssds, and the only reason the ssds have not failed on me is that I’ve not bought their latest ones that have sudden mysterious failure issues.
Every single Samsung product I have ever owned has broken, and almost always when it’s not actively in use. I go out of my way to tell people about this and to attempt to dissuade them from using Samsung products because of this.
Any recs for something halfway decent in the US?
Can you get Bosch? Or Miele if you’re flush.
