Sometimes, helpdesk technicians can't resist playing jokes on the more "technologically challenged" users. This time, it backfired!
A couple of years ago, C.B. worked as a technician at a helpdesk. One day, he got a call from a user who complained that her floppy drive was malfunctioning. She explained that she saved her data to a disk every night. But, lately, the next morning the drive claimed that the disk was corrupt or needed to be formatted.
A technician was dispatched and went to the user's desk. The floppy drive was replaced, tests showed it worked fine, and everybody was happy. Except, of course, the next morning the user called back with the same problem.
The technician went back and replaced the system board thinking the floppy controller may be the cause of the problem. Again, everything checked out fine, until the next morning. You guessed it - the computer claimed the disk was corrupt.
The technician made the trek back and forth for several more days, replacing cables, running hardware diagnostics, moving the PC around and so on. Finally, the frustrated guy asked the user to show him exactly what she did every night before she left.
Slowly, as if demonstrating something to a child, she grabbed a new floppy disk out of a box the technician brought with him. Next, she placed the disk in the drive and closed the door (this was a 5 1/4 floppy) and copied the data to it. Then she removed the floppy from the drive and reached behind her desk.
Most of us would probably have dropped our jaws or at least winced when she pulled a magnet the size of a pineapple off the side of a file cabinet and used it to pin the disk against the side of the cabinet. This technician, however, kept a stone-carved poker face.
"Ok, we'll check that disk in the morning" he said and left.
The next morning, the user returned to find her oversized magnet missing. Instead, she found the disk in a Tyvek disk sleeve taped to the cabinet with the words "Super Floppy Protector - Protects your floppies from all kinds of computer malfunctions" written on the front. She tested the disk and - Ta-dah! - it worked! She made one last call to the helpdesk to thank the technician for the fantastic protector.
Unfortunately, the joke backfired. As word spread over the next few days, the helpdesk was flooded with calls for these "Super Floppy Protectors" that were rumored to do everything but cure cancer and wash your car.
Do you have your own blooper? Send it in and claim your fame.
