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There's a subreddit called r/techsupportgore, and its name perfectly describes its content: people who fix computers upload photos of the nightmarish scenarios they find themselves in. From melted extension cords to server rooms that look like a jungle, some of these hardware disasters are so bad, you can't help but feel for the folks who have to fix them. So continue scrolling, check out the pics, and don't be surprised if you cringe to the brink of passing out after only a few of them.

#1

Ticket Said "Camera Flickers To Fuzzy Brown Image Often"

Ticket Said "Camera Flickers To Fuzzy Brown Image Often"

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Hans
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is a very accurate description. Bird-friendly design as well. Hans approves.

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One of the moderators of the subreddit, Coffeechipmunk, said the most popular posts there are those that depict situations just moments away from exploding. "[It's] very dangerous, but very cool looking. They probably get so big because people post the pics and you think, 'Wow, that's just a bomb at that point,'" they told Bored Panda.

The subreddit was created on the 29th of February, 2012, and since then it has grown into a 427K member-strong community. They aren't interested in trivial things like cracked screens or anything -- just the filthiest, nastiest gore there is. And it doesn't seem that it's drying out, too. Just think of all the people who acquire a new gadget or an appliance and are so eager to use it, they skip the operation manual (myself included).

#2

“The Printer Isn’t Working”

“The Printer Isn’t Working”

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Ray Heap
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As a tech support guy I can tell you that this happens a lot.

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Gabriel Sbárbaro
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As a tech support guy, I agree... once, we recieved a call from a company on the other side of the city complaining about a printer too... when we arrived we found that the printer was turned of...

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Tovah Roche
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had a co-worker who went on a profanity laced fit one day because he couldn't get the paper drawer to close in the copier. The dumbass was trying to put 8.5" x 14" paper in a 8.5" x 11" slot. How he could not see the paper was too big to fit in the drawer is beyond me because it was visibly sticking out of the drawer.

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Molly
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What the hell? How is the person who did this, even allowed to work in an office?

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Aragorn II Elessar
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My thoughts precisely. We have no printers in Gondor, and even I know that this works not.

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AzKhaleesi
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh holy christ... how do these people survive day to day????

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Matthew Smith
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

People are that thick? how did they get a job in the first place?

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Cristina S.
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

God. I remember working in the office and people constantly came to me to fix the copier (I wasn’t the tech person either). Probably because I was the only one who actually followed the machine’s instructions. I was the only one who could fix it.

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Freya the Wanderer
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Do enough tech support, and you'll encounter a lot of people who are a ramp shy of a cloverleaf.

erin_16 avatar
Erin
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This happened in our office. We told an intern to load 5 reams of paper in the side feeder of the printer and he did not unwrap the reams. So yeah...

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Monika Soffronow
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He did what he, or she, was told to do without having ever been around a copying machine before.

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elfin
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This would be perfectly natural for a newbie who had no idea how a printer worked. One place I worked required a lot of wires to have their ends stripped and then have metal connectors attached. A newbie was told to add the connectors, but no one told her the wires needed to be stripped first. She did exactly what she was told.

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Eva Zaqqum
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No way! :D I used to work in a big office house full a loads of people, each floor had at least three printers in the hall.... Never seen anybody that stupid, really. And sure I worked there as an maintenance girl for the printers. This is just unbelievable for me. :D i remember some really dumb people... But this one? :D crazy

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Lisa Mengucci
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yea, there really are some rocket scientists out there. How do they even get get dressed in the morning?

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katboxjanitor
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Proof you can survive when you are dumber than a box of rocks. Wow

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Id row
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

At what point do you start charging them triple for grief and aggravation for this level of stupidity?

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Pretty Pangolin
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We frequently got phone scams centered around our copier - "Hi, this is Joe Blow from the warehouse. Just calling to confirm the serial number off your copier for your order." My coworkers were very trusting, so these scams would sometimes get pretty far downstream before they were spotted.

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Dippin Dot
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I got a call from an employee (happened twice, same person) where she said the printer was broken. It needed paper. Thank god she retired.

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Jace
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Someone is passive-aggressive, or a malicious compliance expert in that office...

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Kk C-Mcgee
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This takes the cake for "the dumbest human alive" category

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Teresa Groth
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I hope that the interview went well for this bright person? HA!

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Carrie Roettger
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My husband works for a litigation support company and they have 5 printer/copiers. I showed him this picture and I thought he was going to have a serious meltdown.

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Luke Weng
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Plot twist: that's actually a paper with the package printed on it

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Rebekah
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

These are the people who leave the cardboard under the frozen pizza.

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the redqueen
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ok this one is just a small "funny"-but it's a true story: My father used to work for a company, in NC., many, many years ago, that repaired, rented, and provided all kinds of office equipment and supplies. One large account that they had, they retrieved a printer from, for repair. There was a "form" they used, that included several boxes with descriptions, on how the damage occurred. This particular printer, was actually "struck" by lightning, so, the box with the description of : damage caused by "acts of God", was marked. It wasn't until after they noticed what account the printer had come from, that it became funny: ATTN: Jim Bakker C/O : PTL Club ( this was in the 80's, in a department , with nothing but Dad-joke telling guys working there, who laughed about this, for years......)

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Lillukka
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

One of my analysts in the lab told me that a machine wasn't working, and we need to call the expencive maintenance for it. Ask her what's the problem, and she told me it's not printing. Went to check it, and surprice surprice, it wont print if it's out of paper...

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Oskar vanZandt
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There are two trays, maybe the person put the spare paper in the wrong tray? Often customers only use one of the two trays unless they have different types of paper in use, e.g. plain vs letterhead.

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"A lot of the content on the subreddit does rather well, except for people coming for actual tech support, they get redirected to the right subreddit. For actual tech support gore, though, it seems like broken screens and slightly messy wires are the current posts that don't hit too hard," Coffeechipmunk explained.

They think the reason why r/techsupportgore got so popular is quite a simple one: "Honestly... it's very fun," Coffeechipmunk said. "In a time where most of the internet can be incredibly serious and most times saddening or angering, r/techsupportgore is fun because you go on it and you can laugh (and/or cringe) at the crazy posts. Where else can you see a post like, "Wow, these cables really are messy" to, "A lizard fried my motherboard" back to back? I love our growing community. They're a bunch of people that just enjoy tech and to some extent, the worst of it."

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#3

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

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

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If you are, however, afraid that you're gonna end up on this subreddit, there are things you can do to prevent it. There's plenty of information on the internet that you can utilize to become more tech savvy. There are forums, websites, and YouTube channels dedicated to specific fields where you can find comprehensive information on how to reset your iPhone and how to fix a malfunctioning laptop. Heck, if you're feeling really adventurous, you can even learn how to code.

When it comes to technology, the information is out there and it's available. You don't have to study computer science to know this stuff. Like a blacksmith who has an exact feel for how he needs to beat a piece of metal in order to mold it, knowledge and regular use of it will make you better at technology.

#4

I Can't Even...

I Can't Even...

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#6

First Day On Job; Set Up Those 4 Wireless Speakers For You.

First Day On Job; Set Up Those 4 Wireless Speakers For You.

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Ola Polowczyk
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And here, dear children, you can see speakers resting in their natural habitat

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#7

Told A User To Shutdown Their Virus Infected Computer And Ship It Back And To Label It As Infected. They Did Good

Told A User To Shutdown Their Virus Infected Computer And Ship It Back And To Label It As Infected. They Did Good

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#8

Ancient Temple Of Asus

Ancient Temple Of Asus

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Mark
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well seeing as there is nothing connected to it its just looks like a mother board covered in a load of c**p.

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#9

I Need Somewhere To Set This Candle... Oh Here’s A Good Spot!

I Need Somewhere To Set This Candle... Oh Here’s A Good Spot!

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#10

"My Fan Was Making Too Much Noise!"

"My Fan Was Making Too Much Noise!"

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Hans
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not comprehending technology is one thing. Not comprehending basic physics is yet another. How do such people survive?

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#11

I Should Tell Them It's Not A Touch Screen...

I Should Tell Them It's Not A Touch Screen...

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#12

"My PC Shut Off Suddenly And Won't Turn Back On"

"My PC Shut Off Suddenly And Won't Turn Back On"

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#13

Quality Repost Here. (I Assume This Has Been Posted Before)

Quality Repost Here. (I Assume This Has Been Posted Before)

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Bill
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

How old is this picture? I haven't used a floppy in over 25 years

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#14

One Of My Co-Workers Was Eager To Unpack Her New Mouse

One Of My Co-Workers Was Eager To Unpack Her New Mouse

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#15

“My Space Heater Stopped Working”

“My Space Heater Stopped Working”

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#17

AT&T Has No Idea Why Their DSL Services Is So Poor. It Must Be My Wires In My House. No I Don't Think So

AT&T Has No Idea Why Their DSL Services Is So Poor. It Must Be My Wires In My House. No I Don't Think So

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#18

Someone Unplugged Something And Now The Office Internet Doesn't Work...

Someone Unplugged Something And Now The Office Internet Doesn't Work...

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#19

Customer Came In With His iPhone, His Glass Cracked, He Thought He Could Peel Off The Glass So He Wouldn't Notice The Crack Anymore

Customer Came In With His iPhone, His Glass Cracked, He Thought He Could Peel Off The Glass So He Wouldn't Notice The Crack Anymore

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#20

Plugging In Your USB Receiver With A Hammer For That Flush Mounted Look

Plugging In Your USB Receiver With A Hammer For That Flush Mounted Look

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#21

"It Didn't Plug In, So I Bent The Pins To Make It Fit"

"It Didn't Plug In, So I Bent The Pins To Make It Fit"

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#22

Don't Forget To Tip Your Server

Don't Forget To Tip Your Server

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#23

My Friend Drilled Holes In His Mouse To Make It Lighter So It Would Give Him An "Advantage"

My Friend Drilled Holes In His Mouse To Make It Lighter So It Would Give Him An "Advantage"

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#24

My Grandpa Thought His Headphone Jack Was A Screw Hole

My Grandpa Thought His Headphone Jack Was A Screw Hole

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#25

Work For Local High School, The Disc Drive Wasn’t Working. Probably Been There Since 2012

Work For Local High School, The Disc Drive Wasn’t Working. Probably Been There Since 2012

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#27

User "Dropped It Walking To The Car." It Came In The Day After The Super Bowl

User "Dropped It Walking To The Car." It Came In The Day After The Super Bowl

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#28

"But I Like It This Way, It's Convenient." -My Tech Savvy Aunt

"But I Like It This Way, It's Convenient." -My Tech Savvy Aunt

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#29

Round 2 Of How Students Treat Their Chromebooks In My School, I Have No Words

Round 2 Of How Students Treat Their Chromebooks In My School, I Have No Words

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#30

“My Flash Drive Won’t Show Up And I’ve Literally Tried Everything!”

“My Flash Drive Won’t Show Up And I’ve Literally Tried Everything!”

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Note: this post originally had 53 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.