There’s something about humans and technology that makes them a perfect combo for a disaster waiting to happen. And even though we live in 2020, where tech has become a quintessential part of our daily lives, it doesn’t mean it’s as easy as pie. Don’t believe me?
Ask the tech support workers who have been witness to such monstrosities, it makes you wonder what on earth their clients were thinking. A client upgrading his phone and keeping his old screen protector ‘cause why not? Check. A mouse covered in hand grease up to the point that it’s just a lump of sheer nastiness? Check. Rice inside the iPhone? Sure. Cables tangled so badly, they resemble a wasp nest? Of course.
Thanks (do we really wanna thank them for dis?) to the Reddit community that goes by the all-telling name r/techsupportgore, we now have pure nightmare material for tech support workers or any other person who is no stranger to common sense. Psst! More painfully funny and cringe-worthy tech and gadget disasters waiting in part 1.
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4 Hrs Later...
I Said "Put It In Rice." Not "Put Rice In It."
Apparently Someone Got Tired Of It Ringing, So The Put It In The Oven
The r/techsupportgore subreddit was created on February 29, 8 years ago, and has since grown into a solid community of 467k members. According to the group’s description, it will make you “cringe to the brink of passing out after a few minutes looking at this subreddit.”
Some time ago, Bored Panda contacted Coffeechipmunk, the moderator of the r/techsupportgore subreddit, who said that the most popular posts in the community are usually the ones that show a device a moment away from exploding.
“It’s both dangerous and cool,” explained the mod. “They probably get so big because people post the pics and you think, 'Wow, that's just a bomb at that point.'"Whoever is wondering why the subreddit got so popular, it all comes down to the fact that “Honestly... it's very fun," Coffeechipmunk said.
This Key After 10 Years Of Entering Orders At My Grandmothers Shop
Just Set It On Fire
Broken Clip? No Problem!
“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?”
Essentially, it attracts a bunch of people that enjoy tech and the very worst of it. Also, it’s especially relevant to the current generations Y and Z who basically grew up with tech around them. For these kids and young adults, seeing the picture of someone trying to charge their new laptop without taking it out of the box is essentially priceless.
One Of My Clients Upgraded His Phone But Kept His Old Screen “Protector”
German T-Mobile Found 3 Snakes Inside Their Network Unit
Ah, the irony. The German word for snake is also a term for someone who‘s deceitful. Seeing as our lovely Deutsche Telekom dastardly 'renewed' the contract I had with them (thus making me pay for my phone/internet TWICE for 1,5 years), I vote for this to become their official representation photo.
The English word for snake is also a term for someone is deceitful. "Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made."
Load More Replies...I have had it with these muthascratchin' snakes in this muthascratchin' server!
Wow this is noto a serpente is an aspic viper. Wath out it is dangerous
no there are a few types of snakes in Germany. this looks to be a Kreuzotter. Also left bottom corner it says "Kabel" (german word for cable)
Load More Replies...Would still be running down the street with my hands over my head, screaming
The snake looks pretty cool though. How did it even get there???
exactly what I am wondering. looks like a Kreuzotter though
Load More Replies...I do not like snakes I would expect 1 less worker if that was me...
...would still be running down the street with my hands over my head, screaming.
Snakes are NOPES NOPE NOPE the minute I saw the snakes I would have lost my s**t.
We don't have these kind of snakes in Germany though. I'd like to know where they came from
Load More Replies...In the US, technicians find wasp and hornet nests in the units. It's not uncommon to find rattlers in the units in the central U.S. In Alaska, technicians that work on telephone lines have to work as a team because it is extremely common to come upon bears as they're working.
It's a young European Adder. Totally native to Germany, they were probably looking for somewhere warm.
Load More Replies...Customer Brought In This Imac For Not Powering On... This Is How He Apparently Uses It
The Nastiest Mouse I Have Ever Seen In The Field. Make No Mistake, That Is Not Dust. That Is...uh...hand-Grease
Shipping Thousands Of Dollars Worth Of Computers With No Packaging Material
Amazon did this to me... I ordered 3 6 TB hard drives and they shipped them in a bubble mailer that looked like a truck ran over it. All of the HD boxes were crushed. The drives weren't damaged but I sent them back anyway along with a really stern phone call. They replaced them (actually sent me 4 instead of 3.) Ordered some lavender soap bars for the wife and they packed them in paper and bubble wrap and in an oversized box that was so secure you could have shipped nitroglycerin in. Go figure.
Do You Think It Got Too Hot?
"You Can Fix Your Sisters Phone Right? It Gets Hot Sometimes And Turns Itself Off A Lot". "What's That Smell?" Battery Acid. Literally Battery Acid
why do you still have that phone?! THROW IT INTO A VOLCANO!!!!!
“There’s Something Wrong With The Printer In The Lab...”
User Calls About Disc Being Stuck In Another Computer, Mentions Off Hand About This Laptop. They Had Been Using And Charging It Like This For Weeks...
Brother Wanted A Wireless Mouse, Kid Wanted To Help
After Two Days Of Troubleshooting, The Solution Was To Simply Flip It Upside Down. Of Course
"My PC Won't Turn On"
What the hell? Did they run 220v power to a 110v supply? That's a first for me!
Just One Of Our Printers Doing Its Duty
Someone At Work Secured This Power-Board
People That Use PC Cables To Rest Their Feet
How Not To Transport A Laptop
My Parents New WiFi Mount
Came To A Restaurant With My Dad To Fix Their Internet Issues
"I Forgot That I Left My Laptop On The Top Of My Truck. It Flew Off When I Was On The Highway. Can You Fix It?"
Spaghetti Baguette. "I Was On A School Trip. 6 Electric Sockets For 70 People"
I saw a set-up like this once. I was using a fire extinguisher on it...
Drilled Right Into The Battery
Psu Thermal Throttling
“My Tablet Is Not Charging” - Is This A Battery Or A Pillow?
Customer Tried To Change The Mainboard
This Beauty Came In For Repair Today
My Girlfriend's Xbox 360 Hard Drive Was Rattling... Can I Recover The Data?
Some Beautiful Patchwork
Dispatched About A Computer That Wouldn't Boot, It Was Epoxied To The Desk. They Had To Cut It Out For Us
Hey Boss, The UPS Had Some Crazy European Connector, But I Fixed It!
He Paid Extra For The Expert Installation
Teacher Was "Multitasking" And Set Laptop On Hot Stove... It Still Works Other Than A Few Lines On The Screen
Customer Attempted Their Own Hdmi Repair With A Blowtorch
I Tried To Use My Old Case As A Chair
"I Straightened Bent Pins With Tweezer, But It Won't Work Afterwards"
Go Check The Switch Closet. We Think Something Might Have Gotten Unplugged Somewhere
Today's Spicy Pillow Is Brought To You By: My Dash Cam
Painters: It’ll Be Fine
Yikes... Flooded Bitcoin Mining Farm
Customer: My PC Is Overheating
It's This Kind Of Stupid That Will Forever Keep Me Employed
My Grandmother Used My Ps2 For Her Iron Stand
It's For Curved Monitors, Right?
Never Buy “Refurbished” Controllers
Customer Came In Because Their Phone Said No Sim. I Wonder Why... (Old Sim On Bottom, New Sim On Top For Comparison)
Dear Clients: When I Tell You Good Thermal Paste .. It Is Not Tooth Paste :( This Is The 3rd This Month That The Apu Has Close Up Tooth Paste
Talk About A Security Risk. I Stopped At A Gas Station, And Their Sole, Family Bathroom Hosted The Rack For The Whole Station
My Husband's Delicious Cable Management And He Works In It
New Servers Have Red Cables. Can’t Miss It
Spaghetti city..you couldn’t pay me enough to work with that going on!
Apparently I Type Too Hard
Xbox Optical Drive Stopped Working. I Have Twin Toddlers
A Slight Burning Smell
Melted Monitor. “But I Have To Have A Lamp At My Desk. I Just Push It Behind My Monitor Because It’s Too Bright”
Powered By Static Electricity Through The Carpet While Pacing Around In Socks Waiting For Installs
I Found Out Why Internet Has Been Spotty (Yes, I Have A Rabbit)
Will kinda make a teeny little fire that will probably burn the house down
My Laptop Won't Close And My WiFi Isn't Working
I Remember, Why I Had So Many Bad Memory's About 2000' Era Pcs
*Memories. An apostrophe does not make a word plural. Sorry, this just irritates me.
"Geez I Lost My Charger, Welp I Guess It's Time To Take The Danger Wire Out Of The Drawer"
Dj, Spin That [crap]!
Found Out Why My Monitor Stoped Working
You Guys Probably Get This All The Time But Here Is Mine
It must've melted to be that wavy. SO I WAVE GOODBYE TO THAT!!!
Some Genius Who Closed Last Night, Thought It Would Be A Good Idea To Put Notebook Paper In Our Printer
Ha, I did that in school. The trick is figuring out the line spacing and margins to get it to line up right.
Our Server Room At Work Is A Closed Metal Cabinet With No Ventilation. If This Picture Had Sound Those Fans Would Be Deafening
I am so amused by the US Robotics fax modem next to the electrical tape :D
As Soon As The Expanded Battery Was Replaced, The Hard Drive Started Working Again! It’s A Ipod Classic 1st Generation (10gb Model)
A 10 gb iPod Classic 1st gen?? How much are those worth nowadays? I remember them going for a TON when I was trying to replace my very sad Nano a while ago. How much did it cost to replace the battery??
Well It Still Plays Music
Just Keep Yankin' Pal
Ticket Saying Label Printer Has Stopped Printing
Lightning + HDMI = bad
F You Are A Smoker, Do Not Buy A White Case
Me: What Happened?!? Customer: I Don’t Know
Does This Count?
Why Is My Wireless Mouse Not Working?
Gym Teacher Made $2,000 Mistake
A Computer Tower Needing An External Power Supply. There Is Nothing Behind The Power Supply "Cutout". Basically A Laptop Motherboard In A Case. Also, The Card Slots Aren't Removable
hp crap, i've one as pi-hole in my house, is good because is silent and requires a really low power, god as pi-hole and nas as i use it , otherwise it's a terrible desktop pc ( has a dual core fanless amd cpu )
Customer Said They Opened It To Unplug Battery? This Image Is Cursed
You really have to wonder about those people who drilled holes in their electrical appliances...
Best. Advice. Ever! Just leave it to the experts if you’re out one yourself. You can turn an inexpensive repair into a total loss and have to spend way more to replace your device.
Load More Replies...After seeing how people are throughout 2020, I now understand how these things can happen.
Some people should not be allowed anywhere near technology unless it can be proven they know what to do with it..
I've seen some crazy servers in my 10+ years as a fiber technician. We've had server racks above toilets and above a sink in the janitors closet. Also horrendous cable management, that would have taken 2 minutes to fix before they plugged it in a switch, but was impossible now without disconnects.
I did printer tech support (via phone), here are some of the things I and my colleagues have heard of: "Printer doesn't work". *plenty of troubleshooting, before asking the dumb question : "Is the power cord in?" "Eeeeeh, no" ..... Keys dropped inside the unit that staples/ stacks the documents. ... But my favorite: Kindergarten: Documents got a smudge when doing copies. Turned out it was poop!
I assume they were all taken care of before they exploded or combusted, but I feel you. I think newer batteries aren’t supposed to have whatever it is that makes them swell like that, but it’s still pretty... YIKES anyway
Load More Replies...I serviced a computer control system on a refinery. The customer complained that the plant kept tripping out because of the control system... I found that rats liked the taste of the field signal cables they brought into the bottom of the racks. Nothing wrong with the equipment we sold them. The customer figured out how to block the holes the rats were using. They changed to cables that did not taste so good.
IT person here...had a client tell me that their printer wasn't working. Saw this when I arrived... forked-5fc...3590e2.jpg
I facepalmed a hole into my head reading some of these...XDXDXD
Imagine having to replace 200 desktops. Imagine sending a mail to every user to check if they removed all USB-sticks and Cd's from their desktops. Imagine replacing all desktops and getting flooded the next day with abusive mails of people who lost their Cd's, memory-cards and USB-sticks. That's when you send all replaced pc's to the scrapyard and mail a "Sorry for your loss" message to everyone involved.
Sorry about that, but seriously I worry about many of these people
Load More Replies...Every time I load a page. Really BoredPanda? 2020-12-03...7a-png.jpg
You really have to wonder about those people who drilled holes in their electrical appliances...
Best. Advice. Ever! Just leave it to the experts if you’re out one yourself. You can turn an inexpensive repair into a total loss and have to spend way more to replace your device.
Load More Replies...After seeing how people are throughout 2020, I now understand how these things can happen.
Some people should not be allowed anywhere near technology unless it can be proven they know what to do with it..
I've seen some crazy servers in my 10+ years as a fiber technician. We've had server racks above toilets and above a sink in the janitors closet. Also horrendous cable management, that would have taken 2 minutes to fix before they plugged it in a switch, but was impossible now without disconnects.
I did printer tech support (via phone), here are some of the things I and my colleagues have heard of: "Printer doesn't work". *plenty of troubleshooting, before asking the dumb question : "Is the power cord in?" "Eeeeeh, no" ..... Keys dropped inside the unit that staples/ stacks the documents. ... But my favorite: Kindergarten: Documents got a smudge when doing copies. Turned out it was poop!
I assume they were all taken care of before they exploded or combusted, but I feel you. I think newer batteries aren’t supposed to have whatever it is that makes them swell like that, but it’s still pretty... YIKES anyway
Load More Replies...I serviced a computer control system on a refinery. The customer complained that the plant kept tripping out because of the control system... I found that rats liked the taste of the field signal cables they brought into the bottom of the racks. Nothing wrong with the equipment we sold them. The customer figured out how to block the holes the rats were using. They changed to cables that did not taste so good.
IT person here...had a client tell me that their printer wasn't working. Saw this when I arrived... forked-5fc...3590e2.jpg
I facepalmed a hole into my head reading some of these...XDXDXD
Imagine having to replace 200 desktops. Imagine sending a mail to every user to check if they removed all USB-sticks and Cd's from their desktops. Imagine replacing all desktops and getting flooded the next day with abusive mails of people who lost their Cd's, memory-cards and USB-sticks. That's when you send all replaced pc's to the scrapyard and mail a "Sorry for your loss" message to everyone involved.
Sorry about that, but seriously I worry about many of these people
Load More Replies...Every time I load a page. Really BoredPanda? 2020-12-03...7a-png.jpg