I loved it, really I did. Reminds me of 'The IT Crowd' from Channel4 in the UK. Really brilliant sketch. We should see more of those here ;) I didn't expect to find something like this on Engadget.
now imagine that the guy that was giving instructions was one of dell's people that book would of been on the ground in the corner of the room and the person would still not know how to open the book.
i'm sure anyone who works in IT can relate to this. It's what happens when the techni-capable have to deal with techni-tarded.
I've had people call because their computers wouldn't start... and it was because they somehow knocked the powercord out. happened more than once. i had a friend get a call from someone... it turns out their power was out. lol
Hey, just think for a second; we poor slobs at the other end of that 1-800 number HAVE to ask the obvious "is the computer plugged in" questions for a REASON; someone else out there isn't as smart as you... and we can't SEE your computer, otherwise a simple glance would answer most of our prefunctory questions.
FWIW, the 'end user' seemed rather attentive and cogent; better than most I dealt with; but even having five or six calls like this EACH day for a month when some new feature comes out is enough to make you chew the microphone off your headset; so glad I quit before I got an ulcer...
I do Tech Support For Dial up and DSL and I hate asking these stupid questions but we have to because supprisingly some people just don't have any idea what there doing. Such as "Is your computer plugged into the phone line?" "I had my phone line Disconnected" "Oh..." or one of my favorites a co-worker got is this woman had a chewed up phone cord behind her computer and he said "Oh, sometimes pets can get back there and they will chew on the wires" she said "Oh I don't have pets, but I have kids." "Okay... Yeah..."
Still the worst game to play is find the start button "Please Click Start" "Start?" "Yes, check the bottom left corner of the screen" "I don't see it" "Does this computer have windows?" "Yes Wondows TP" "Okay, check the other corners of the screen, its comonly a green button" "Not there" "Okay, look at your keyboard. do you see the windows key, it looks like 4 squares" "No" "Okay..." ~45 minutes later~ "Yes that is the start button" "No its not, it says its the Begin button" "You have issues" "What was that" "Nothing"
Hehe, this is a rather old norwegian sketch. Good job my the translator, but there is some funny comments not texted. Anyways, it seems it's cut a bit early, I think there is one more funny point in the sketch
The helpdesk guy gives the user the manual of the book, in book format. And then the user says the manual has the same problem (it lies the wrong way and the user cannot open it).
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kevin Gysling @ Feb 17th 2007 3:57PM
Hillarious
Max v W @ Feb 17th 2007 3:48PM
I loved it, really I did. Reminds me of 'The IT Crowd' from Channel4 in the UK. Really brilliant sketch. We should see more of those here ;) I didn't expect to find something like this on Engadget.
ferny @ Feb 17th 2007 4:00PM
now imagine that the guy that was giving instructions was one of dell's people that book would of been on the ground in the corner of the room and the person would still not know how to open the book.
Jonathan Worrel @ Feb 17th 2007 4:09PM
reminds me of Dell.
mentalsticks @ Feb 17th 2007 4:11PM
"Hi, is this the helpdesk? I can't seem to find the information I'm looking for."
"Have you tried closing the book and opening it again?"
Hansi @ Feb 17th 2007 4:30PM
Great video, and with quite a language mix, with Norwegian voice, Danish text in the bottom and English text on the top.
Grant @ Feb 17th 2007 4:34PM
i'm sure anyone who works in IT can relate to this.
It's what happens when the techni-capable have to deal with techni-tarded.
I've had people call because their computers wouldn't start... and it was because they somehow knocked the powercord out. happened more than once.
i had a friend get a call from someone... it turns out their power was out. lol
icepop4who @ Feb 17th 2007 5:07PM
laugh out loud material. genius!
reminds me of the helpless helpdesk i been through. "have you plug in the computer?"
empath @ Feb 17th 2007 11:37PM
Hey, just think for a second; we poor slobs at the other end of that 1-800 number HAVE to ask the obvious "is the computer plugged in" questions for a REASON; someone else out there isn't as smart as you... and we can't SEE your computer, otherwise a simple glance would answer most of our prefunctory questions.
FWIW, the 'end user' seemed rather attentive and cogent; better than most I dealt with; but even having five or six calls like this EACH day for a month when some new feature comes out is enough to make you chew the microphone off your headset; so glad I quit before I got an ulcer...
adrian @ Feb 17th 2007 5:31PM
OMG. Thanks for the laugh.
Grey Acumen @ Feb 17th 2007 5:40PM
I am so showing this to my girlfriend...
Eric @ Feb 17th 2007 6:37PM
Hilarious!. I'm surprised no tool has posted "this is stupid".
Troy D @ Feb 17th 2007 7:27PM
reminds me of work lol
Alexander @ Feb 17th 2007 8:00PM
Techni-tarded... This is getting used on Monday.
Ipsen @ Feb 17th 2007 8:03PM
Danish subs, FTW!!!
Mine nordiske gadget-brødre, vi er endelig blevet anerkendt!!!
MightyTwin @ Feb 17th 2007 8:23PM
Ipsen: Indeed we have.
Eller: Wehee! Norge er på Engadget nok en gang! :D
marc @ Feb 17th 2007 8:17PM
let me just say i was disappointed that tech support didn't suggest leeches...other then that, hysterical!
Ipsen @ Feb 17th 2007 8:31PM
Bah. Vi skal nok overgå jer dumme nordmænd!!!
Just kidding ;)
ercus @ Feb 17th 2007 11:32PM
Oh well: It could happen if it was Stephenson's "Young Lady's Illustrated Primer"... :D
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Age
Robert @ Feb 18th 2007 12:02PM
Thank you,
I do Tech Support For Dial up and DSL and I hate asking these stupid questions but we have to because supprisingly some people just don't have any idea what there doing. Such as "Is your computer plugged into the phone line?" "I had my phone line Disconnected" "Oh..." or one of my favorites a co-worker got is this woman had a chewed up phone cord behind her computer and he said "Oh, sometimes pets can get back there and they will chew on the wires" she said "Oh I don't have pets, but I have kids." "Okay... Yeah..."
Still the worst game to play is find the start button "Please Click Start" "Start?" "Yes, check the bottom left corner of the screen" "I don't see it" "Does this computer have windows?" "Yes Wondows TP" "Okay, check the other corners of the screen, its comonly a green button" "Not there" "Okay, look at your keyboard. do you see the windows key, it looks like 4 squares" "No" "Okay..." ~45 minutes later~ "Yes that is the start button" "No its not, it says its the Begin button" "You have issues" "What was that" "Nothing"
snailfur @ Feb 18th 2007 7:21AM
The funny thing is that soon the title of this entry will be a real question if Google has their way.
Tech^Cellfish @ Feb 18th 2007 10:13AM
Hehe, this is a rather old norwegian sketch. Good job my the translator, but there is some funny comments not texted. Anyways, it seems it's cut a bit early, I think there is one more funny point in the sketch
Tech^Cellfish @ Feb 18th 2007 10:21AM
Now I remember the missing bit:
The helpdesk guy gives the user the manual of the book, in book format. And then the user says the manual has the same problem (it lies the wrong way and the user cannot open it).
Meltz; @ Feb 18th 2007 11:17AM
....oh, so that actually matters??
Sondre @ Feb 18th 2007 5:35PM
This is a very good and old norwegian sketch that was aired on the TV many years ago.
To bad it's cut at the end, cause the book comes with a small manual ... which also has the same problem, it doesn't open. Hehe.
Funny watching this on Engadget, go Norway once again!