I got an e-mail asking me for help with a program that crashed almost every time it was run.

The user, in the e-mail, supplied me with all the information necessary: computer name, other programs running, and error message - almost 100% verbatim.

One letter was mistyped, a very small typo, but it became one of the most honest descriptions I ever read of an error:

Last week a user came to me with a problem: a student project, a double-sided brochure, was printing one side upside down (think MW when you want MM).
I showed the user how to correct the problem tweaking a few printing settings, and tested one page.
As I handed the correctly-printed page to the user, the user told me "Now it is completely upside-down, not just one side!"

I think that we really need category for Floundering Vendors. This story certainly qualifies...

A few years back we had an aging PBX and some rather expensive connectivity into it; for 100 users, we had 4 voice T1 circuits. It was determined that we could save money by purchasing PRI cards for the PBX and switching to PRI service with our telecom provider. Sounds logical; the LD T1 was rarely used since our business is local anyway.

The I.T. department gets a vague message that the fax machine in one of our local offices isn't working.

I have a look at it (since I was in the building at the time), and test the line with a phone on the desk.

Turns out that the phone line was no longer working. Pass the problem onto my supervisor and put the issue out of my mind.

So our workplace recently upgraded to Microsoft Windows Server 2003, and we get ready for any problems that may arise.

Oh boy, were there problems!

Printers would not connect, and as there was no real standardization (we had at least ten different models in use) it was a pain to track down the drivers for these printers.

I wish to relay this story that my sister told me.

At her work, she was under a heavy workload. She would have gotten through it at a good rate, if it weren't for the fact that another office worker kept on interrupting her so that she could show him how to do some basic computer operation; for example, how to copy and paste, or being told how the Caps Lock key works (hint: it's not press twice to make sure it's turned off!).

I used to run a state-wide network that connected about a hundred offices. One day an office far across the state went off line. All our tests indicated it was a problem somewhere along the phone lines so we called the phone company to check the lines.

The company where I work has been working to move our databases from SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2005. As the date for implementation draws near, the programmers are told they will need to locate all connection strings in all programs and change them over the weekend to point to the new server.

A user emailed a powerpoint presentation to me and asked me to burn a copy on CD. She already had a burner but I made her a CD anyway. She called me back and said it was all messed up and needed another copy. I decided to go visit her. She had the CD in the drive and said "here let me show you what it's doing.

I train our clients on how to use our web software and this is done over the phone with the point of contact.