HP3000-L Archives

September 2002, Week 1

HP3000-L@RAVEN.UTC.EDU

Options: Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
"Campbell, Elizabeth" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Campbell, Elizabeth
Date:
Thu, 5 Sep 2002 08:54:56 -0400
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (58 lines)
Check out http://www.snopes.com/humor/business/wordperf.htm - here is an
excerpt:

The WordPerfect "too stupid" tale is arguably the most well-loved stupid
user tale of all time. This charming anecdote has been kicking around on
the Internet since approximately 1996, and it has morphed into a number
of variations identifying it as an actual call received by Microsoft,
Novell, Corel, or IBM, with some versions adding additional flourishes
such as: 


This is a true story from the WordPerfect helpline. Needless to say the
helpdesk employee was fired; however, he/she is currently suing the
WordPerfect organization for "Termination without Cause". 
 


Folks often attempt to make a good story even better, which explains
these additional flourishes. Such is the nature of lore: tales are often
"improved" by those whose hands they pass through. 

Ah, but was this a true story? Well, sort of, but not quite -- the
"true" stuff ended with the tech's discovering that he was dealing with
a user who was attempting to access a computer during a power outage.
Everything from that point on is what he wished he could have said but
wisely kept to himself. 

Here's a quote from the tech's original post to alt.shenanigans which
picks up the story just after his clueless user tells him there's a
power outage: 


This woman was good friends with my supervisor, who was also a French
professor (still is, matter of fact--and in addition, she's now also my
wife), so I couldn't deal with her the way I really wanted to, and was
forced to explain sweetly and gently to her that computers needed power
just like office lights, and if the office lights were out, then the
computer was too, and that yes, if she hadn't saved her work she had
probably lost everything she'd done so far in WordPerfect. But I could
still fantasize: 

[The tech goes on to describe what he felt he should have said,
culminating in the now infamous "Too stupid to own a computer" line.] 

 


Credit must be given to this man, both for sharing this wonderful story
with the online world and for making a strong effort to sharply define
where the real call left off and where his fantasized response began. It
was certainly not his fault the complete exchange -- reality melded with
fantasy -- are now bruited about as "a real tech call handled by
Microsoft." His actual response was a model of exemplary customer
support, even as he let his very justifiable imaginings run riot. 

* To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
* etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *

ATOM RSS1 RSS2