Back in the days when I did mundane technical support over the phone..
.. I came across a particular moron who had a faulty network port on his motherboard. Being out of warranty and not wanting to overcomplicate things with a PCI card, the client decided to go and buy a USB network adapter.. "No harm in that" says I.

Of course, being a moron, he had no idea what to do when Windows asked him for the driver CD.

Moron: "Okay, a box has come up .. If you have a CD , insert it now"
MrNorm: "Okay, not a problem. Do you have the CD that came with the adapter?"
Moron: "Yep, a little one. I'm just putting it in now.. It's a bit of a loose fit"
MrNorm: "?! .. Okay. If we wait a few seconds, Windows should start installing the drivers"
(Few seconds later)
Moron: "Nope, nothing"
MrNorm: "Er, alright then, could you go to My Computer, right click on the CD drive and click 'Eject'"
(Moron clicks and the tray pops out)
MrNorm: "Moron, you see the tray that's just opened on your computer?"
Moron: "Ah yes, it's just opened"
MrNorm: "Did you put the CD in there?"
Moron: "No, the one below it"
MrNorm: ".. So, the floppy drive then?"
Moron: "Oh .. Yes. Does it not go there then?"
MrNorm: "Not since the 90s, no."

I had to wait for 15 mins while our contender for "Spanner of the year 2008" went off looking for two cutlery knives in the kitchen to fish it out. Of course, using something that is generally used to cut things to fish something out .. When he finally got it, he had scratched the CD so much that the computer couldn't read it anymore.

He ended up going to buy a new adapter, as it was one of those SinkyPlinky ones you can never find drivers for online. I quit not long after that.

Cheers!
(MrNorm, Thu 24 Sep 2009, 17:07, 2 replies)

soo...
if he had no network how could you use remote desktop?
( wingphil, Thu 24 Sep 2009, 17:17, closed)

Good point..
*fixes before anyone else notices*

It was early 2008, so details are slightly hazy! Good point though, I probably didn't use that!

Story is 100% true though! I used to deal mostly with air conditioning companies as the MDs were all mates and we basically used the power of 'Word of mouth' to score the contracts. That did mean we encountered a lot of spacks though.
(MrNorm, Thu 24 Sep 2009, 17:23, closed)