I've come to the conclusion there are some people who should not own a computer!

[raymac1946]

I'm retired as well and fix computers for seniors in the neighborhood. I don't charge them as many are much worse off financially than I am. I am also a Linux advocate and have restored old PCs and installed Linux to give away to those who have no other resources.
I have one lady who is the bane of my existence. She thinks she knows what she's doing but does not. This lady:

• Panicked once and completely restored her PC to 2012 without consulting me first, wiping out all her data that was of course not backed up.
• Insists on using Norton Security and is constantly running into trouble with it updating and crashing.
• Has two printers and can't use either one without a problem. She often forgets to put the color cartridge in her photo printer.
• Wants a laptop but insists on hooking up a full size monitor and keyboard to it. She tries to plug USB cables into HDMI outlets when she doesn't have enough USB connection capability.
• Insists on the latest version of Windows but then wants to use Microsoft Works 2004 with it, or have a bunch of widgets that were deprecated because of security issues.

As far as Linux installs go I have more or less given up because I am the sole source of technical support for these systems. The people who get them never learn the difference between Linux and Windows and want to use all the Windows programs in Linux instead of finding the alternatives. Why anyone would want to use Internet Explorer instead of Firefox and Chrome escapes me.
And so it goes...

 

[martinvk]

LOL, boy does this thread bring back some memories. Used to work at a help-desk and at times, it seemed like some of our clients had just stepped of the boat. They were given a computer as part of their work tools but barely knew how to turn it on, let alone use it.

Sadly some of the recent spate of posts about upgrading to SP1 seem to echo these experiences.

 

[masontaylor]

.....Yobbo is new terminology for this side of the globe, but very fitting of a few too many people I know.

Just for your future enlightenment, John, it's good old British backslang. In its original form it was 'yob' i.e. a 'boy' backwards, or specifically a backwards boy: what might also be termed a 'ned' here in Scotland (acronymically a Non-Educated Delinquent). Being Britain, there's an element of class involved - however ill-behaved a scion of the rich and wealthy classes might be, he would never be described thus, though perhaps as a 'Hooray Henry'.

I'm aware that some across the pond have problems with the concept of 'class' in the UK, but would suggest that whilst not absolutely identical, yobs and trailer-trash would inhabit very much the same ball-park, with a shared sense of a deprived upbringing, and lack of education and decorum.

And as for PC repairs, in our case it's she who must be obeyed's 85 year old mother, who lives an hour and a half round trip away on the other side of the Firth of Tay, and expects someone (guess who?) to drop everything and immediately hasten thither for even the slightest malfunction, the most infuriating of which turned out to be her failure to switch the mains on at the wall.... (Though at least the machine was always physically clean: however, we've now retired it, and replaced it with an iPad, which she can bring to us if she has problems!).

 

[raymac1946]

I've never managed to figure out the difference between a "chav" and a "yob." I guess you have to be there....:wave:
I do know what a pillock is though - met a few over on this side of the pond.

 

[JCitron]

Just for your future enlightenment, John, it's good old British backslang. In its original form it was 'yob' i.e. a 'boy' backwards, or specifically a backwards boy: what might also be termed a 'ned' here in Scotland (acronymically a Non-Educated Delinquent). Being Britain, there's an element of class involved - however ill-behaved a scion of the rich and wealthy classes might be, he would never be described thus, though perhaps as a 'Hooray Henry'.

I'm aware that some across the pond have problems with the concept of 'class' in the UK, but would suggest that whilst not absolutely identical, yobs and trailer-trash would inhabit very much the same ball-park, with a shared sense of a deprived upbringing, and lack of education and decorum.

And as for PC repairs, in our case it's she who must be obeyed's 85 year old mother, who lives an hour and a half round trip away on the other side of the Firth of Tay, and expects someone (guess who?) to drop everything and immediately hasten thither for even the slightest malfunction, the most infuriating of which turned out to be her failure to switch the mains on at the wall.... (Though at least the machine was always physically clean: however, we've now retired it, and replaced it with an iPad, which she can bring to us if she has problems!).

We have a class-system here as well, though not as defined I suppose. We refer the trailer-park trash as Yahoos, and those that are not brought up well as culturally deprived at least in my house.

The iPad is a good thing for folks such as your Mum. I wish they had cable TV remote controls that worked that easily. We have an elder friend, now going on 96 who periodically calls up for a rescue because she's pressed the wrong button. The elder live on the other side of town, but a five minute rescue becomes a 3 hours visit, though I don't mind the visits.

John

 

[Steamdemon]

My mum still has her Windows Vista (Yes, that windows operating system that was absolutely rubbish. Also one of the reasons I took a shovel to my old CQ Presario 61. It deserved it.) Compaq PC...And I'm the one usually having to sort things out for her. She's computer illiterate. I'm good at setting things up without a manual, because I know which cable goes into which socket. But seriously, If your customer's PC/Laptop looks like it's been seriously abused, then that might be a good indicator of whether the customer is going to be thankful or angry that you fixed some serious issues.

And another thing. 'The customer is always right' is absolute rubbish.

 

[masontaylor]

...I've never managed to figure out the difference between a "chav" and a "yob."

A few decades of shifting semantics - much the same thing, although 'yob' implies mindlessness whereas 'chav' (originally a Romany word) suggests at least some level of low cunning and upwards pretension (and perhaps unwonted flashiness) sharing at least some of the sense associated with the war-time 'spiv'.