Unfiltered Story #124599

(I work in a call center that provides technical support for several large clients. My caller works for a cruise line, and uses a computer every day.)

Me: Thank you for calling the service desk, how may I help you?

Caller: I need help, my computer is dead.

Me: Okay. Can you go into some more detail? What is it doing?

Caller: It isn’t doing anything, it’s just a black screen.

(At this point, I have an inkling of the issue, but I can’t believe that it would be what I’m thinking, so I ask for more information.)

Me: What was it doing before it went black?

Caller: I was in Outlook, and it froze, and I couldn’t get it to do anything, not even a CtrlAltDel to get to the Task Manager. I called IT and spoke with [other tech], who told me to press and hold the power button on the computer until the screen went dark. I did that, and now nothing is happening!

Me: Ah, I think I know what the problem is. Can you please press the power button on the computer again?

(The caller does, and the computer boots.)

Caller: Oh, it’s at the loading screen…I can log in…and Outlook is working now! Thank you so much, I really didn’t want to have to get a new computer!

(I honestly couldn’t believe that someone who works with a computer every day doesn’t know that you have to manually turn back on the computer if it gets powered off. It took every ounce of self control I had to wait until the caller had disconnected before I started giggling.)