We Really Hoped We Were Past The “Magnets; How Do They Work?” Meme, Part 2
When I was sixteen, my first job was at a small family-owned restaurant. My boss was a sweet but somewhat eccentric older lady who quickly became like extended family to me.
After she found out that I knew how to fix a lot of tech problems, I quickly became the impromptu IT girl. I had a lot of fun exchanges, but this is probably my most memorable.
Boss: “[My Name], my computer isn’t working right!”
Me: “All right, I’ll come and check it out.”
I went to her office and found a tiny laptop with the Blue Screen Of Death prominently displayed on the screen.
Boss: “It’s been doing this all day. How do I fix it?”
Me: “I’ll see what I can do.”
Boss: “Okay, thanks!”
She walked off to take care of customers while I tried to troubleshoot.
I’ll admit that I was actually somewhat of an amateur at computer troubleshooting, but I knew that the different blue screen codes meant different things, so I Googled what this one meant. It meant bad or missing RAM.
I knew my boss’s husband had a tendency to try to “fix” things like this, but I didn’t see any signs of tampering with the case, so I didn’t think he was the culprit. I started checking the fan vents; my boss liked to get really creative and decorate her personal belongings, so perhaps she had glued something where she shouldn’t have.
As I picked it up to check the vents, I heard something with some weight to it fall off the laptop. I went to pick it up, and what was it? A giant fridge magnet with a flower glued to the top. This flower had previously been next to her trackpad.
Me: “Ma’am, I found the problem.”
Boss: “Did you fix it?”
Me: “Sorry, but I think the laptop’s toast. We might be able to get the replacement part it needs, but at this point, I think the best we can do is try to get as much off it as possible. Also, I’m not trying to be rude, but you might want to keep magnets away from your electronics in the future.”
Boss: “Why?”
Me: “They will kill your computer.”
Boss: “Ohhh, I didn’t know that. I shouldn’t have stuck that extra flower on there, huh?”
Me: “No, ma’am.”
Boss: “Oh, okay. Thank you, [My Name]!”
Hey, at least she wasn’t nasty like so many other people from tech support horror stories!
Related:
We Really Hoped We Were Past The “Magnets; How Do They Work?” Meme
