2:15-hour skit for evening of 2009/02/06:
Sue Ann: Computer doesn’t have network support, problem is telephony service will not load without Blue Screen of Death.
MSTech: How are you today?
Sue Ann: Extremely frustrated.
MSTech: I am sorry to hear that.
—-[ Note to reader: Sue Ann does not need comforting, she needs a functional computer. ]—-
MSTech: Are you connecting from the machine that has the problem?
Sue Ann: That machine has no network.
MSTech: Please reinstall the display driver.
Sue Ann: Problem is telephony service. Display driver is working fine. Reinstalled anyway. Still crashing.
MSTech: Did you reinstall the display driver?
Sue Ann: Yes. It did not fix the telephony service.
MSTech: Please run this diagnostic tool and click on “send the result to M***”.
Sue Ann: That computer has no network. Your website to upload the file manually from another computer is broken.
MSTech: You just need to click on “send the result to Microsoft”.
Sue Ann: #*!&%$@##%
Synopsis: Sue Ann eradicated W*** from coffee table. Sue Ann installed U*** beta. There exists at least speculation that beta is more stable than the W*** product.
Moral: This may be why high energy physicists are often their own system admins.
p.s. I do still (or perhaps more so now) retain the greatest respect for the gurus who administer these huge computing farms and grids that are the backbone of modern experimental physics.
