IT Guy Misunderstands Bad Mouse Reference, Fail Ensues

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mattstaff
Apr 25, 2021 1:00 PM EDT

You've got to love the terribly vindictive nature of the company involved in this rather absurd unfolding of events. After they clearly lose a case that they never needed to start up in the first place, they just have to throw out some more unnecessary animosity before it's all said and done. As for the IT guy misunderstanding the bad mouse report, it can happen to the best of us. Sounds like he was merely caught up in all of his company's nonsense. For another tech support tale, check out the time that an owner fired the whole IT department, and the sabotage that ensued. 

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  • 01
    Font - r/talesfromtechsupport +, u/garycarroll • 4y • Won a knife fight with a bear! Bad mouse took down a network, and almost got us banned. Medium r/ALL I owned a computer shop. We donated to a local county nature center by installing a network in the campus, which consisted of several one-story buildings elevated a few feet above the ground on pilings. We ran the cables and installed the network drops (RJ ports) in the required locations, and installed and configured the routers. We have lear
    via u/garycarroll
  • 02
    Font - About a year later they started having random ports go intermittently bad, and the problem seemed to be getting worse. They asked us to troubleshoot. We went out, found the problem was that rodents had bitten into some cables in multiple locations. Sometimes but not always this severed one of the wires at the point of the bite. If the severed wire touched even after being severed, the connection would work, sometimes.
    via u/garycarroll
  • 03
    Font - This intermittent fault took several hours to figure out. Since they had not actually bitten chunks out of the cables, just bitten into it, the cable appeared undamaged visually. The way we found the problem was to run a hand down the cable looking for a kink or something and feeling the little nick. Close examination showed the bite. Once we knew the problem, it required rewiring a few runs and telling them they had a bad mouse problem, get an exterminator. The diagnosis and repairs took
    via u/garycarroll
  • 04
    Font - AP: "We have found conclusive evidence of fraudulent billing on invoice (the bill for the network diagnosis and repair) from your company. Since the amount is under $100 and this is the first instance of a problem from you, if you agree with the assessment and promise never to do this again, we willI ban you from doing business with the county for one year. If you agree, we will send paperwork to that effect." Me: "(!!) No way will I agree to that. This was a donation of our time, and was
    via u/garycarroll
  • 05
    Font - AP: "We ran the diagnosis and bill by our IT department as a random check. They said there was no possible way your explanation of what was wrong and what you did to fix it could be true. You can dispute this, and we will have a hearing. But if we do this and it goes against you, you can be permanently banned from doing business and may even face charges of fraud." Me: "I want the hearing."
    via u/garycarroll
  • 06
    Font - (At the hearing, before a county board of something or other) AP to IT guy. "Look at this invoice. Do you remember us asking your opinion of this? What was that opinion." ITGUY: "Yes. It said the network was losing connectivity to specific drops, and the problem was due to a bad mouse. I said there was no way a bad mouse would have that effect, especially on other computers on other ports." CouncilGuy to me: "Do you disagree with this? Can you explain how a bad mouse could do that?" Me: "
    via u/garycarroll
  • 07
    Font - Me: "Look at the invoice. It does not say "a computer had a defective mouse." It says there was "a bad mouse problem." Rodents. Bit. The. Wires. We installed new wires. We donated our labor to do so, and provided the wire at cost." ITGuy: "That... does make sense." AP: "Well, OK. We'll drop this one. But we're going to be watching you!" 6.9k 446 ↑, Share
    via u/garycarroll

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