My first position in the tech profession was fixing computers at a largish company. During that first year, I quickly learned about the various ways users understand -- and, more importantly, treat -- the computers assigned to them.
For instance, I realized we employed two types of people at my company: people hired for their computer skills, and those hired for skills that use computers while doing their job. The former group often kept their computers well maintained, although there was a lot of "customization" going on -- but that's another set of stories. The latter comprised the bulk, if not the entirety, of our work because so often they didn't have any idea about how to best care for their hardware or software.
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"Wallace" called the IT department for the third or so time that week to say that his laptop was acting up again, so I agreed to come up and see him. He said the laptop was running poorly, which I confirmed.
Since our other attempts to fix his computer problems that week hadn't worked, I went back to my office to call the warrantor. I told the tech who was on the line the serial number and began to mention the various issues Wallace was having with his laptop.
When the tech found the case file, he said, "Did he tell you about the refrigerator?" Concealing my surprise that a user called the company directly instead of working through our department, I said, "I'll get back to you" and hung up.
I went back to Wallace and asked him, "Did you put this laptop in a refrigerator?"
Wallace said, "Yes! It was running hot and I tried to cool it down."
Since this incident, I have worked with people who have treated their computer equipment poorly. For instance, one user lost a laptop due to theft (leaving it in a car seat in broad daylight in a mall), and another checked it as piece of luggage (that fellow actually worked in the tech department and should have known better).
