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Wide is the new black
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#1 2008-06-13 3:43 pm
- user
- Aw, he's no fun, he fell right over.
- From: I'm not getting you down, am I
- Registered: 2001-10-15
- Posts: 13606
im in yur ofic, messing with yur printrz
I have a Mac tech-support client and she runs a travel business out of a home office.
Called me today because her printer suddenly stopped working. She had downloaded the driver again and was trying to reestablish the connectin that way, so I was talking her through it on the phone but was stymied because the USB printer would not show up in the "Add" Printer Browser window. I belatedly asked her about the simple stuff: make sure the USB cable is plugged in. She checked the hub and said that the cable was plugged in but the hub looked wet.
Her cat had peed on the hub.
"Do you agree that the magical potency of today's ceremony is exactly equal to the magical efficacy of ceremonial baptism with dihydrogen oxide, and do you agree that the power of all magical ceremonies is nonexistent?" After a resounding "amen" from the audience, the first person in line yelled, "Dry me brother! I'm free!"
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#2 2008-06-13 3:44 pm
- Freakout Jackson
- Hate filled trailblazing elitist
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Re: im in yur ofic, messing with yur printrz
That's the 2nd most common problem among home office workers believe it or not.
"Perhaps if there were more Americans who had the courage to stand up to idiocy maybe we wouldn't have such an awful country." ~ VegasACF
I couldn't deal with a clone of myself. I would probably kill him inside a week, and tell the police it was justifiable homisuicide, and tell them to sit around and hang out with me for a week to show them why. ~ Dan
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#3 2008-06-13 4:23 pm
- sturner
- Royal High Poobah
- From: Carrollton, TX USA
- Registered: 2000-01-31
- Posts: 9152
Re: im in yur ofic, messing with yur printrz
Cat pee?
"There were places in the world commemorating those times when wizards hadn't been quite as clever [as to refrain from doing magic when you knew how easy it was], and on many of them the grass would never grow again." Terry Prachett
There are 3 types of people, those who can count and those who can't.
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#4 2008-06-13 4:25 pm
- macforme
- The Terror of Zombies Far & Wide
- From: Malton, Zombie Central
- Registered: 2001-08-04
- Posts: 339
Re: im in yur ofic, messing with yur printrz
Or running a travel business?
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#5 2008-06-13 4:51 pm
- dvpierce
- Negusa Negest
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Re: im in yur ofic, messing with yur printrz
Between flooded basements, cat pee, coke/coffee spills, etc, liquid damage probably is a bigger problem for home office users than office office users.
At least in terms of incidents/year if not absolute percentages.
"Now commences the process of cutting off the head, which generally takes from an hour to an hour and a half by an expert workman with a sharp blade." -Reuben Delano, Wanderings and Adventures
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#6 2008-06-13 9:31 pm
- Macskeeball
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Re: im in yur ofic, messing with yur printrz
I thought this thread was going to be about the prank where people find network printers with public web servers (for their administration panel) and modifying the little display on the printer to say things like "INSERT COIN" or "RADIATION LEAK." I remember reading about that on Digg a while back.
Last edited by Macskeeball (2008-06-13 9:31 pm)
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#7 2008-06-14 7:00 am
- test
- Member
- From: Collingwood, Ont., CANADA
- Registered: 2002-12-13
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Re: im in yur ofic, messing with yur printrz
Trust me, the cat pee thing is much better to troubleshoot over the phone than in person said the man who provides tech support for an 85 year old morphine addict with 7 cats.
Patience is a virtue of the weak for it makes them stand still long enough for the strong to crush them with ease.
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#8 2008-06-14 7:24 pm
- mo' ron
- Hates Integrated Graphics
- From: NC, USA
- Registered: 2002-10-15
- Posts: 13248
Re: im in yur ofic, messing with yur printrz
If her cat is peeing on her stuff, it may be a sign the cat is sick.
You should team up with a vet to be able to refer people when they have pet-related tech support issues.
Last edited by mo' ron (2008-06-14 7:24 pm)
What is the difference between Vista and OSX?
- Microsoft employees are excited about OSX.
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#9 2008-06-14 10:31 pm
- avkills
- demyelinated brain matter
- Registered: 2001-05-09
- Posts: 6355
Re: im in yur ofic, messing with yur printrz
I guarantee that if any animal peed on any of my tech stuff, it would be the last time. I hope she rubbed the cats nose in it good with a "NO! Bad kitty!" warning. Luckily my Mom's cat seems to be pretty well behaved in the peeing and pooping where she is supposed to; but that would be a very strange discussion. 
-mark
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#10 2008-06-15 6:03 am
- geekette28
- Southpaw Extraordinare
- From: Suburban Virginia
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- Posts: 316
Re: im in yur ofic, messing with yur printrz
That's hilarious. But if that happened to me, I'd be rather upset. It's kind of odd though - I could definitely see a dog doing that to a hub, but a cat?? Even the best dogs are capable of using the most expensive thing in the room as their toilet - I should know I'm a chihuahua owner. Someone on a dog forum called them 'peeing little devils.' A cat though - that's new.
Commit random acts of nerdiness and senseless acts of dorkdom.
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#11 2008-06-15 9:49 am
- user
- Aw, he's no fun, he fell right over.
- From: I'm not getting you down, am I
- Registered: 2001-10-15
- Posts: 13606
Re: im in yur ofic, messing with yur printrz
I doubt she punished the cat at all - she's got about three, so she might not know which one did it. The nose-pushing bit really works better for dogs, not cats, anyway.
Apparently, the hub used to be on top of a desk but fell to the floor behind the desk when she was rearranging the office (got a call on that, trying to sort out the network cables).
"Do you agree that the magical potency of today's ceremony is exactly equal to the magical efficacy of ceremonial baptism with dihydrogen oxide, and do you agree that the power of all magical ceremonies is nonexistent?" After a resounding "amen" from the audience, the first person in line yelled, "Dry me brother! I'm free!"
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#12 2008-06-15 10:25 am
- mrreet2001
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Re: im in yur ofic, messing with yur printrz
geekette28 wrote:
A cat though - that's new.
cats are A LOT more prone to peeing on things
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#13 2008-06-15 3:09 pm
- Shadowless
- PFC, USMC
- From: Medfield, MA
- Registered: 2005-10-10
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Re: im in yur ofic, messing with yur printrz
mrreet2001 wrote:
geekette28 wrote:
A cat though - that's new.
cats are A LOT more prone to peeing on things
Mostly when they're being "taken care of" by an elderly person who forgets to feed/clean after the cats.
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#14 2008-06-16 8:55 am
- thumbprint
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Re: im in yur ofic, messing with yur printrz
I guarantee that if any animal peed on any of my tech stuff, it would be the last time. I hope she rubbed the cats nose in it good with a "NO! Bad kitty!" warning.
That doesn't work with cats, sadly. You have to treat behavioral problems at the source. Feliway helps...
http://www.feliway-us.com/feliway_us.nsf/Page?OpenForm
(Sorry, this was off-topic, I think...)
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#15 2008-06-16 1:10 pm
- sturner
- Royal High Poobah
- From: Carrollton, TX USA
- Registered: 2000-01-31
- Posts: 9152
Re: im in yur ofic, messing with yur printrz
My office is remarkable cat free. Not catty free, but cat free. THough I do have to restrain myself from peeing on the computers of people I don't like.
"There were places in the world commemorating those times when wizards hadn't been quite as clever [as to refrain from doing magic when you knew how easy it was], and on many of them the grass would never grow again." Terry Prachett
There are 3 types of people, those who can count and those who can't.
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#16 2008-06-16 1:38 pm
- LLEVIATHANN
- Itch you can't scratch
- From: Between the shoulder blades
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Re: im in yur ofic, messing with yur printrz
It wasn't the cat. 
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#17 2008-06-17 4:46 pm
- SpacemanSpiff
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- From: Transmogrifier
- Registered: 2001-07-31
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Re: im in yur ofic, messing with yur printrz
sturner wrote:
My office is remarkable cat free. Not catty free, but cat free. THough I do have to restrain myself from peeing on the computers of people I don't like.
or you could be like the guy who was whizzing into the coffee pot.
"The first time one sees natural beauty which is privately owned; oceans as people's back yards, confounds the senses. I didn't know God had a a toy store for the rich." -- Spanglish
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#18 2008-06-18 2:17 am
- CrashingtehWarehouse
- Dismember
- From: South of Hell
- Registered: 2006-08-11
- Posts: 1116
Re: im in yur ofic, messing with yur printrz
sturner wrote:
My office is remarkable cat free. Not catty free, but cat free. THough I do have to restrain myself from peeing on the computers of people I don't like.
It's not the computer's fault! You should be peeing on the people instead.
Alright, now, who wants to be transistorized?
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#19 2008-06-18 11:05 am
- sturner
- Royal High Poobah
- From: Carrollton, TX USA
- Registered: 2000-01-31
- Posts: 9152
Re: im in yur ofic, messing with yur printrz
SpacemanSpiff wrote:
sturner wrote:
My office is remarkable cat free. Not catty free, but cat free. THough I do have to restrain myself from peeing on the computers of people I don't like.
or you could be like the guy who was whizzing into the coffee pot.
I drink the coffee. That's a no-pee zone!
"There were places in the world commemorating those times when wizards hadn't been quite as clever [as to refrain from doing magic when you knew how easy it was], and on many of them the grass would never grow again." Terry Prachett
There are 3 types of people, those who can count and those who can't.
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