Ever had to troubleshoot someones computer and the solution was so obvious that you wonder why the company doesn't hire monkeys instead?  Post your Helpdesk support funnies here!

So, for starters, at my company a lot of us use IBM/Lenovo laptops with on-board fingerprint scanners.  It is quite handy when you have to leave your desk a lot because we are required to lock our computers when we leave our desks (especially me being in IT).  Every 60 days our passwords expire and we need to change it to something new.  This also requires that you re-configure your fingerprint software with your new password (which is almost automatic).

Now, to the story.

I received a call yesterday evening from someone in the sales department and he had a quick question for me: "Hey Ryan, how do I re-register my fingerprint software with my fingerprints?".  Well, you shouldn't ever need to because your fingerprints don't change.  However, you will need to reset it to your new password every 60 days, I replied.  He said, "Well, you see, I quit smoking cigarettes just the other day and I don't have a nicotine stain on my finger anymore so the fingerprint scanner doesn't recognize it".  I kinda paused for a minute as I asked myself, "Is he serious?".  I said to him, "How is a stain on the side of your index finger going to stop it from reading?  Can't you use another finger?".  He paused for a minute and then asked, "Where is the fingerprint software at?".  I replied with, "Have you changed your password recently?".  He said, "Yes,  I changed it last night...".

That was basically the end of the converstation.  After I reiterated the fact that you need to reset the software to your new password before trying to use your fingerprints to log in.

I've got plenty more stories but probably very common.  I'd like to hear yours! 

Being a telemarketing that solicits money for police stuff, I called this cop one time (I've called many cops). He didn't tell me he was a cop. He didn't know about this police organization I worked for. During the call, in which he did not donate, he asked me for the name of the organization, the number, and my first and last name spelled out. This job required us to give them that info if they asked, not that I cared. I was often giving my full name spelled out to random people.

So a few days later, a cop in my town showed up at my door. The doorbell rang and my mom went down to answer it. She came back up shortly after and said a cop was asking about you and the organization you work for because he's never heard about it. She just told him it's real and that yes, I do live here and work for that organization.

Apparently, the cop I called contacted the police department in my town to have them come check it out.

It was something that I'd never heard of happening before.

That seems like it would be a misuse of police authority.

[quote author=MyndFyre[vL] link=topic=17917.msg182494#msg182494 date=1240585745]
That seems like it would be a misuse of police authority.
[/quote]

I guess he was curious as to whether or not  we were a scam or something. So he wanted a cop to check it out. I'm sure a civilian could have done the same thing, only a cop is more likely to think of doing it this way than most people.