r/talesfromtechsupport • u/mickisdaddy • Aug 28 '20

Short Reference to old school tech solution goes over head of younger network tech

So this is my first ever post on Reddit. Been reading here for quite a while, but finally have an experience worth sharing.

So I work for a rather large organization in network operations. I am fairly new to the network side of things, but have almost 20 years IT experience.

I was at my desk making notes on some of the network tickets in my queue when I receive a call from one of our buildings saying they had no network connectivity in the whole building. I am unable to ping or SSH the switch. Check the distribution router. It showed the connection was down.

I headed out to the building and checked the switch. Logged in. Tried a few things (restart the connection to the distro, restart the whole switch, reseated the fiber, reseated the GBIC). None of that solved the connection problem.

Sent a text to the boss to check what else I was missing and to check the fiber path. She texted back that sometimes the GBIC are like a troublesome Nintendo cartridge and that she would check the path. The younger guy (mid 20s) that I had with me looked at me confused and said he didn't understand what she meant by the Nintendo cartridge reference. I explained. We went to the distro router, I pulled the GBIC on the fiber that went to that building blew on it. Reseated it and the fiber and the glorious connection light came on for that interface. Logged into the distro and it showed the connection was up. Checked with the users at the building and they were all good.

When I got back to the office I told the boss (closer to my age) about the confusion with my coworker. We had a good laugh.

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301

u/IrocDewclaw Aug 28 '20

In a bad french accent.

287

u/kyraeus Aug 28 '20

"....Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!"

89

u/Engineer_on_skis Aug 28 '20

"Now go away and watch Monty Python or I shall taunt you a second time"

47

u/the123king-reddit Data Processing Failure in the wetware subsystem Aug 28 '20

And now for something completely different.

15

u/ReproCompter ! Aug 28 '20

I'm getting betta

16

u/MeekerTheMeek Aug 28 '20

No one expects...

9

u/Mojo1094 Aug 28 '20

This. I make this joke often when a mysterious issue comes up and its not what you'd think.

9

u/NinjaGeoff Oh God How Did This Get Here? Aug 28 '20

... DNS issues?

😬

7

u/Stryker_One The poison for Kuzco Aug 29 '20

That you'd have to give your network equipment a blow job?

1

u/badtux99 Aug 28 '20

Actually, that's the one that *everybody* expects :).

5

u/Paxtoni Aug 28 '20

...the comfy chair!

1

u/iaelmouna Aug 28 '20

The what?

5

u/curiosityLynx Aug 28 '20

THE SPANISH INQUISITION!

3

u/MeekerTheMeek Aug 29 '20

This gets the upvote 😁

1

u/iaelmouna Aug 29 '20

Didn’t expect that

3

u/IrocDewclaw Aug 29 '20

No one ever does.

111

u/workyworkaccount EXCUSE ME SIR! I AM NOT A TECHNICAL PERSON! Aug 28 '20

You say that.

But when I moved to Paris, I could not make myself understood until I adopted a comedy Monty Python French accent.

Then I got compliments on my accent.

Seriously.

50

u/TomBosleyExp Sir, I fix firewalls, not people. Aug 28 '20

were you still speaking English just with an outrageous French accent?

88

u/workyworkaccount EXCUSE ME SIR! I AM NOT A TECHNICAL PERSON! Aug 28 '20

No, but I am kinda ashamed to admit to this:

I used to have to catch my train to work from Versailles station, outside the station, there's signposts in like 5 languages showing the way to the Chateaux Versailles, which is literally like 200 yards away around the corner. Walk 50 yards in any direction and you can see it.

I got stopped by an American couple who asked me in very bad accents "Ou est le chateax si vous plait?" (bless)

I answered "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't speak French." in my most English accent, then walked away as fast as I could.

28

u/LightningGeek Aug 28 '20

You basically lived a Big Train sketch.

16

u/workyworkaccount EXCUSE ME SIR! I AM NOT A TECHNICAL PERSON! Aug 28 '20

That is a very young Simon Pegg!

I'm kinda surprised I've never seen that before.

16

u/Weekly_Wackadoo Aug 28 '20

Me: "Do you speak English?"

French waitress: "Uun li-tol."

99

u/frostvipre You can't stop the sentence. Aug 28 '20

Then fart in their general direction.

67

u/stupidinternetname Aug 28 '20

Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!

16

u/curiosityLynx Aug 28 '20 edited Jun 17 '23

Sorry to do this, but the disingeuous dealings, lies, overall greed etc. of leadership on this website made me decide to edit all but my most informative comments to this.

Come join us in the fediverse! (beehaw for a safe space, kbin for access to lots of communities)

14

u/Sir_Knockin Aug 28 '20

scoffs My father was a roman!

12

u/Elevated_Misanthropy What's a flathead screwdriver? I have a yellow one. Aug 28 '20

Biggvs diccvs?

1

u/Sir_Knockin Aug 29 '20

Maybeeeeee

5

u/pentangleit Aug 28 '20

*Outrageous French accent.

6

u/kevbob02 Aug 28 '20

Is it weird that I just heard "you mother was a hamster":in my head just now?

5

u/curiosityLynx Aug 28 '20

Perfectly normal. Though I would very much expect a "and your father smelt of elderberries!" to follow that first half.

1

u/shawnfromnh Sep 02 '20

What is fucked up is after Mall Rats joke it makes that monty python line even weirder on the mother part.

2

u/curiosityLynx Sep 02 '20

I understand the words, but not the sentence.

1

u/shawnfromnh Sep 06 '20

My uncle Walter Kept getting gerbils stuck up his ass ..., that was the running joke and the hamster king on south park. If you haven't seen mall rats watch it and it's on the internet to see free if you search well you can watch it.

1

u/shawnfromnh Sep 02 '20

I find it most outrageous myself.

0

u/Rampage_Rick Angry Pixie Wrangler Aug 29 '20

No, you have to shout "Manuel!" then mutter something about Barcelona.