True Tech Support Horror Stories: Part Three (Open to READERS)

This is part three of my continuing series, True Tech Support Horror Stories. This one comes in from our own senior contributor on the operating systems beat and IT pro, Ant Pruitt. This is part three of my series — True Tech Support Horror Stories.
Photo credit: RTF123.com

User:Hello? Can you help me? I’m locked out of the network.

Ant: Were you prompted to change your password previously?

User: Yes, last week. But I kept ignoring it.

Ant: Okay, I’m going to unlock your account and give you a temporary password to get in.  When you log in, you’ll be prompted to change it immediately. I’ll make your password: Password!

User: Okay.

Ant: So, to be clear, your password is spelled like the word “password” and with a capital P and an exclamation point on the end.

User: Okay. I’ll try it while you’re on the phone.

Silent pause.

Ant:  Hello? Did it work?

User: No. Invalid password is on the screen.  I’ll try again.  (Pause). It’s still not working.

Ant: Now you’re locked out. Let me unlock you and then try again.

User:  I still can’t get in.

Ant:  Is your CAPS LOCK on? Or NUMLOCK.

User: No, it’s turned off.

Ant: (Thinking to myself…  both?)

User: I still can’t get in!

Ant: Okay, as you’re typing it, I need you to say each letter and type slowly.

User: Capital  P … a…s..s..w…o…r…d…

Ant:  Don’t forget the exclamation point.

User:  Exclamation? What? Which one is the exclamation point?

If you missed the first or second installments of tech support horror stories, check those out, too. Do you have a true tech horror story to share? Drop it in the comments or email me — jeremy@anewdomain.net. It could get you published. Everyone gets his or five minutes of fame. Get yours.