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Tech Support People Are Sharing The Worst Cases They’ve Seen While On The Job (45 New Pics)
While more and more people are becoming tech-savvy and can solve simpler issues on their own, the technology world still remains a mystery for many. Just think about the times your darling computer made weird noises, voiced all kinds of complaints, or, heaven forbid, showed the giant blue error you definitely did not want to see. Then, there’s only one place to turn — tech support heroes.
However, if you think all IT specialists do is tell you to hit the restart button or help you with that "major" issue with the printer that’s not even plugged in yet, there’s a whole subreddit that might prove otherwise. Enter Tech Support Gore, a community full of the worst cases professionals ever stumbled on while on the job and clueless people they had to deal with along the way.
Laptops drying in the oven, mold growing on headphones, and impractical shortcuts customers take without a care in the world are just a few of the monstrosities that employees had to witness. So get ready to scroll through some of the most nightmarish pictures Bored Panda has collected from the group. And if you’re in the mood for some more gadget madness, take a look at our previous compilations right here, here, and here.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Network Rack At A Public Institution - Before And After
RELATED:
#2
User Spilt Coffee On His Laptop - So He Put It In The Oven To Dry It Out...
#3
Static Ip
The Tech Support Gore subreddit has been around for quite some time. Recently, this online group celebrated its 10th birthday with all its 532K technology-loving community members. "You will cringe to the brink of passing out after a few minutes looking at this subreddit," the moderators wrote in the description and the content users post there serves as proof.
Nearly every post consists of the nastiest and most baffling incidents people somehow managed to accomplish. After all, we have the manuals, the internet, and, most importantly, our common sense for a reason, so it's easy to say they have a talent to fail this badly.
But let's face it, even if we consider ourselves to be really tech-savvy and proudly declare to know how to properly care for our gadgets, accidents still happen. Whether it’s thinking that fixing up your computer would be a cakewalk or that you suddenly came up with a brilliant new way to rescue your soaking wet device, nearly everyone could end up being shamed on this subreddit.
#4
Panel Fed From B Phase
Toujin C'Thlu 2 years ago
This is something you call a beekeeper for, not a computer repair guy
J. F. 2 years ago (edited)
They probably heard that the IT guys fix problems with bugs on a regular basis....
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Dagnirath 2 years ago
It's definitely buzz-worthy. Not a place I'd want to bee, though.
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Helderder 2 years ago
What I can't get my head wrapt around is this doesn't happen overnight. Why didn't anyone notice this earlier on?
Alex D. Y. 2 years ago
Well at least this IT problem isn't because someone did something stupid... Wait... Why did they call an IT person?
Edgar Rops 2 years ago
These are some seriously well behaved bees, letting take pictures of an open hive like that. Ones my grandfather had were if the sting first, ask questions later variety
Jamie Dagnese 2 years ago
You've got to bee kidding, hopefully they got moved and weren't harmed.
commie pinkofag 2 years ago
I once had a temp job at the Department of Defense. I was vetted, scanned, patted, and - my possessions confiscated right down to the spare change in my pockets - escorted to an enormous, stunningly hot, darkened room filled with dozens of empty desks and racks of humming tech. Every unit in the place was full of cockroaches. _Stuffed_ with cockroaches. It was an entire floor of LED-blinking cockroach condominiums. Disturb any of it and _floods_ of cockroaches would chitter across the floor by the thousands. It was the sound that got me: like a million sheets of paper being gently shuffled. I removed myself, informed them they needed an exterminator, not an engineer, and went home to take a Xanax and pet the cat. At least they paid me the full contract.
Kinnery Chaparrel 2 years ago
"Hello, tech support? The panel is making a buzzing sound... I think we might have a bug."
Lukyan Terdal 2 years ago
According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way this computer should be able to run.
Phill Healey 2 years ago
I've seen pics like this before. Supposedly the bees are attracted by the stray frequencies coming from the electric cables.
Katherine Heasley 2 years ago
Quick, call that lady who likes to scoop up bees with her bare hands!
Chloe *Leah* Pheonix 2 years ago
I think who you need to call is a beekeeper, not an electrician
Got Myself 4 Pandas 2 years ago
Free honey and you get to call that bee lady from TikTok - win win
David Brown 2 years ago
Imma take a stab in the dark here and say beehives and honey are nonconductive. But how in the hell did no one notice a full on army of bees in and out of this panel.
Skylar Jaxx 2 years ago
They need Erika Thompson for this she would have those bees cleaned out so fast
possessed imp 2 years ago
Remember when people looked at the internet, and said "what's all the buzz about?"
Chris Ceron 2 years ago
Worker bees in a overcrowded, efficiently used server room. An employer's dream come true.
Linda Robinett 2 years ago
There is a way to have the bees abandon the hive and they will do some of the clean up themselves.
Mosheh Wolf 2 years ago (edited)
"That's NOT what I meant when I told you to prepare a honeypot, Brad!!"
Curry on... 2 years ago
People in the office thought that buzzing sound was just the equipment.
Craig Reynolds 2 years ago
This doesn't even belong here! That's an electrical panel so it's an electrical, not IT issue.
Nicole Weymann 2 years ago
Tech support is a very broad term. And some idiot may actually have thought any defective cable device is a case for IT support. Or a simple case of "Hey, Jeff, you won't believe what I found here! Come see!"
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#5
One Of My Users Asked If I Had A New Power Strip They Could Use. I Said What's Wrong With The Old One
#6
Pretty
However, many pictures from this list prove how incompatible with technology some people are. But if the first thought that crossed your mind was that the older generations are probably responsible for such nightmarish slip-ups, recent research seems to indicate they’re not as technologically illiterate as many might believe.
According to Pew Research Center, while there are still notable differences between American adults under 30 and those 65 and older, tech use by those in the oldest age group has grown significantly compared to a decade ago. So as it turns out, the gap between the oldest and youngest adults has shrunk.
Researchers conducted a survey in 2021 by questioning over 1.5K adults by cellphone and landline phone. The results showed that 96 percent of those ages 18 to 29 own a smartphone compared with 61 percent of those 65 and older. So while it’s still a 35 percent difference, the gap has decreased from 53 points in 2012.
#7
Not Perfect, But A Good Start!
#8
Modern Problems Require Modern Solutions
Glen Ellyn 2 years ago
I'd be really angry if an alleged repair guy did this to my computer. I'd be expecting a new laptop from him. Oh, and by the way, that computer repair shop needs a new repair guy.
#9
All Our Datacenter Equipment Started Firing Off Temperature Alerts. Unrelated, Our Cleaning Staff Was Doing A Deep Cleaning Of Our Datacenter After A Flood
Smartphones aren’t the only piece of tech that old people are quickly starting to embrace. However, the situation with tablet computers is somewhat different. Those aged 30 to 49 were the most likely people to own one, and the ones aged 65 and older were the least likely to have a tablet.
When it comes to our beloved internet use, virtually all younger adults (99 percent!) now say they use the internet. Compared with the older generation, only 75 percent of participants reported being internet users. However, things were quite different in 2000. Then, the gap between the oldest and youngest groups of adults was 56 percentage points, and right now it has decreased to 24 points. So while not everyone was born into electronics, more and more people are leaning toward it. After all, it makes life better and generally more convenient.
#10
Customer States They Saw "A Couple Of Ants" Entering The Rear Vents Of Their iMac...
#11
Legendary
#12
Laptop Keyboard Is Not Working. Well There's Your Problem, Your Keyboard Is Creating New Antibiotics
#13
Disk Fragmentation At 15%...
Bored Panda previously reached out to one of the moderators of the Tech Support Gore subreddit, Coffeechipmunk, who revealed that the most popular posts are those that depict situations just moments away from exploding. "[It's] very dangerous, but very cool looking. They probably get so big because people post the pics and you think, 'Wow, that's just a bomb at that point.'"
"A lot of the content on the subreddit does rather well, except for people coming for actual tech support, they get redirected to the right subreddit. For actual tech support gore, though, it seems like broken screens and slightly messy wires are the current posts that don't hit too hard," the moderator added.
#14
Found This Somewhere And It Creeps Me Out
#15
No Charger? No Problem!
#16
My Gfs iPhone Charger Cable Which She Won’t Replace Because “It Works”
#17
If It Looks Stupid But It Works, Then It's Not Stupid
Glen Ellyn 2 years ago
Just wait until some heat melts that fork all over the computer's guts. 😬 It won't be pretty.
According to Coffeechipmunk, one reason their online group got so popular is simply that "it’s very fun". "In a time where most of the internet can be incredibly serious and most times saddening or angering, r/techsupportgore is fun because you go on it and you can laugh (and/or cringe) at the crazy posts. Where else can you see a post like, "Wow, these cables really are messy" to, "A lizard fried my motherboard" back to back? I love our growing community. They're a bunch of people that just enjoy tech and to some extent, the worst of it."
#18
Tablet Battery
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 2 years ago
That's... That's not good... That is about to go boom and make fire.
#19
Trying To Take The Elevator At 5am Then I See This. (No Out Of Order Sign)
#20
Only On Ebay. Graphics Cards Displayed On Outdoor, Damp, Gravel
UDERSERVELOVE! 2 years ago
Me:* Continuously smacking face on table* My friend: Are you okay Me:* shows photo * My friend:* joins me *
#21
I Am Literally Scared Taking Apart Cr*p Like This. Used A 45 Lb Kettle Bell To Keep The Panel Down Enough To Remove The Screws
The mod explained that the term "Tech Support Gore" refers to "stuff in the tech support or IT field that's a computer comparable version of gore," and added, "Instead of a heart ripped out, it's CPU pins. Slightly less awful." Coffeechipmunk also revealed that the most horrible cases they’ve seen on the community while moderating were "anything with bugs in it. That's the worst.” Well, we couldn’t agree more. As you probably already noticed from this list, they’re truly awful.
#22
Just Posting This...
UDERSERVELOVE! 2 years ago
I have hit my head so hard on the table I think I have a concussion.
#23
Merry Christmas!
#24
Yes That's On The Inside Of The Glass
#25
Computer Froze
#26
That's Always A Fun One To Clean, Isn't It
Keller Worthen 2 years ago
Baking soda and water 50/50 ratio, use with q-tip to clean off corrosion
#27
My Buddy Couldn't Get Into His Harddrive Through The Os, So He Decided To Brute Force It
#28
Found This Mummified Dualshock4 At Work, Anyone Knows Which God Of Egypt Used To Play With This?
#29
The Joys Of Being It Support At A Construction Company(This iPad Was In A Protective Case)
#30
Client: "It Was Working Perfectly Fine Yesterday, Probably A Windows Bug"
#31
Placed A Headset I Wasn't Using Into A Drawer For A Few Months. I Guess The Cup Material Kept Absorbing The Moisture Out Of The Air
#32
User: "Cpu Is At 100% And This Just Happened"
#33
This
#34
When 12 Screws Is Just Too Much To Remove The Hard Drive
#35
Customer Claims Nobody Ever Worked On His 2012 Imac, That This Is How It Came When He Bought It From Apple
#36
Was Looking For Old PC Parts And Found This
#37
This Is How Newton Discovered Gravity
#38
All In One
#39
Windows Be Like " Should Have Gone For The Head" Reported As "It Was Making A Burning Smell So I Threw It Out The Window" Joys With Working From Home And Providing It Support
#40
This Folks Is Why You Don't Leave Batteries In Electronic Equipment
Tom Hanlin 2 years ago
Go on. What kind of "electronic equipment" uses six AA cells? What the heck was that?
#41
Customer Tried To Fix A Connector For A High Power Studio Flash By Soldering The Wires Himself
#42
Mild Gore/Spicy Pillowness From Yet Another 7490. Thank You Dell!
#43
Just Cooking Lunch On A Athalon
#44
My "USB-C" 2tb Drive Came Today
Add New Image
What do you think ?
D. Pitbull 2 years ago
Aaaand this is where... "Behold... these demonstrate why it is smart to admit when you don't know 'the thing'... and get someone who does." - but of course... there'll be that person who was told all their lives they're so smart, so intelligent... and never understanding that doesn't mean they're smart in **EVERYTHING**. Yes, you may have X-number of degrees in theoretical physics... or chemistry.... but that doesn't mean you know how to fix your computer.......
LittleLiz 2 years ago
It was a shock to learn that I can be smart without knowing everything, but I'd rather have the Geek Squad laugh at me than cause irreversible damage to my computer.
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Stephanie Paich 2 years ago
My mom was in a computer class one day with a woman who had never used a computer. The instructor looking at her monitor told her to move the mouse up to an icon he was pointing at. She lifted the mouse upwards off the mouse pad.
Susanne B 2 years ago
It is easy to laugh, but she just did what she was asked to do. The instructor needs to learn how to deal with beginners
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*Displayname*=idk 2 years ago
I'm scared of lithium batteries now. The worst part is my sleep headband has a lithium battery. Should I continue to fear?
Phyzzi 2 years ago
Short answer: no. Longer answer: there are situations where pretty much any new technology can be dangerous, but for something like lithium batteries there has been years of development to make them safer. In fact, these pictures of lithium batteries are likely because something else in the computer cooked them, and while it's certainly not a great result, it's also not actually catastrophic. Even in the worst cases (like the Samsung Galaxy Note a few years back) the chances of a real problem were around one in several hundred thousand.
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phil blanque 2 years ago
I took my daughter to work, on the day. I set her up with Harvard Graphics to play around. She got to my settings, and changed all the backgrounds and text to white. lived in a snowstorm the next two days
Nolgoth 2 years ago
Used to work for geek squad back in 06/07. Customer brought in computer saying it wasn't working properly. I connected it to monitor and power at the counter and sire nuff wont start. Pop open side of case and omfg so many roaches both dead and alive. Senior coworker very quickly got several large black trash bags put the pc in one then that bag in another bag and in another bag, handed it back to the customer and just said "nope". Lol
*Displayname*=idk 2 years ago
Dang. How did the customer react to "nope"?
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Karen Lyon 2 years ago
This oddly.makes.me feel better about the work computers I have broken the last few years....just from dropping them (or being careless about how I toss my keys on my desk.) Yeesh.
Ann Harste 2 years ago
The time a coworker sent a laptop back to my husband because it had a virus. When my husband opened the laptop a wad of Kleenex was stuck to the keyboard.
LinaLovesBooks 2 years ago
I-I cant do this anymore. All chances of potentially having my faith humanity restored is gone.
Dillon Sizemore 2 years ago (edited)
The ome drilling into the computer is actually a thing at one point they started trying to make 'cool looking computers so they strap on plastic coverings for the metal so by changing the covering and a couple chips or the HDD you have another model to sell but tge company doesn't tell whoever they get to do the plastic work how big wide or many holes it needs to breath or even worse the holes in the plastic just go to metal. You can look at the last 2-3 alienware models and see that the interior is laid out the same but the newer models have more holes/holes in diffrent places.(don't buy alienware it's dell and dell charges for name instead of product)
jasper 2 years ago
Wrong. I work for 911. There are a lot of really, really stupid people out there.
Load More Replies...
D. Pitbull 2 years ago
Aaaand this is where... "Behold... these demonstrate why it is smart to admit when you don't know 'the thing'... and get someone who does." - but of course... there'll be that person who was told all their lives they're so smart, so intelligent... and never understanding that doesn't mean they're smart in **EVERYTHING**. Yes, you may have X-number of degrees in theoretical physics... or chemistry.... but that doesn't mean you know how to fix your computer.......
LittleLiz 2 years ago
It was a shock to learn that I can be smart without knowing everything, but I'd rather have the Geek Squad laugh at me than cause irreversible damage to my computer.
Load More Replies... Stephanie Paich 2 years ago
My mom was in a computer class one day with a woman who had never used a computer. The instructor looking at her monitor told her to move the mouse up to an icon he was pointing at. She lifted the mouse upwards off the mouse pad.
Susanne B 2 years ago
It is easy to laugh, but she just did what she was asked to do. The instructor needs to learn how to deal with beginners
Load More Replies... *Displayname*=idk 2 years ago
I'm scared of lithium batteries now. The worst part is my sleep headband has a lithium battery. Should I continue to fear?
Phyzzi 2 years ago
Short answer: no. Longer answer: there are situations where pretty much any new technology can be dangerous, but for something like lithium batteries there has been years of development to make them safer. In fact, these pictures of lithium batteries are likely because something else in the computer cooked them, and while it's certainly not a great result, it's also not actually catastrophic. Even in the worst cases (like the Samsung Galaxy Note a few years back) the chances of a real problem were around one in several hundred thousand.
Load More Replies... phil blanque 2 years ago
I took my daughter to work, on the day. I set her up with Harvard Graphics to play around. She got to my settings, and changed all the backgrounds and text to white. lived in a snowstorm the next two days
Nolgoth 2 years ago
Used to work for geek squad back in 06/07. Customer brought in computer saying it wasn't working properly. I connected it to monitor and power at the counter and sire nuff wont start. Pop open side of case and omfg so many roaches both dead and alive. Senior coworker very quickly got several large black trash bags put the pc in one then that bag in another bag and in another bag, handed it back to the customer and just said "nope". Lol
*Displayname*=idk 2 years ago
Dang. How did the customer react to "nope"?
Load More Replies... Karen Lyon 2 years ago
This oddly.makes.me feel better about the work computers I have broken the last few years....just from dropping them (or being careless about how I toss my keys on my desk.) Yeesh.
Ann Harste 2 years ago
The time a coworker sent a laptop back to my husband because it had a virus. When my husband opened the laptop a wad of Kleenex was stuck to the keyboard.
LinaLovesBooks 2 years ago
I-I cant do this anymore. All chances of potentially having my faith humanity restored is gone.
Dillon Sizemore 2 years ago (edited)
The ome drilling into the computer is actually a thing at one point they started trying to make 'cool looking computers so they strap on plastic coverings for the metal so by changing the covering and a couple chips or the HDD you have another model to sell but tge company doesn't tell whoever they get to do the plastic work how big wide or many holes it needs to breath or even worse the holes in the plastic just go to metal. You can look at the last 2-3 alienware models and see that the interior is laid out the same but the newer models have more holes/holes in diffrent places.(don't buy alienware it's dell and dell charges for name instead of product)
jasper 2 years ago
Wrong. I work for 911. There are a lot of really, really stupid people out there.
Load More Replies... You May Like 50 AI Art Fails That Are Both Horrifying And Hilarious 45 Old Gadgets That Were The Trendsetters Of Their Time
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