Being a Tech is Incredibly Boring

[DontSayBanana]

4-hour service call: $400
New laser printer: $100
Discovering that service calls aren't really worth it for most printers available in the retail market: priceless.

[Darth Wagtaros]

True.  Laser printers are trash compared to maybe 10-15 years ago.

[CountDeMoney]

I personally wouldn't mind carrying a couple of certs, but the boss feels they're a racket and tend towards too narrow a curriculum for the kind of stuff we run into.

I wish my industry felt that way.  Maybe then I wouldn't be moving back in with my parents in November.

THE IDEAL CANDIDATE POSSESSES A CERTIFIED FRAUD EXAMINER CERTIFICATION EVEN THOUGH WE DONT EXAMINE FRAUD AT ALL HERE

[Darth Wagtaros]

More and more I see jobs requring management experience too.  There is no management requirement in the job description, but the list of prereqs will want anywhere from 1-2 or even 4-5 years of management.  WTF.

[CountDeMoney]

More and more I see jobs requring management experience too.  There is no management requirement in the job description, but the list of prereqs will want anywhere from 1-2 or even 4-5 years of management.  WTF.

That's a catch-all phrase for "working and playing well with others" on all levels, that's all.

[DontSayBanana]

Got a call from a lady today wanting to digitize books with a handheld scanner.  Sure, fine.  Pretty sound idea.

...with a handheld barcode scanner.  She wanted to know if we could reprogram a barcode scanner to digitize books.  It was all I could do to keep my voice level while I explained several times in different ways that it just wasn't that kind of scanner she was looking at.

Sigh.

[Grey Fox]

You could. 

[DontSayBanana]

You could. 

Theoretically.  I could do it, but it would involve wiping the firmware on the barcode scanner, which is a BITCH, and replacing it with custom software to replace the decoders, which is worse.  Especially since Metrologic barcode scanners use proprietary communications.  Even then, the scan would be really, really shitty, because barcode scanners don't actually need that high a resolution to detect the pitched areas of a barcode.  Think Sierra point-and-click adventures graphics, and you'd be on the right track.

Bottom line, repurposing a $40 barcode scanner is way more work than it's worth when you could spend $100 and get a decent optical scanner wand.

It's like the guys who call complaining that our Bluetooth scanners don't work with iPhones.  You could spend $500 to get a little midget barcode scanner that will mate with an iPhone, or you could just spend $50 and mate a normal one to a cheapo Android tablet.  Or even better, mate it to a BlackBerry.

[MadBurgerMaker]

Being a tech exposes you to lots of fun new people

"IS THIS WHERE AH GO FER 'PUTER CLASSES!?"
"Er...this is a medical school.  Maybe try UTSA?"
"THIS IS THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS, RIGHT?"
"...."

I'll have to thank the operator for giving that dude my number.