• @dexa_scantron
    link
    176 months ago

    I was working in my college’s computer lab in '97/'98 and this was old then. The freshmen kept falling for it every year!

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      176 months ago

      I can’t speak to the executable, but I know back in '95 the joke about someone calling support and asking why they have a cup holder but no CD drive was already crusty. There were a bunch of variations, but here’s the first one I found for those too young to remember:

      Customer: "Can you help me, the cup holder on my new computer broke, and I don’t know what to do?

      Friend: “Cup holder? What are you talking about? None of our computers come with a cup holder attached to them, and I’ve never heard of one that did.”

      Customer: Yes, well the one you sold me did, and the other day I went to set a mug of coffee on it and it just snapped off!"

      Friend: “Sir, can you describe what the cup holder looks like, because I still can’t picture what a cup holder on a computer would look like?”

      At this point the customer is getting a little irritated!

      Customer: “Look, I don’t know how you could not know that you sell computers with cup holders on them, because it’s right in the middle of the thing, and when you push a button on the side, it pops out so you can set your drink on it, and it says 4X on the front cover!”

      A long pause . . .

      Friend: Sir, are you telling me, you’re using your CD-Rom drive as a beverage holder?"

      Customer: “What’s a CD-Rom Drive?”

      And now, a terrible bonus joke that is completely unrelated but was around at about the same time:

      How do you know if you’re addicted to the Internet? You get a tattoo that says “This body best viewed with Netscape 2.01 or higher.”

      • @militaryintelligence
        link
        66 months ago

        From my time as tech support, I can tell you that story is probably true

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          36 months ago

          It wouldn’t shock me, honestly. I did home support in a small computer repair shop for extra cash and all the leftover parts I could carry in high school in the 90s, then I did some time at an MSP for many years in the 00s and early 10s. I heard many versions of that particular anecdote from the time I started until CD drives stopped coming standard.