Encyclopedia of Humor

I work as a systems administrator, and part of my job involves answering questions about computers. I generally like my job, but sometimes it gets on my nerves. When people ask me what I find so irritating, this is what I tell them:

Imagine that you are a salesperson for Ikea (substitute “furniture store” if you don’t know what “Ikea” is). You get a phone call that goes like this.

Customer: I’d like to buy a kitchen table.

You: That’s fine; we have many styles of kitchen tables, I’m sure you can find one you like.

C: I need one that’s 3 feet by 5 feet and has a butcher block top.

Y: Yes, we have a table like that. You can pick it up today.

C: OK, how can I get it back to my house?

Y: Well, it comes disassembled, so you can just put it on a roof rack. We can loan you a roof rack if you don’t have one.

C: But how do get there?

Y: We’re just off exit 25 of the Turnpike. Where are you coming from?

C: Wait, wait, you’re going way too fast for me. I have a Ford in my driveway, and the keys are in my hand. What do I do next?

And, whatever you say at this point, the response is always the same:

C: But all I want is a kitchen table! Why does it have to be so *COMPLICATED*!

Computer Problem Report Form

1. Describe your problem:
________________________________
________________________________

2. Now, describe the problem
accurately:
________________________________
________________________________

3. Speculate wildly about the cause
of the problem:
________________________________
________________________________

4. Problem Severity:
A. Minor __
B. Minor __
C. Minor __
D. Trivial __

5. Nature of the problem:
A. Locked Up __
B. Frozen __
C. Hung __
D. Strange Smell __

6. Is your computer plugged in?
Yes __
No __

7. Is it turned on?
Yes __
No __

8. Have you tried to fix it yourself?
Yes __
No __

9. Have you made it worse?
Yes __

10. Have you had a friend who knows
all about computers. Try to fix it
for you?

Yes __ No __

11. Did they make it even worse?

Yes __

12. Have you read the manual?

Yes __ No __

13. Are you sure you’ve read the manual?

Maybe __ No __

14. Are you absolutely you’ve
read the manual?

No __

15. If you read the manual, do you think
you understood it?

Yes __ No __

16. If Yes, then explain why you can’t
fix the problem yourself.

________________________________
________________________________

17. What were you doing with your computer
at the time the problem occurred?

________________________________
________________________________

l8. If you answered nothing, then explain
why you were logged in?
________________________________
________________________________

l9. Are you sure you aren’t imagining
the problem?

Yes __ No __

20. Does the clock on your home VCR blink
12:00?

Yes __ What’s a VCR? __

21. Do you have a copy of PCs for Dummies?

Yes __ No __

22. Do you have any independent witnesses
to the problem?

Yes __ No __

23. Do you have any electronics products
that DO work?

Yes __ No __

24. Is there anyone else you could blame
this problem on?

Yes __ No __

25. Have you given the machine a good whack
on the top?

Yes __ No __

26. Is the machine on fire?

Yes __ Not Yet __

27. Can you do something else instead of
bothering me?

Yes __

In a recent contest in The Washington Post, readers were asked to take an expression using a number, add or subtract one, and create a new definition:

The Year 2001 Problem: How to find jobs for all those programmers hired to solve the Year 2000 problem.

Catch-23: Complete the previous catch before proceeding to this step.

Fortune 501: Levi Strauss makes the list, but just by the seat of its pants.

Motel 5: If you’re not there by midnight, they turn off the light.

Dressed to the Eights: Impeccably attired with white socks.

Six Brides for Seven Brothers: Someone’s gonna get hurt !

Snow White and the Eight Dwarfs: The title, before they expelled Gassy.

Five Eyes: Other kids can be so cruel when you are Siamese twins, and one of you is wearing a monocle.

665: The mark on the forehead of Satan’s slightly less evil brother, Ralph.

Top Ten ways things would be different if Microsoft built cars:

1. A Particular model year of car wouldn’t be available until AFTER that year, instead of before.

2. Every time they repainted the lines on the road, you’d have to buy a new car.

3. Occassionally your car would just die for no reason and you’d have to restart it. For some strange reason, you would just accept this.

4. You could only have one person at a time in your car, unless you bought a car ’95 or a car NT, but then you would have to buy more seats.

5. You would be constantly pressured to upgrade your car. Wait a second, it’s that way NOW!

6. Sun Microsystems would make a car that was solar powered, twice as reliable, 5 times as fast, but only ran on 5% of the roads.

7. The oil, alternator, gas, and engine warning lights would be replaced with a single “General Car Fault” warning light.

8. People would get excited about thew new features in Microsoft cars, forgetting completely that they had been available in other brands for years.

9. We’d all have to switch to Microsoft Gas ™.

10. Ford, General Motors, and Chrylser would all be complaining because Microsoft was putting radios in all its models.

Q: What does a proud computer call his little son?
A: A microchip off the old block.

Q: What happens if you cross a midget and a computer?
A: You get a short circut.

Picture a robot on a psychiatric couch: Doc, my intelligence may be artificial, but my problems are real.

The goal of Computer Science is to build something that will last at least until we’ve finished building it.