Randomness: the 18th sequel

[Green Eyed Monsty]

1 hour ago, kristof65 said:

🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️

So last week, the junior tech is working with a gas station car wash to fix a problem where a bunch of modules got blown up because someone plugged a voltage source into a communications junction, frying a bunch of things.  He needed to send out two modules that basically look identical, but have different programs running on them.  For one of the modules, we knew what program to install on it because it's interfacing with a different part of our system.  The other module, however, is for the interface between our car wash controller, and the gas pumps, so that the pumps can sell codes.  There are two different protocols we can use for communicating with the pumps, and the right one has to be installed on the module. The choices are Ryko and Bulloch.  Once a module is programmed, the person doing it hand writes the module version onto the label. 

So the tech asked the guy to look at the module and tell him what was written on the label on it so it could be programmed correctly.   Our tech didn't hear back from the before shipment time, so the engineer guessed for him, and programmed it as Ryko, as 75% or more do use Ryko, and that's what it went out as. 

Junior tech got sick over the weekend, and has been out, so I've had to handle this guy's calls. 

 

Yesterday morning, he finally calls back to answer the junior tech's question about Ryko or Bulloch.   His answer? "Phone Line."   Not a valid option, but that was his answer.  I explain to him that the parts were sent, and we'll just have to see if the right program was installed in the one (meanwhile, i was praying to god it was correct). 

This morning he calls back - he's received the modules, but neither one of them say Phone Line.  I explain to him again that phone line isn't a valid option, and that the two modules sent should correspond to the two modules that are there.  He wasn't on site at the moment, so I tell him to just pay attention to what's written on the modules,, to swap like for like and to call us back if what is written on them doesn't match. 

I just got off the phone with him again.  Why? Because the old one says "Rylo" and the new one says "Ryko". I explain to him that is just differences in hand writing, and that they are the same thing, but he's not convinced and tells me he's not sure that's the correct one for the phone line.   I finally realized that he's mistaking the Ethernet cable plugged into it as a phone line.  I assure him that Rylo and Ryko are the same thing, because Rylo is definitely not Bulloch, and try to explain that the cable he's calling a phone line is merely the comm interface to the pumps. 

I'm still not sure he got it. 

I hope to everything good and holy that these modules fix his problem, or that the junior tech comes back tomorrow. 

 

Some people just need to be punted into an alternate universe where phones are still rotary dial, credit transactions have to be run through a manual transaction device, by hand and each one with multi-part carbons and flimsies, and fraud alert is a phone book size actual book.

GEM

Edited April 11 by Green Eyed Monsty

[haldir]

Just got done listening to the SiriusXM Top 50 Guitarist Countdown. These were voted by SXM subscribers, had I remembered to vote I would have but this is the top 10:

 

10 David Gilmour
9 Jeff Beck
8 Prince
7 Slash
6 Carlos Santana
5 Stevie Ray Vaughn
4 Jimmy Page
3 Eric Clapton
2 Jimi Hendrix
1 Eddie Van Halen

 

[Pegazus]

Aaloo gobi is so good. Craved it for almost a month. 

[Corsair]

[Great Khan Artist]

On 4/7/2023 at 7:12 PM, Green Eyed Monsty said:

"Fits 6" is just to keep people from asking questions when they see more than one person go in and nobody comes out.

 

I don't get it. We women have been doing this in restrooms for years. We've never needed an occupancy sign, that's just how we roll. 

[Green Eyed Monsty]

6 hours ago, Green Eyed Monsty said:

Some people just need to be punted into an alternate universe where phones are still rotary dial, credit transactions have to be run through a manual transaction device, by hand and each one with multi-part carbons and flimsies, and fraud alert is a phone book size actual book.

GEM

I forgot to mention it takes anywhere from two to six weeks for these transactions to clear and the money to actually be credited to your account.

Business moved at an entirely different pace then.

GEM

[Chaoswolf]

[Mad Jack]

16 hours ago, TGP said:

Idiot squirrel. They are supposed to live in trees. They have one job. Stay. In. The. Trees. 

 

 Interestingly, in all my time on this earth I've never heard of a stuck-squirrel story locally - we've got the smart squirrels...

 

No, seriously - when I worked at the toothpaste factory, which was in the middle of a city, the local squirrels would either cross the streets by running up a pole and going over the lines, or they'd actually sit at the crosswalk and wait until the light turned green before crossing with the rest of us... 

 

There was one time I walked up to the corner on my lunch break and there was a squirrel waiting there as I approached, looking back and forth at the traffic passing by. As I got closer, I thought he'd run away but I walked right up next to him, and he just looked at me like, "Hey. could you press that button for me? Thanks."

 

[kristof65]

13 hours ago, Green Eyed Monsty said:

Some people just need to be punted into an alternate universe where phones are still rotary dial, credit transactions have to be run through a manual transaction device, by hand and each one with multi-part carbons and flimsies, and fraud alert is a phone book size actual book.

GEM

So after I posted that, the dispatcher tells me "he told me he used to be an electrician, but I'm starting to think he's part of the problem." 

I knew he was part of the problem the first moment I spoke to him.  And if he was an electrician, he never wired anything more complicated than an outlet, because the guy had no understanding at all that just because two plugs look physically identical doesn't mean they're electrically identical. 
 

12 hours ago, haldir said:

5 Stevie Ray Vaughn

They must be voting for sober Stevie, because stoned Stevie sucked. 

Back in the mid 80s, we had 6th row seats to see Moody Blues, and Stevie & Double Trouble opened for them.  He went on a 10 minute "solo" that was so bad it had us plugging our ears and consider leaving. 

I wouldn't knowingly listen to anything by him/them until I worked at the guitar accessories company in the mid 90s, and was introduced to some of his good playing. 

[ShadowRaven]

The worst part about getting older, is that people you care for are getting older too. Just spent all day  yesterday  getting my dad taken care of, and into hospital, for what looks to be, and hopefully is, relatively minor angina pectoris, aka, a partial blockage in the veins leading into the heart.  Hard accepting your parents are in their 70's, when half the time you are still trying to convince your brain, "no I am not 21 any more" 

[Cygnwulf]

30 minutes ago, kristof65 said:

the guy had no understanding at all that just because two plugs look physically identical doesn't mean they're electrically identical. 

It's always been weird to me, but the number of "tech" people I've met who can't tell the difference between RJ11 and RJ45 is hard for me to wrap my brain around.  RJ45 is almost twice the size of RJ11.  I get non-techy people confusing them as they're the same form factor and both are still less than an half an inch wide.  
Of course, these days a lot of places have started using rj45 for phone jack's too because it handles multiple wire phone systems better, though sometimes with different pin configurations than the T568A/B, or sometimes with only 2-4 wires actually inserted into the jack, making for all kinds of fun confusion.....

[kristof65]

5 minutes ago, Cygnwulf said:

It's always been weird to me, but the number of "tech" people I've met who can't tell the difference between RJ11 and RJ45 is hard for me to wrap my brain around.  RJ45 is almost twice the size of RJ11.  I get non-techy people confusing them as they're the same form factor and both are still less than an half an inch wide.  
Of course, these days a lot of places have started using rj45 for phone jack's too because it handles multiple wire phone systems better, though sometimes with different pin configurations than the T568A/B, or sometimes with only 2-4 wires actually inserted into the jack, making for all kinds of fun confusion.....

A lot of gas station pump control systems use RJ45 plugs for serial ports, because using ethernet cables/wiring is easier for field wiring than DB9 is. Cheaper & smaller, too, when you have systems that require 16-32 serial ports. 

But it does cause further confusion. 

Wanna see a pump tech lose his broccoli?  Just need to have someone run a cable between a POE* network switch for a camera system and the serial panel on the pump controller. 


*POE is Power Over Ethernet, for those of you who didn't know. 

[Arc 724]

office Life:

The waste cartridge is full and no one ordered a new one. I order a new one but no on can print anything. I take the cartridge out and figure out how to open it and empty it, clean it and put it back in. VIOLA! It's working again. 

[Cygnwulf]

1 hour ago, kristof65 said:

Wanna see a pump tech lose his broccoli?  Just need to have someone run a cable between a POE* network switch for a camera system and the serial panel on the pump controller. 
*POE is Power Over Ethernet, for those of you who didn't know. 

 

that seems like it could have explosive results

[Pegazus]

I always worry when the lil’ red dude in the sharp black suit sitting on my left shoulder comments, “yeah, that’ll work! Elf ‘em” when I write something in response to a request, and the feathered guy on the right pretends he’s busy with something else.

 

So. Got a request to explain why I didn’t want to change a drawing due to a problem report. Said problem report addresses a set screw that didn’t get to full torque because they stripped the head. While they were trying to decide what to do, the glue on the threads cured. It ain’t coming out! But, it’s in the correct position, has more than three quarters of what torque it should have, and will prevent the slotted nut from backing off as intended. Dab some epoxy over the top and call it good.  Why in the wide world of sports would I want to change the drawing to allow that?!

 

My response was toned down a lot from what I wanted to say. In the end, I stated that I wasn’t changing the drawing to allow for flying damaged pieces because it wasn’t the preferred condition. It may be more snarky than I like.