Saturday, October 12, 2024
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The holy trinity of electricity – the positive, the negative and the ground, amen.

(I’m still flabberghasted I took this call.  It starts out pretty normally, but ends in a complete loss for word)

Caller: “I have two monitors on my computer, and there no image on my left monitor, where everything normally is shown”

Me: “Okay, is there any power lights on the left monitor at all?”

Caller: “No, just the one on the right monitor”

Me: “Okay, we need to ensure all the power cables are plugged in securely to the wall outlets”

Caller (after shuffling around a bit): “Yeah, they all appear to be plugged in.”

Me: “Okay, that’s odd.  Can you swap the power cables for each monitor, so they are plugged into each other’s power outlet?”

Caller (shuffles some more, much longer than it should require): I can’t get one out.  Is there a trick to getting it out?”

Me (alarmed something just went wrong): “No….it’s a power cord.  You just pull.  No power outlet has a lock-in system….”

Caller: “You mean the cord on the back of the monitor, right?”

Me (realizing what’s going on): “Nonononono!  I said the POWER cord at the OUTLET.  You know…in the wall.”

Caller: “Well….what do they look like?”

Me: (dumbfounded)

Caller: “I’m not a computer person”

Me: “Uhhhh…It’s a power cord.  It has three prongs, and looks like a power cable that you would plug in for your TV, your radio, your blender at home…..it’s a POWER CABLE!”

In the end, I had to send a technician out to check power cords.

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