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i tried to get help from microsoft chat yesterday, but instead...

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ok, so here's the backstory.  (i'm sure this will be longer than necessary, but real time, it was only about 3 hours, so consider yourselves lucky).

i've been working with this new company for about 6 months, and they got me a laptop for the job, so i use that laptop pretty much exclusively for it, and nothing else.  therefore, my outlook on that laptop only contains my work email.  i have other laptops (one in particular) that i use for personal use, my yahoo/gmail, my writing, whatever. 

our email up til now was pop, but was changing to imap, which meant i needed to change the settings on my outlook to accommodate the new server we were using.  essentially, i needed to "add" a new email account, only it was the same email address, which made things a little tricky.  outlook wouldn't let me just add new settings, because "the email you're trying to add is already installed" or something - which is true.  i tried to fake it out a couple ways, but it wasn't working.  i also knew that if i replaced my old settings completely with my new settings, the odds were decent i would wipe out 6 months worth of emails, which would be less than ideal.

so i went on microsoft chat, got on very quickly, and started dealing with someone known here as mark russel m.  i'm positive that's not his real name, but who cares.  i explained my situation, and a number of times asked whether i needed to export the emails (in order to save them) or how things were going to work moving forward.  he seemed very confident in my situation, and his ability to remedy it.

it should be said at this time, that at many moments in this conversation, i was positive i would end up with the transcript of this chat (or at the very least, i would cut and paste it, because i knew halfway through it needed to be shared).  this unfortunately did not happen, so i only have screenshots i literally took with my iphone during the chat, and i'll have to explain the rest.  it should also be said that i have a tendency to be a snarky, sarcastic asshole piece of shit, both in real life, and online, on occasion.  for most of the beginning of this chat, i was a perfect fucking gentleman.

anyhow, we're chatting, i'm explaining, and we get to the point where the usual stuff isn't working, so he asks to access my computer.  i say fine, and he starts screwing around with my desktop and ms office.  he realizes that i've been using "the app" instead of the actual software.  i say ok, because honestly, i couldn't tell the difference, as this was the first computer i've had that had the app preinstalled, and i never noticed it wasn't the software i've been using for 20 years.  so he goes to the microsoft download page, downloads ms office 365, enters in all the new settings, and nukes my 6 months worth of emails from the planet.  as i watched.

so i start saying stuff to him, and asking what he's doing, and i'm freaking out, because they're so clearly (likely) gone.  so he asks me where on my computer the emails were, as if now it's my job to find them.

imgur

 

so he gets a supervisor.  his name was rizi or something, but he stayed on mark's terminal, so the name didn't change.  as he starts talking to me, he knows i'm pissed, and this is compounded by the fact that after i shut off access to my computer, something on their end was acting up, and sending me a request to access like 15 more times.  this is the box that kept track of everything, but only shows a handful of rejections:

imgur

 

i told him to stop asking for permission.  he asked if security was my concern.

imgur

 

i'll admit, the "getting fired" bit was purposely dramatic, because i wanted them to get nervous enough to fix it.  i won't get in trouble, the emails still live on my phone, but it will be inconvenient for sure.  at this point, he's walking me through and confirming what mark russel did - the whole "installing office 365 to replace the app" situation.

imgur

 

he then asked if mark had asked about a pst file (presumably containing the backups of all the emails).  he hadn't before he installed 365, but did afterwards, which is what he spent several minutes looking around my computer files for.

imgur

 

this is me just being shitty, while he's doing his best to be my friend:

imgur

 

this is where things took a turn for the surreal.  he was now rooting around in my computer, and asking me about whether i knew where the mysterious pst files would be.

imgur

imgur

imgur

 

(apologies for potential avengers spoilers).

this all ended with him doing a system restore that took 35 minutes, and did not help.  thanks, microsoft.

so here's my question - how do i arrange it to where mark gets fired and i get to watch via webcam while eating pork cracklins?

 

  • Author

on a completely unrelated note, why are all my after-comments with imgur turning into links?  that's not what i wanted to do.  sorry, that's annoying.  not sure there's any way to edit it now.  oh well.

55 minutes ago, henrygandorf said:

ok, so here's the backstory.  (i'm sure this will be longer than necessary, but real time, it was only about 3 hours, so consider yourselves lucky).

i've been working with this new company for about 6 months, and they got me a laptop for the job, so i use that laptop pretty much exclusively for it, and nothing else.  therefore, my outlook on that laptop only contains my work email.  i have other laptops (one in particular) that i use for personal use, my yahoo/gmail, my writing, whatever. 

our email up til now was pop, but was changing to imap, which meant i needed to change the settings on my outlook to accommodate the new server we were using.  essentially, i needed to "add" a new email account, only it was the same email address, which made things a little tricky.  outlook wouldn't let me just add new settings, because "the email you're trying to add is already installed" or something - which is true.  i tried to fake it out a couple ways, but it wasn't working.  i also knew that if i replaced my old settings completely with my new settings, the odds were decent i would wipe out 6 months worth of emails, which would be less than ideal.

so i went on microsoft chat, got on very quickly, and started dealing with someone known here as mark russel m.  i'm positive that's not his real name, but who cares.  i explained my situation, and a number of times asked whether i needed to export the emails (in order to save them) or how things were going to work moving forward.  he seemed very confident in my situation, and his ability to remedy it.

it should be said at this time, that at many moments in this conversation, i was positive i would end up with the transcript of this chat (or at the very least, i would cut and paste it, because i knew halfway through it needed to be shared).  this unfortunately did not happen, so i only have screenshots i literally took with my iphone during the chat, and i'll have to explain the rest.  it should also be said that i have a tendency to be a snarky, sarcastic asshole piece of shit, both in real life, and online, on occasion.  for most of the beginning of this chat, i was a perfect fucking gentleman.

anyhow, we're chatting, i'm explaining, and we get to the point where the usual stuff isn't working, so he asks to access my computer.  i say fine, and he starts screwing around with my desktop and ms office.  he realizes that i've been using "the app" instead of the actual software.  i say ok, because honestly, i couldn't tell the difference, as this was the first computer i've had that had the app preinstalled, and i never noticed it wasn't the software i've been using for 20 years.  so he goes to the microsoft download page, downloads ms office 365, enters in all the new settings, and nukes my 6 months worth of emails from the planet.  as i watched.

so i start saying stuff to him, and asking what he's doing, and i'm freaking out, because they're so clearly (likely) gone.  so he asks me where on my computer the emails were, as if now it's my job to find them.

 

 

 

so he gets a supervisor.  his name was rizi or something, but he stayed on mark's terminal, so the name didn't change.  as he starts talking to me, he knows i'm pissed, and this is compounded by the fact that after i shut off access to my computer, something on their end was acting up, and sending me a request to access like 15 more times.  this is the box that kept track of everything, but only shows a handful of rejections:

 

 

 

i told him to stop asking for permission.  he asked if security was my concern.

 

 

 

i'll admit, the "getting fired" bit was purposely dramatic, because i wanted them to get nervous enough to fix it.  i won't get in trouble, the emails still live on my phone, but it will be inconvenient for sure.  at this point, he's walking me through and confirming what mark russel did - the whole "installing office 365 to replace the app" situation.

 

 

 

he then asked if mark had asked about a pst file (presumably containing the backups of all the emails).  he hadn't before he installed 365, but did afterwards, which is what he spent several minutes looking around my computer files for.

 

 

 

this is me just being shitty, while he's doing his best to be my friend:

 

 

 

this is where things took a turn for the surreal.  he was now rooting around in my computer, and asking me about whether i knew where the mysterious pst files would be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(apologies for potential avengers spoilers).

this all ended with him doing a system restore that took 35 minutes, and did not help.  thanks, microsoft.

so here's my question - how do i arrange it to where mark gets fired and i get to watch via webcam while eating pork cracklins?

 

I had some major issues with my iMac and the Genius (online chat, not at the store) told me reformat my computer.  I asked him if he meant to completely clean it, like it was out of the box, and he said "yes."  I said, "You mean, erase all the pictures of my children? And my business files? And all that?"  Suddenly, it said, "You have been disconnected from chat."  

I might have screen shotted it; I don't remember.  Unbelievable, though.

I kinda want to sympathize for you against arvinder paktel from Kerala fucking up your emails..... But looks like he was following the proper steps while you're the dude taking a picture of a computer screen with a cell phone

About 15 years ago I worked at a place that turned all my emails into a pst file.  Like what the fuck are you supposed to do when you need to find an email?  Convert it back?  And if so, why do it in the first place?  Total bullshit.

  • Author
6 minutes ago, 52-80 said:

I kinda want to sympathize for you against arvinder paktel from Kerala fucking up your emails..... But looks like he was following the proper steps while you're the dude taking a picture of a computer screen with a cell phone

his proper steps forced the one thing to happen that i was trying to prevent.

he waited until after it was over to ask me about the possible existence of a failsafe.

the pics were just to help pass the time in a text conversation i was having.

About 15 years ago I worked at a place that turned all my emails into a pst file.  Like what the fuck are you supposed to do when you need to find an email?  Convert it back?  And if so, why do it in the first place?  Total bullshit.


Open it with outlook.
his proper steps forced the one thing to happen that i was trying to prevent.
he waited until after it was over to ask me about the possible existence of a failsafe.
the pics were just to help pass the time in a text conversation i was having.


You can always try to do a search for a .ost file.
19 minutes ago, Surly Bevo said:

Send Mark a signed copy of FLASH!

 

 

Sprinkle anthrax in it

Send books and vagene

When we first moved most of the basic support for my employer to India, we had to implement a policy for them not to tell our customers their name was Elvis, Michael Jackson, etc

  • Popular Post
9 minutes ago, Homercles said:

When we first moved most of the basic support for my employer to India, we had to implement a policy for them not to tell our customers their name was Elvis, Michael Jackson, etc

3rd world call centers really piss me off. Just this morning, I called tech support, and I could tell right away that English wasn't their first language.

Fucking Mississippi call centers.

1 hour ago, Homercles said:

When we first moved most of the basic support for my employer to India, we had to implement a policy for them not to tell our customers their name was Elvis, Michael Jackson, etc

If you ever get Michael Jordan, that dude knows his stuff!

I have the solution, but you will need a magnet. The stronger the better. 

Also, can you locate your sys32 file?

6 hours ago, henrygandorf said:

it should also be said that i have a tendency to be a snarky, sarcastic asshole piece of shit, both in real life, and online, on occasion. 

I'm having a hard time believing that. 

"you know what, i do, and i'm having a really hard time enjoying your marvel reference right now." 

lulz 

13 hours ago, Bullneck said:

About 15 years ago I worked at a place that turned all my emails into a pst file.  Like what the fuck are you supposed to do when you need to find an email?  Convert it back?  And if so, why do it in the first place?  Total bullshit.

this, plus they institute wacky company policies under the guise of security  but then they do not provide any local help to support said policies. 

Threads like this make me glad I’m soooo far removed from anything remotely resembling a corporate environment. 

Edited by After irth

14 hours ago, ABSR said:

If you ever get Michael Jordan, that dude knows his stuff!

He's so phony. 

17 hours ago, Bullneck said:

About 15 years ago I worked at a place that turned all my emails into a pst file.  Like what the fuck are you supposed to do when you need to find an email?  Convert it back?  And if so, why do it in the first place?  Total bullshit.

Probably from NSA:

https://www.nucleustechnologies.com/pst-viewer.html

As an IT guy, why the fuck are you chatting with Microsoft to do this?

 

Outside of that, I did chortle at the Thanos bit.

  • 2 weeks later...

Just bought a little battery pack that can jump start your car or charge your phone or laptop. It comes with 8 adapters for various laptops, but I have an odd laptop with a square connector but I did find some adapters for it in various sizes but don't know if they will work with the adapters provided. I go to the company website to try to find a list of the adapters they provide. I can't find it on the site, but there is a chat window so I say fuck it and start a chat up.

help1.jpg

help2.jpg


help3.jpg


help4.jpg


help5.jpg


help6.jpg


help7.jpg


help8.jpg


help9.jpg

 

Pretty sure you got Centurylink customer service by mistake.

On 5/19/2019 at 6:49 AM, After irth said:

Threads like this make me glad I’m soooo far removed from anything remotely resembling a corporate environment. 

One of the few good things about working in the corporate world (at least where I'm at)  is since the work computer is all their shit, when it goes down, you basically get a day off until they fix it. And our IT guy is lazy as fuck. 

Uninstalling the app should not have deleted your PST file. You should be able to find it and load it into your existing outlook. I just had to do that with about 50 machines when we recently went from POP mail to Office 365.

17 hours ago, RPM said:

Pretty sure you got Centurylink customer service by mistake.

Century link switched from ebonics? 

Next time call me. I only charge tree fiddy an hour for support. 

Pst and ost files are saved under your local profile in the app data folder.

Edited by MissingInAction

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