105

Not my mom, but my wife's whole family. I'm a software developer.

So we're invited to her grandmother's 85th birthday celebration with pretty much every family member they could think to invite. 100+ people, and we all sit down in a circle in a huge room to watch a video that my wife's father and aunts/uncles put together.

They start the video and there's no sound. I'm a software developer, so I'm not an expert in hardware issues. I try to turn invisible, because every tech person knows what comes next, and this is in the center of a room of people I don't know.

After about 15 minutes of people struggling to get the audio working, one of the people remembers I "work with computer". Soon I have a dozen people calling me to the center of the room.

I begrudgingly make my way to the computer and projector. Upon inspection, I find that the computer is connected via VGA to the projector.

Me: "This cable only carries video. You need a different kind of cable, or you can hook up an AUX cable--the kind you use for headphones."
Other Guy: "I used this cable earlier and the audio was working."
Me: "...that's weird. Well, can we try plugging in an AUX cable?"
Yet Another Guy: "Will this help?" Holds up an HDMI cable
Me: "Oh, yeah! That should do it."
Other Guy: "I tried plugging that in, but it didn't change anything."
Me: "Hmmm..." Quickly unplug VGA and plug in HDMI, then click play.

The sound comes out in its full cheesy music glory. Everybody cheers, and I walk back to my seat. Throughout the rest of party, I'm approached by various other family members who ask me if I can fix X since I'm a "computer guy". Isn't it great to work in tech?

Comments
  • 43
    'Hey you work with linux servers, docker, kubernetes and whatnot

    Could you fix my yellow windows vista home pc? I can't connect to my 8 year old printer from 1999'
  • 8
    I think your best option right now is just pretend to be busy but sincere in that you'd have helped them if you just had the time. It works for me at least :D
  • 8
    Do you have a good lawyer for the divorce?
  • 1
    its great
  • 4
    I knew how it was going to end but I've still laughed a lot
  • 4
    I am only 21 and this is already starting, i am so looking forward to the future where everybody will have a certain understanding of tech and i don't have to do EVERYTHING
  • 7
    Hey, you're specialized in image processing and volume rendering for medical applications, can you fix my printer?
  • 2
    @Maer I work with machine learning and computer vision and I've fixed my last printer yesterday
  • 0
    Fuck good luck. Sounds only too familiar.πŸ˜‘
  • 1
    Haha I had faced a similar situation where my uncle tried to connect an input cable of a mic to an output port and where asking me to fix itπŸ˜‚
  • 0
    We can all do IT cause we know how Google works <.<

    Insert obscure error message here from old af program no one has heard of.. profit.

    IM A COMPUTER GENIUS
  • 0
    Damn thats a lot of people asking if you can fix x for them to be fixed, did you go to a terapist after the party?
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