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TalesFromTechSupport

When Blocking Your Own Number Breaks Everything: A Tech Support Tale of Self-Sabotage

User frustrated with call transfer issue, showing a mobile phone displaying
A photorealistic depiction of a user experiencing frustration over a call transfer issue. Despite his mobile phone indicating "call transferred," he's not receiving any calls, highlighting a common problem many face with landline to mobile transfers.

You know that moment in tech support where you’re certain you’ve seen it all? Well, think again. Because sometimes, the biggest IT mysteries aren’t buried in code or hidden behind network firewalls—they’re right in your own contact blocklist.

Today’s story comes from the wild world of r/TalesFromTechSupport, where the only thing more surprising than the problems are the ingenious (and sometimes accidental) ways users manage to cause them. Buckle up—this is a tale of a phone that wouldn’t ring, a user who “didn’t change anything,” and the ultimate case of self-sabotage.

Turning It Off and On Again: The Ultimate IT Power Move (Literally)

Anime illustration depicting chaotic tech troubleshooting during the Heartbleed bug crisis in 2014.
In this vibrant anime-style illustration, tech experts scramble to devise quirky solutions during the Heartbleed bug crisis of 2014, highlighting the creativity and urgency behind addressing unexpected security vulnerabilities.

When disaster strikes in IT, the time-honored wisdom is clear: “Have you tried turning it off and on again?” But what happens when the problem is bigger than a single machine—and your only option is to escalate that age-old advice to a building-wide scale? Welcome to one of the most legendary “turn it off and on again” stories the tech world has ever seen.

This is the true tale of how a team of quick-thinking sysadmins, cornered by the infamous 2014 Heartbleed bug and a looming security audit, did the unthinkable: They rebooted their entire headquarters to save the day. Sometimes, stupid problems really do require stupid solutions—ingenious, satisfying, and just a little bit absurd.

Printer Groundhog Day: The Never-Ending Job That Haunted an Office Queue

Konica Minolta printer displaying errored print job, blocking queue for other tasks in office environment.
A photorealistic depiction of a Konica Minolta printer stuck in a loop of errored print jobs, causing frustration in the workplace. Discover how to troubleshoot mysterious print issues in our latest blog post.

Picture this: You’re in an office, minding your own business, when suddenly the printer—usually a silent, unappreciated workhorse—goes rogue. It starts spitting out an errored job on repeat, locking down the entire print queue like a toddler refusing to share. No matter how many times you clear the spooler, reboot the printer, or plead with the digital gods, the error comes back. Over. And over. And over.

It’s like Groundhog Day, but instead of Bill Murray and a lovable rodent, it’s you, a haunted Konica Minolta, and a mystery job with a staff name no one recognizes. Welcome to the enigmatic world of office printers, where “PC LOAD LETTER” is less an instruction and more a cry for help.