Tech Support People Are Sharing The Worst Cases They’ve Seen While On The Job (100 New Pics)

April 23, 2022

While more and more people are becoming tech-savvy and can solve simpler issues on their own, the technology world still remains a mystery for many. Just think about the times your darling computer made weird noises, voiced all kinds of complaints, or, heaven forbid, showed the giant blue error you definitely did not want to see. Then, there’s only one place to turn — tech support heroes.

However, if you think all IT specialists do is tell you to hit the restart button or help you with that "major" issue with the printer that’s not even plugged in yet, there’s a whole subreddit that might prove otherwise. Enter Tech Support Gore, a community full of the worst cases professionals ever stumbled on while on the job and clueless people they had to deal with along the way.

Laptops drying in the oven, mold growing on headphones, and impractical shortcuts customers take without a care in the world are just a few of the monstrosities that employees had to witness. So get ready to scroll through some of the most nightmarish pictures Bored Panda has collected from the group. And if you’re in the mood for some more gadget madness, take a look at our previous compilations right here, here, and here.

#1 One Of My Users Asked If I Had A New Power Strip They Could Use. I Said What's Wrong With The Old One

Image credits: HackerBill

#2 Customer States They Saw "A Couple Of Ants" Entering The Rear Vents Of Their iMac...

Image credits: Sydnxt

#3 Panel Fed From B Phase

Image credits: coyote_den

The Tech Support Gore subreddit has been around for quite some time. Recently, this online group celebrated its 10th birthday with all its 532K technology-loving community members. "You will cringe to the brink of passing out after a few minutes looking at this subreddit," the moderators wrote in the description and the content users post there serves as proof.

Nearly every post consists of the nastiest and most baffling incidents people somehow managed to accomplish. After all, we have the manuals, the internet, and, most importantly, our common sense for a reason, so it's easy to say they have a talent to fail this badly.

But let's face it, even if we consider ourselves to be really tech-savvy and proudly declare to know how to properly care for our gadgets, accidents still happen. Whether it’s thinking that fixing up your computer would be a cakewalk or that you suddenly came up with a brilliant new way to rescue your soaking wet device, nearly everyone could end up being shamed on this subreddit.

#4 Modern Problems Require Modern Solutions

Image credits: joh0115

#5 User Spilt Coffee On His Laptop - So He Put It In The Oven To Dry It Out...

Image credits: IAteYourDogLoser

#6 Pretty

Image credits: Son0fSun

However, many pictures from this list prove how incompatible with technology some people are. But if the first thought that crossed your mind was that the older generations are probably responsible for such nightmarish slip-ups, recent research seems to indicate they’re not as technologically illiterate as many might believe.

According to Pew Research Center, while there are still notable differences between American adults under 30 and those 65 and older, tech use by those in the oldest age group has grown significantly compared to a decade ago. So as it turns out, the gap between the oldest and youngest adults has shrunk.

Researchers conducted a survey in 2021 by questioning over 1.5K adults by cellphone and landline phone. The results showed that 96 percent of those ages 18 to 29 own a smartphone compared with 61 percent of those 65 and older. So while it’s still a 35 percent difference, the gap has decreased from 53 points in 2012.

#7 Disk Fragmentation At 15%...

Image credits: bubonis

#8 Trying To Take The Elevator At 5am Then I See This. (No Out Of Order Sign)

Image credits: TheNaziHelicopter

#9 If It Looks Stupid But It Works, Then It's Not Stupid

Image credits: Andri753

Smartphones aren’t the only piece of tech that old people are quickly starting to embrace. However, the situation with tablet computers is somewhat different. Those aged 30 to 49 were the most likely people to own one, and the ones aged 65 and older were the least likely to have a tablet.

When it comes to our beloved internet use, virtually all younger adults (99 percent!) now say they use the internet. Compared with the older generation, only 75 percent of participants reported being internet users. However, things were quite different in 2000. Then, the gap between the oldest and youngest groups of adults was 56 percentage points, and right now it has decreased to 24 points. So while not everyone was born into electronics, more and more people are leaning toward it. After all, it makes life better and generally more convenient.

#10 My Gfs iPhone Charger Cable Which She Won’t Replace Because “It Works”

Image credits: SR_RSMITH

#11 Found This Somewhere And It Creeps Me Out

Image credits: Mission_Ad_716

#12 Merry Christmas!

Image credits: 404_GravitasNotFound

#13 My Buddy Couldn't Get Into His Harddrive Through The Os, So He Decided To Brute Force It

Image credits: kalez238

Bored Panda previously reached out to one of the moderators of the Tech Support Gore subreddit, Coffeechipmunk, who revealed that the most popular posts are those that depict situations just moments away from exploding. "[It's] very dangerous, but very cool looking. They probably get so big because people post the pics and you think, 'Wow, that's just a bomb at that point.'"

"A lot of the content on the subreddit does rather well, except for people coming for actual tech support, they get redirected to the right subreddit. For actual tech support gore, though, it seems like broken screens and slightly messy wires are the current posts that don't hit too hard," the moderator added.

#14 No Charger? No Problem!

Image credits: Sanctimonious1

#15 Tablet Battery

Image credits: luisbaker_

#16 This Is How Newton Discovered Gravity

Image credits: augustobob

#17 Laptop Keyboard Is Not Working. Well There's Your Problem, Your Keyboard Is Creating New Antibiotics

Image credits: drempire

According to Coffeechipmunk, one reason their online group got so popular is simply that "it’s very fun". "In a time where most of the internet can be incredibly serious and most times saddening or angering, r/techsupportgore is fun because you go on it and you can laugh (and/or cringe) at the crazy posts. Where else can you see a post like, "Wow, these cables really are messy" to, "A lizard fried my motherboard" back to back? I love our growing community. They're a bunch of people that just enjoy tech and to some extent, the worst of it."

#18 Network Rack At A Public Institution - Before And After

Image credits: zmeul

#19 I Am Literally Scared Taking Apart Cr*p Like This. Used A 45 Lb Kettle Bell To Keep The Panel Down Enough To Remove The Screws

Image credits: FraggedYourMom

#20 When 12 Screws Is Just Too Much To Remove The Hard Drive

Image credits: FrankDonato28

#21 Placed A Headset I Wasn't Using Into A Drawer For A Few Months. I Guess The Cup Material Kept Absorbing The Moisture Out Of The Air

Image credits: SwGustav

The mod explained that the term "Tech Support Gore" refers to "stuff in the tech support or IT field that's a computer comparable version of gore," and added, "Instead of a heart ripped out, it's CPU pins. Slightly less awful." Coffeechipmunk also revealed that the most horrible cases they’ve seen on the community while moderating were "anything with bugs in it. That's the worst.” Well, we couldn’t agree more. As you probably already noticed from this list, they’re truly awful.