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by evacchi 3483 days ago
I think it's from Raymond Chen's blog, The Old New Thing
1 comments

Indeed, here's the link (though the details of the anecdote are slightly different):

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20040303-00/?p=...

> Here's the trick: Don't ask "Are you sure it's plugged in correctly?"

> If you do this, they will get all insulted and say indignantly, "Of course it is! Do I look like an idiot?" without actually checking.

> Instead, say "Okay, sometimes the connection gets a little dusty and the connection gets weak. Could you unplug the connector, blow into it to get the dust out, then plug it back in?"

> They will then crawl under the desk, find that they forgot to plug it in (or plugged it into the wrong port), blow out the dust, plug it in, and reply, "Um, yeah, that fixed it, thanks."

"How does dust get into the outlet if it's more or less sealed" yeah it's a good tip
Anyone who is smart enough to come up with that should be smart enough to replug the power without getting mad
alas, being capable does not always make it true.
"Some outlets are not perfectly flush internally even though they may appear to be fine."