There is a legendary phrase from one of our favorite shows, ‘The IT Crowd,’ that we absolutely love. The members of the IT department pick up the phone and immediately ask, “Have you tried turning it off and on again?” And it encapsulates the essence of tech support in just 9 simple words!

However, what they have to deal with pales in comparison to real-life professionals. The r/techsupportgore subreddit is a fantastic place that’s dedicated to documenting the very worst things that tech support peeps have ever had to deal with while on the job. We’ve collected some of their most hilarious and bizarre posts to share with you, so don’t be shy, scroll down. Oh, and this post might convince you to treat your IT crew to lunch—they really do deserve it.

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#1 When You Don’t Listen To Your Parents, When They Tell You Too Keep The Music Down

#2 Xfinity Came Out And Installed Cable In A New Room. This Is How They Did It

#3 I’ve Tried Putting It In Rice But It Hasn’t Helped. Any Ideas?

The r/techsupportgore online community has been around for more than a decade. It has its roots in early 2012 when it was first created. Recently, it celebrated its 11th birthday as a subreddit. And in that time, it has grown to immense proportions.

At the time of writing, the sub had nearly 592k members who adore the memes and jokes that surround IT staff members in their day-to-day lives. Namely, wires, wires, and more wires!

#4 Customer Told Me They Were “Tired Of Hearing The Vibrations”

#5 Wall Anchors

#6 Came Across This Atrocity

The moderator team running the community notes that members will “cringe to the brink of passing out after a few minutes looking at this subreddit.” They add that the group isn’t meant for, you know, actual tech support.

If you need urgent help or some friendly advice, there are other subreddits and places on the internet where you can go. One place that’s very useful is r/techsupport. (Though do actually restart your device and see if that clears any issues up before you reach out to them.)

#7 “Structural” Cabling

#8 Spilled Acetone On My Laptop And Now It’s Mocking Me

#9 Yo

Meanwhile, r/techsupportgore is about having fun while posting mind-melting pics of tech gone wild. The keyword here is ‘fun.’

Before you start posting every single IT-related pic you’ve found while scrolling your social media feeds, there are a few rules that you have to be aware of. And if you plan on being a long-term member of r/techsupportgore, instead of just passing through, you have to keep them in mind.

#10 Mullet PC, Business In Front And Party In The Back

#11 Is This How Monitor Arms Work?

#12 The Things You Find Working A Helpdesk Job At A Failing University

For instance, you shouldn’t post photos of devices with cracked screens. They’re incredibly common in real-life and don’t count as ‘gore’ in this context. What’s more, computers coated in dust also usually aren’t ‘bad enough’ to warrant being shared on r/techsupportgore.

Meanwhile, the community also values short-format videos. Namely, you shouldn’t post videos that are longer than 30 seconds. “This is plenty of time to show what needs to be shown,” the mods explain.

#13 ‘How Do I Turn Off Sticky Keys?’

#14 Touch Grass

#15 Ticket Said “Second Monitor Stopped Working”

While it seems slightly silly (and maybe even magical at times) that restarting your device helps solve some of the issues you’re having, there’s some solid logic hiding behind that. According to ‘Acronyms,’ when there’s an issue with modern computers, it’s usually because one of the programs is struggling or “two conflicting commands” confuse the machine.

So when you turn it off and on again, you’re resetting the device to its initial state. Everything starts over again, completely fresh.

#16 Laptop Screen “Upgrade”

#17 My Mom Hasn’t Cleaned Her Computer Since The Day She Got It, And She Got It 6 Years Ago

#18 Just Found Out A Sales Rep’s Laptop Has This Going On. I Freaked And Told Them It Needs To Leave The Building And Shouldn’t Be Used. Was Told They’ll Just Order A Battery I Shouldn’t Start A “Panic” Meanwhile She Brings This Thing Home And Told Me She Leaves It In Bed And On The Couch

A while ago, redditor u/Coffeechipmunk, one of the moderators running r/techsupportgore, opened up to Bored Panda about the community.

“I feel like the community has grown different tastes for the subreddit over time, for sure. For a while, cable gore was boring, cracked screens, etc. Now? Bad wiring is loved,” they told us during an earlier interview.

#19 Bonfire Lit

#20 What Horrors Were On This Drive?

#21 Someone Found This By Magnet Fishing In A Lake

According to the mod, the foundations of the sub are built on the idea that the community is meant for sharing “stuff in the tech support or IT field that’s a computer comparable version of gore.” So instead of “a heart ripped out, it’s CPU pins.” The mod quipped: “Slightly less awful.”

Redditor u/Coffeechipmunk told Bored Panda that some of the worst cases of tech gore that they’ve seen include devices “with bugs in it” which they think are “the worst.” Among the top worst cases is also “the guy who got a laptop full of milk.”

#22 Co-Worker Decided To Wipe The Monitor With Clorox Bleach Wipes

#23 I’m Getting Tetanus From Looking At That

#24 Customer: My Laptop Turns Off After One Or Two Minutes After I Press Turn On Button. We Diagnosed Laptop, And Found That After Few Seconds, Vent Of The Laptop Gets To 75°c So, Opened A Laptop And Found “Piece Of Carpet” (Brand: Cat&human Carpets) Blocking The Cooler

During another interview, the moderator told Bored Panda that a lot of the content shared by members of the sub “does rather well.” The only exceptions are when people actually try to get real tech support.

Meanwhile, the reason for the subreddit’s continued success is just how fun it is. “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,” the moderator said.

#25 Thats Peak Explosion Risk

#26 Running The Front Desk Phone And Internet

#27 Business Grade Is Usually 48+ Ports. Need 44 More Of These

We are big fans of the subreddit here at Bored Panda, and we’ve been following its growth over the years. For some more recent features about r/techsupportgore, check out our earlier article here and here, as well as here, here, and here.

#28 Oops

#29 I Can’t Believe I Work Here

#30 The Network Installation At My Job. It Is As Stable As You Think

Which of these tech disasters made you facepalm the most, Pandas? Have you ever had to deal with anything even remotely similar? Do you work in tech support and have you ever seen something like this with your own two eyes? You can share your opinions and experiences in the comments. And remember: before asking for help, try turning it off and on again!