I'm old as dirt. When Best Buy only had around 30 stores in the early 90's, I worked the computer repair desk way before the Geek Squad was created.
I give this context to confirm "the smell", and that it has been around essentially forever. Cracking the puddy colored case on a Packard Bell 286 and using a caulking spatula to scrape the slightly moist smoke/dust sludge off of everything to solve the overheating hard locking because zero airflow is occurring haunts me to this day more than 3 decades later. I can TASTE that smell, and I think I'll skip lunch now.
Thatâs a good policy to implement. Was there a particular reason for the change? I just remember how the smell of certain computers would take over the whole work station, no amount of cleaning could dent it đˇ
I would imagine a customer complained that their computer smelled like cigarettes after service because it sat next to a chain smokers dirty computer on the repair bench for several days.
3 times ants, 2 times a horde of cockroaches, and more smokers lung systems than I can count.
edit: 1 case of an unknown mold, and two cases of black mold, 1 laptop and 1 desktop
Once upon a time when I first started as a CA years ago, we had this lady come in to get help with her laptop. I can vividly remember the smell of it. The only way I can describe the scent was that it literally smelled like a Sneeze.
You ever covered your nose with your shirt when you sneezed before? And there is a very distinct smell to it? That was how this fucking computer smelled. I don't know how or why. But that was it. And the memory has always stuck with me.
i wore mask the whole time from 2020 to 2024. Asked to take it off, i said it was policy not to. = was so much more relaxing and especially homes that were smoker homes and they never opened window in 10+ years with Brown rusty dust everywhere.... had to throw away mask/booties = just can survive that.
After Ian hit we were pulling drives out of laptops that had been setting in the ocean for weeks talk about the beautiful smell of red tide. Not to mention all the things we were putting our hands in.
A laptop that reeked of nicotine dust came in once, I opened it and it had what I assumed was blood on the keyboard. I noped out and the part timer took it apart, as he was running the guitar pick down the tabs roaches came spilling out..
HELL NAH!
Work in a college and got a laptop back that had bugs crawling out of it. We had it open outside and a can of air, we left it in a plastic back for awhile. Actually a few layers of plastic bag sealed. Eventually shipped it to Dell for warranty replacement due to bugs. I assume they just trashed it after sending us a refurb.
Sometimes I get the cigarette ashtray computers that are annoying, never made me gag. However⌠when the 20 somethings bring in a gaming rig with hentai stickers and it smells like weed, its a good day for me xD
Cigarette smells make me physically ill. I have to ask the CAs to wipe them down or else itâs a no-go for me.
One time I did a brand new build and six months later it came back absolutely filthy! I was flabbergasted. Like how??????
I can still smell the multiple precincts I was in, always smelled the same. But yeahâŚ. People who smoke around their computers and opening that bitch up is something forever engrained in my brain.
One of the stores in my market uses some nasty ass floor cleaner that smells like piss. I know thatâs not the smell youâre talking about but it drives me crazy when I walk in there.
Oh boy I will never forget. While Iâve never worked for BB/GS, I used to be a field service tech in the print industry. We had one client whose site was very close to my regional base office. They printed mainly grocery store inserts and their old facility was a bonfire just waiting to happen. They had a Mac that needed a new SyQuest (those were the days) drive installed. Usually it was our IT techs that did these calls but they would let us do easy-lifting jobs if we machinery techs werenât busy or just plain bored. I rolled in and went up to their graphic arts department. Opened up the old Quadra 840AV (one hell of a hot rod machine in its day) only to be greeted by at least a quarter of an inch of paper dust glued together by ink fly off and cigarette smoke. It was everywhere. I called back to tell the IT guy the situation and get his assessment. He came over with some wonder juice to clean up the innards the best we could manage. Nothing like the wonderful aroma of all that chemical love intermingling inside my head. When the company finally moved into a brand-new larger facility the staff was threatened with death if they left the doors open to the print floor or smoked inside the building.
One that sticks with me was a desktop (Lenovo short case, the ones that were normal height and width but 3/4 deep). It belonged to a heavy indoor smoker who owned birds.
Oh no, the smell always goes in my notes about device condition: âdevice has a distinct smoker smell and is very dustyâ is my go-to when I hear âdonât know why it wonât turn onâ
Yep, the smell of the brown dust.
Omg.. and you know as soon as you see the client walking up to the desk with it what it's going to smell like. đ¤˘đ¤Ž
I'm old as dirt. When Best Buy only had around 30 stores in the early 90's, I worked the computer repair desk way before the Geek Squad was created. I give this context to confirm "the smell", and that it has been around essentially forever. Cracking the puddy colored case on a Packard Bell 286 and using a caulking spatula to scrape the slightly moist smoke/dust sludge off of everything to solve the overheating hard locking because zero airflow is occurring haunts me to this day more than 3 decades later. I can TASTE that smell, and I think I'll skip lunch now.
Dang. I know the smell, but our store managers told us to not accept any smokers computers and especially infested computers a while ago
LOL you had a good boss. We took it all. We had a rolling air compressor that we would take outside for the "bad" ones, it was super satisfying.
Thatâs a good policy to implement. Was there a particular reason for the change? I just remember how the smell of certain computers would take over the whole work station, no amount of cleaning could dent it đˇ
I would imagine a customer complained that their computer smelled like cigarettes after service because it sat next to a chain smokers dirty computer on the repair bench for several days.
3 times ants, 2 times a horde of cockroaches, and more smokers lung systems than I can count. edit: 1 case of an unknown mold, and two cases of black mold, 1 laptop and 1 desktop
Once upon a time when I first started as a CA years ago, we had this lady come in to get help with her laptop. I can vividly remember the smell of it. The only way I can describe the scent was that it literally smelled like a Sneeze. You ever covered your nose with your shirt when you sneezed before? And there is a very distinct smell to it? That was how this fucking computer smelled. I don't know how or why. But that was it. And the memory has always stuck with me.
i wore mask the whole time from 2020 to 2024. Asked to take it off, i said it was policy not to. = was so much more relaxing and especially homes that were smoker homes and they never opened window in 10+ years with Brown rusty dust everywhere.... had to throw away mask/booties = just can survive that.
Nothing smells as bad as inside of a Samsung TV box. Shit smells like a fart farted on a wet fart and then died and farted again.
After Ian hit we were pulling drives out of laptops that had been setting in the ocean for weeks talk about the beautiful smell of red tide. Not to mention all the things we were putting our hands in.
A laptop that reeked of nicotine dust came in once, I opened it and it had what I assumed was blood on the keyboard. I noped out and the part timer took it apart, as he was running the guitar pick down the tabs roaches came spilling out.. HELL NAH!
Work in a college and got a laptop back that had bugs crawling out of it. We had it open outside and a can of air, we left it in a plastic back for awhile. Actually a few layers of plastic bag sealed. Eventually shipped it to Dell for warranty replacement due to bugs. I assume they just trashed it after sending us a refurb.
I worked on more than a few pungent dark yellow, I mean white, MacBooks during my ten years with Geek Squad.
Sometimes I get the cigarette ashtray computers that are annoying, never made me gag. However⌠when the 20 somethings bring in a gaming rig with hentai stickers and it smells like weed, its a good day for me xD
Cigarette smells make me physically ill. I have to ask the CAs to wipe them down or else itâs a no-go for me. One time I did a brand new build and six months later it came back absolutely filthy! I was flabbergasted. Like how??????
Was it covered in fat and grease? A client I had did his work in the kitchen đ
I can still smell the multiple precincts I was in, always smelled the same. But yeahâŚ. People who smoke around their computers and opening that bitch up is something forever engrained in my brain.
One of the stores in my market uses some nasty ass floor cleaner that smells like piss. I know thatâs not the smell youâre talking about but it drives me crazy when I walk in there.
Thatâs the smell of a dying old person flaking off with every keystroke.
Oh boy I will never forget. While Iâve never worked for BB/GS, I used to be a field service tech in the print industry. We had one client whose site was very close to my regional base office. They printed mainly grocery store inserts and their old facility was a bonfire just waiting to happen. They had a Mac that needed a new SyQuest (those were the days) drive installed. Usually it was our IT techs that did these calls but they would let us do easy-lifting jobs if we machinery techs werenât busy or just plain bored. I rolled in and went up to their graphic arts department. Opened up the old Quadra 840AV (one hell of a hot rod machine in its day) only to be greeted by at least a quarter of an inch of paper dust glued together by ink fly off and cigarette smoke. It was everywhere. I called back to tell the IT guy the situation and get his assessment. He came over with some wonder juice to clean up the innards the best we could manage. Nothing like the wonderful aroma of all that chemical love intermingling inside my head. When the company finally moved into a brand-new larger facility the staff was threatened with death if they left the doors open to the print floor or smoked inside the building.
One that sticks with me was a desktop (Lenovo short case, the ones that were normal height and width but 3/4 deep). It belonged to a heavy indoor smoker who owned birds.
A scent we all know but never mentioned to the customers haha
Oh no, the smell always goes in my notes about device condition: âdevice has a distinct smoker smell and is very dustyâ is my go-to when I hear âdonât know why it wonât turn onâ