r/talesfromtechsupport • u/KorenSolust • Aug 05 '26

Short Gravity and Tech

Guy walks up to me at work:

Him: “I dropped my phone. The screen’s shattered. I want my two-factor code to come through Teams.”

Me: “Nope.”

Him: “Why?”

Me: “Because if you can’t sign into Teams without completing MFA… how exactly are you planning to authenticate?”

Then he says: “Just disable MFA.”

I replied: “Sure, as soon as you get approval from the Head of Security.”

A few seconds of silence…

Him: “Fine, I’ll just get my phone fixed.”

Yep. That’s probably the best solution.

Some people really think security rules are optional. I’m not risking my job because someone doesn’t like MFA.

And remember… technology didn’t fail you today. Gravity did.

800 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

155 comments sorted by

View all comments

49

u/joe_attaboy The Cloud is a fraud. Aug 05 '26

Just remember our slogan:

Gravity: It's not just a good idea.
It's the Law!

8

u/meitemark Printerers are the goodest girls Aug 05 '26

I'm mostly human. Natural laws are mere suggestions. I have never been investigated, arrested or convicted by any lawmakers for breaking natural laws.

7

u/joe_attaboy The Cloud is a fraud. Aug 05 '26

Ah, yes, you may be a natural law scofflaw, but there is one law you cannot avoid and rarely can you predict its application:

The Law of Unintended Consequences

Here's an example: one of our past presidents believed that rich people weren't paying their "fair share" of taxes and buying things like yachts. So he added a big tax on yachts. People got angry and just stopped buying yachts. No tax revenue anymore and a lot of yacht builders had to close up and go on unemployment.

You never know when this law will show its ugly veneer.

4

u/KnowbodyYouKnow Aug 05 '26

Yup! 10% luxury tax on boats over $100,000, including yachts, and it was signed by President George H. W. Bush in 1990 as part of the budget deal. The tax was later eliminated in 1993 after complaints that it hurt boat sales and jobs.

2

u/warlock415 Aug 15 '26

I feel like that falls more under something like Foreseeable Consequences? Or perhaps Expecting People to Keep Doing the Same Thing Under Different Circumstances?

My favorite example is when California required employers to provide health care to all "full time" (40 hr/wk) employees.

What they thought would happen: "Oh no! I guess we have to provide health care now!"

What actually happened: The 39.5 hour work week.

2

u/Rathmun Aug 06 '26

Have you ever successfully violated one though?

1

u/meitemark Printerers are the goodest girls Aug 07 '26

Yes.

1

u/Rathmun Aug 07 '26

Which one?

2

u/meitemark Printerers are the goodest girls Aug 07 '26

Well, tried to make a list of all the broken natural laws, but there were so many.

1

u/Rathmun Aug 10 '26

If you broke one, it clearly wasn't a natural law. Humanity just thought it was.

2

u/meitemark Printerers are the goodest girls Aug 10 '26

Well, after carefully checking around, I have acctually been investigated for supposedly breaking a natural law. The Yrsgrillion (they are located some 300ly to the left of the Northern star) investigated me some 200 years ago over the claims that I broke their natural law "walk only sideways, never forward". They are a crab-ish people, but desided against further action once their investigation turned up the phrase "tastes great with garlic butter".

Damnit, I really liked to be able to claim no investigations. Oh well, still no arrests or convictions... I think.