@arty said:
I worked briefly for a computer store while I was in college, and this story comes from there; a guy comes in holding a homebrew 9-25 serial cable and a printer. It was a slow day so I try to be helpful. He says "this end fits in my computer, but this end is wrong (holding up the 9-pin end). I peek at the side of his printer, note the centronics parallel port, get a proper cable, plug his printer in at a demo station on the floor, and print a test page. Blatantly ignoring the apparent workingness of this very reasonable setup, he says 'my friend made this cable but one end is wrong'.
I hand him the very cable I just used to print something from his printer with and say (trying to be helpful, and hopefully explaining in a way that isn't hard to get) 'the cable you have has too few wires. feel this cable. it's much thicker because it's made for your kind of printer' (showing him how to plug it in).
I send him to the cashier ... he walks over and says 'this end fits in my computer, but this end is wrong'.
The computer store owner, who had been having a bad day anyway, uses some choice language on the guy and sends him heading for the hills.
Dude, what's your problem? I told you, my friend made the cable but one end is wrong.