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Dad swears repeatedly at TV box, always loses

Commentary: A video posted to Twitter and now enjoyed by more than 1 million people shows the painful issues some people have with tech.

Chris Matyszczyk
2 min read

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.


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Not every customer soars with the service.

Daniel Leal-olivas / AFP/Getty Images

Have you ever been this dad?

You buy a piece of technology, bring it home and lose your faculties trying to make it work. I'll readily confess this has happened to me.

Though, of course, I've never used the sort of language that Sophie Vango's dad does. 

But video of her dad's frustrations with his Sky TV box, now watched by more than 1 million people on Twitter since it was posted last week, offers a timely reminder that the maddening aspects of tech can drive one to extremes.

Hilarious extremes. (Note: You may find this video rather NSFW.)

Vango, from Essex in the UK, finds her dad's frustrations uproariously funny. And they are. 

When his Sky TV box keeps offering him only error messages, he becomes the soul brother of Basil Fawlty. He unleashes a string of obscenities as he tries multiple times to get the TV box set up.

One suspects that he knows his flailing and his cursing won't help, but when you're helpless all the rude words are just cries to the heavens for salvation.

Vango didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. She did, however, tell Metro: "My dad thinks it is hilarious how the video has gone viral, he knows it is all just a laugh. He is as funny as he is in video all the time."

Of course, the slightly less funny part is when your cable box or some other gadget breaks down and you can't get anyone from the provider to help you. 

In the US, this used to be called "being a Comcast customer." In recent times, though, Comcast has come to realize that bettering its customer retention involves being there when things go awry.

The company itself says it's making progress. I confess to being very surprised when I had an extremely frustrating experience with my cable box and a Comcast technician talked me back to humanity via text. 

Comcast didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

As for Sky, founded by Rupert Murdoch and part owned by 21st Century Fox, its reputation varies from the very good to the not quite so good. The company didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on Vango's video.

I wonder what Christmas Day at the Vangos will be like. I hope the TV works.

iHate: CNET looks at how intolerance is taking over the internet.

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