
Everytime Employee 2 walks by a cubicle, one of the screens blacks out - chrisan
https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/aiqzhr/user_submits_what_i_thought_was_the_dumbest/
======
creaghpatr
I am prone to static shocks and one day I discovered I could temporarily
bypass the card key lock at our office by shocking the handle. No one believed
me until one day we gathered everyone at the office around and I did it while
being filmed. Our head of security was furious, everyone else thought it was
hilarious.

~~~
pasta
Static shocks can do damage.

Some weeks ago I was sitting at an office where everything was static (I think
they did not ground the power outlets in the desks properly).

Every time I sat down I got a big hit. But one time my laptop crashed and shut
down.

So back to the story: it might as well has to do with the shoes employee 2 is
wearing and the way he/she walks.

Edit: from the poster on Reddit: "She wears a wool cover to stay warm."

~~~
e40
I have a power cord that has everything but the ground wire cut and the single
ground part of the plug plugged into the wall. Near my keyboard, I have the
other end of the ground wire exposed. Before I touch my keyboard, I touch it.
In the winter, 9/10 times I discharge a little shock. I've ruined keyboards
and computers with my shocks, and since I installed this setup, zero problems.

I set up a coworker with this, after he killed his laptop by shocking it.

~~~
rleigh
In my old office, one of the girls got a humidifier to combat the dry air
during wintertime. It also seemed to help with the amount of static buildup
maybe by making it easier to dissipate. Not a fix by any measure, but it did
seem to help a bit. Anyone else tried this?

~~~
Moru
Yes, a cold water with vibration humidifier. Everything is now covered by a
thin layer of white dust from the water. We have medium soft water. A little
less chocks I guess but we can't have this white dust everywhere so can't say
for sure.

~~~
loco5niner
Like an oil diffuser? I think I've read to use distilled water to avoid that
problem

------
ndespres
I expected to read a solution, not just the symptoms- but other than the
theory that the monitor is connected to a power cable that runs under the
floor, and the employee who triggers the screen to shut off is heavier than
the others and stepping on the cable, there isn't anything relevant posted
there. I'm currently searching for a solution to a clients' random monitor
shutoff issue so I was hoping for some insight!

It did, however, give me a greater appreciation for the quality of comments on
HN compared to Reddit.

~~~
glenneroo
There are a ton of people suggesting it's related to ESD (electrostatic
discharge), which is IMO the most likely culprit. The effects of ESD are
pretty wild and generally invisible to the naked eye. We have yearly ESD
safety meetings at my job and are required to wear ESD-safe shoes/jackets and
use anti-static wrist straps when working with any hardware (which I rarely
do, but I still love the "perk" of getting free ESD Birkenstocks every couple
years).

------
dougmwne
My theory: Employee wears a large wool cover and sits on a synthetic materiel
office chair(PVC?). As employee stands up, they pick up a fairly heavy static
charge. As employee walks by, the motion of the static charge creates a moving
magnetic field which then induces an electric charge in the monitor's
electronics, causing the blackout.

Possible solution: replace wool wrap on employee 2 with aluminum foil.

Source on possible material combinations: [https://www.school-for-
champions.com/science/static_material...](https://www.school-for-
champions.com/science/static_materials.htm#.XEh0_lxKiCg)

------
misja
The writer mentions that it occasionally happens to other employees as well
and that it happens not every time but "more than 50% of the time" for
employee 2. This makes me suspect that it could just be variance that makes it
seem as if the phenomenon happens "everytime" for employee 2.

It takes quite a lot of trials to reach 2 SD significance, you'd have to let
employee 2 walk past the cubicle at least a hundred times to be sure that
there is really anything going on.

~~~
_nalply
Perhaps static. Employee 2 maybe has clothes which cause more static than for
other employees. In the Reddit thread a "wool cover" has been mentioned.

------
robjan
It could coincide with one of Employee 2's habits or routines before they
leave their desk. For example, I used to have a cheap fan on my desk and
whenever I changed the speed or turned it off, it caused all of the Dell
monitors nearby to go blank for a few seconds before turning back on and
readjusting to the resolution of my laptop. I usually turned my fan off
whenever I expected to be away from my desk for more than a few minutes.

~~~
Jyaif
It could be software too: Employee 2 launches a build before going on a break,
or a GPU-intensive screensaver that starts up. That would explain the ~50%
occurrence.

------
dazzawazza
I posted this to reddit but I'm more likely to get a reasonable discussion on
here.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-V_Z3bD_PA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-V_Z3bD_PA)

Dave covers "static" turning off a monitor in this video. Could it be this?

~~~
rasz
yep, and it all goes back to this
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUG_sjS67K4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUG_sjS67K4)

------
okwme
Street Light Interference (SLIders)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_light_interference_phen...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_light_interference_phenomenon)

------
philk10
We had a chair that would crash the system -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87jnCABBaeY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87jnCABBaeY)

------
aboutruby
One interesting bit is that it could be linked to a medical condition of
Employee 2 (peacemaker for instance). And an employer can't ask about an
employee medical records.

------
vectorEQ
replace the defective employee

------
EADGBE
Floating floors and Employee 2 is heavier than others. Cord is pinching under
a panel and unplugging/resetting itself.

That's my guess anyway.

------
UncleJo7
I think it's just a prank and the employer 2 had bugged the victim's system
somehow and triggers it remotely

