-273: 26 February 2004

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26 February 2004 - 2:03 pm

I have a new pet peeve. Although that's a misstatement. I've always been bothered by people who leave their grimy fingerprints on my computer screen; I've just never had to deal with them before. But now I work with someone who likes to come over to my desk and point things out to me. And he leaves big, greasy fingerprints all over my glare reduction screen when he does so. I now clean my monitor at least once a day, if not twice, and I'm not happy about it. I've tried politely asking him, over and over, not to touch the screen. I've also tried immediately cleaning the screen each time he touches it. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Posted by on 26 February 2004 at 2:03 PM

Comments

Affix a placard next to the monitor which reads, "MONITOR != TOUCHSCREEN. PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH THE MONITOR."

Posted by ben on 26 February 2004 - 5:07 PM

Have the phrase "Please do not touch the monitor" translated into about 6 or 7 different languages, then write them all on a notecard, one above the other, and tape it to the monitor (or frame it and hang it above your desk).

Posted by Chris Hill Festival on 26 February 2004 - 7:05 PM

Tell them your computer has a virus. If they ask for you to be more specific, tell them it's HIV. Hopefully they will be so weirded out that they will never bother you again.

Posted by Rachel on 26 February 2004 - 9:38 PM

Rather than next to the monitor, how about changing your wallpaper?

Posted by Joe on 27 February 2004 - 12:11 AM

Two words: contact poison.

Posted by Anonymous on 27 February 2004 - 1:54 AM

Two solutions. If you have a CRT, put a frame of aluminum foil around your monitor (you know to make it look pretty, or because tech support told you to use it to degauss your monitor). Make sure some of it covers the glass, or set your monitor's display width to be wider than the glass screen. The electrons streaming from your monitor and hitting the foil should give it a very high voltage charge (but not much energy). When the guy touches the monitor, hope he touches the aluminum foil too, thus getting a nice painful/harmless zap. Go negative reinforcement!

This won't work if you have a LCD, but there's still hope. Set some picture as your desktop background. Use photoshop (or Michael) to warp the picture as if the LCD screen was damaged in places (you know, darker/off color fuzzy patches). Make it bad enough so that Mr. Fingerprints notices, and asks about it. Say that IT said the problem was dents in the screen, that should go away in a month if the monitor is not disturbed/moved. Guilt at 'breaking' your monitor will make him keep his hands to himself, one would hope. This may also work even if you have a CRT, because people are stupid like that.

If all else fails, pay him many visits and touch his monitor. This will work especially well if he's not there, thus giving you a chance to put smudges all over his monitor. This will make him think that he touches his own monitor too much, and make him change his evil ways.

Posted by Jim on 27 February 2004 - 1:55 AM

Jim, your last suggestion won't work because his monitor is a disgusting mess of fingerprints already. He actually has trouble reading things on his screen because of them, but never bothers to clean the monitor off.

Posted by david on 27 February 2004 - 12:36 PM

I've noticed that the computers in the CEC are especially bad. And to make things worse, whenever I'm up there with a friend of mine he insists on touching my monitor, and then makes fun of me when I attempt to wipe it clean. I think that some people are just idiots, and there is nothing that can be done.

Posted by Nathan on 28 February 2004 - 1:31 PM

I agree.

Posted by michael on 28 February 2004 - 2:04 PM

When he comes to your office, ask him to wait a second while you drape a piece of plastic over the monitor screen. He'll touch that but not the screen.

Hard to believe he's so hard-headed.

Posted by rkc on 2 March 2004 - 6:51 AM

Of course I should have written "clear plastic" so he can still point to things.

Posted by rkc on 2 March 2004 - 6:52 AM

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Of course I should have written "clear plastic" so he can still point to things. When he comes to your office, ask him to wait a second while you drape a piece of plastic over the monitor screen. He'll touch that but not the screen. Hard to believe he's so hard-headed. I agree. I've noticed that the computers in the CEC are especially bad. And to make things worse, whenever I'm up there with a friend of mine he insists on touching my monitor, and then makes fun of me when I attempt to wipe it clean. I think that some people are just idiots, and there is nothing that can be done. Jim, your last suggestion won't work because his monitor is a disgusting mess of fingerprints already. He actually has trouble reading things on his screen because of them, but never bothers to clean the monitor off. Two solutions. If you have a CRT, put a frame of aluminum foil around your monitor (you know to make it look pretty, or because tech support told you to use it to degauss your monitor). Make sure some of it covers the glass, or set your monitor's display width to be wider than the glass screen. The electrons streaming from your monitor and hitting the foil should give it a very high voltage charge (but not much energy). When the guy touches the monitor, hope he touches the aluminum foil too, thus getting a nice painful/harmless zap. Go negative reinforcement! This won't work if you have a LCD, but there's still hope. Set some picture as your desktop background. Use photoshop (or Michael) to warp the picture as if the LCD screen was damaged in places (you know, darker/off color fuzzy patches). Make it bad enough so that Mr. Fingerprints notices, and asks about it. Say that IT said the problem was dents in the screen, that should go away in a month if the monitor is not disturbed/moved. Guilt at 'breaking' your monitor will make him keep his hands to himself, one would hope. This may also work even if you have a CRT, because people are stupid like that. If all else fails, pay him many visits and touch his monitor. This will work especially well if he's not there, thus giving you a chance to put smudges all over his monitor. This will make him think that he touches his own monitor too much, and make him change his evil ways. Two words: contact poison. Rather than next to the monitor, how about changing your wallpaper?
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