jsmangis Loc: Peoria, IL

I retired from being a Journeyman Wireman in 2011. As a member of the IBEW, I always took pride in my work, and if I ever saw any of the examples you posted here, the first thing I would have done was to tear everything down and start over. I do not have any photos of the work I did, because the owners of the projects would not allow us to bring cameras on the job, and I retired before smartphones became ubiquitous.

Earnest Botello Loc: Hockley, Texas

Thanks, BobbyJohn, and I thought my wiring behind my entertainment center was a nightmare!!!

Dalek Loc: Detroit, Miami, Goffstown

I wonder if that is the call center that keeps trying to fix my credit, clean my computer, and fix my health care plan? Now I see why the no-cal button does not work.

pendennis

You should see some of the wiring around Mexico City. Makes these shots seem organized.

We had a raised floor computer room which had been neglected. We evicted the "tenants" to convert to a secure LAN room. My boss and I spent an entire Saturday raising 2x2 floor panels, cutting co-ax cable, and filling two half dumpsters. The old frames had been removed a couple of years earlier, and the people who removed them were too da**ed lazy to pull up the old co-ax.

CaptainBobBrown

I once worked at a company whose server farm (PDP-8's and 11's) grew over time and so as new machines were added the cable runs under the floor grew like topsy. Each new machine required addition of only a few new cables but by the time I got there to oversee conversion to new class machines it was impossible to substitute machines in place while keeping the whole farm running. The false floor area was about 10000 sq. ft. x 18" deep and was so densely packed that there was no room to add even a single cable. So we decided to shut down for a weekend to rip out all cables and rebuild from scratch. All hands on deck effort. Couldn't even begin to scratch the surface of the problem. Looks like we weren't the only ones to build like topsy and pay the price.

One Rude Dawg Loc: Athol, ID

You wonder how stupid people can be, then you see the dumb asses in the pool and you know there is always room for someone who is dumber. Their mothers couldn't say she didn't raise no dummy.

TheShoe Loc: Lacey, WA

It is/was standard practice at big mainframe shops when installing new computers or peripherals to install the new gear while the old was still running. Then they would simply cut the connectors off of the old cables, leave the cables in place, and then remove the old equipment. They did it like that because pulling the cables could cause problems with the new hardware or cables. I was working for a mainframe manufacturer when the field support people were trying to solve thermal problems with a new system. An engineer was even sent from the factory to help solve the problem. He had been working on site for a day and a half and couldn't solve the problem. Finally, someone suggested checking the airflow under the floor. Sure enough, cold air was not flowing to the new system. There were so many old i/o cables under the floor that the air to the new system was completely blocked off. The customer had to spend a couple of weeks, carefully separating the old bus and tag cables from the new and removing them from the crawl space before the airflow was sufficient to cool the new system. (Before anyone says anything, it is the customer's responsibility to run the cables between points A and B. It is the computer installer's responsibility to place the equipment on the floor at or near A and B and connect the cables to it.)

sbohne

Years and years and YEARS ago I tried my hand at programming. I had an assignment to rewrite a program to make it more compact. It was a total abortion. I surrendered and told the prof it was a no go. The professor said that was an example of "spaghetti code" where the programmer never cleaned it up and it was a total nightmare. Those examples made that moment leap to mind.

I quit the class...

PAR4DCR Loc: A Sunny Place

Some of those looks like my computer wiring under my desk!!

Don

papaluv4gd Loc: durham,ct

What problem,I don't see any problem. Let's see, if I just pull this one.....

Michael1079 Loc: Indiana

Wow; I've seen some bad ones in the past, but some of these take the cake!

DickC Loc: NE Washington state

Almost as big a mess that government has!