I have plenty of tales of impatient boomer relatives who have jammed up the micro-USB port on their devices by forcing it in the wrong way. It was a lot harder to do this with mini-USB, and I'm glad the subsequent revision (USB-C) is largely foolproof.
Long time ago I jammed headphones minijack into USB-A of tower case computer - you know, one with ports so low just above the floor. There was a spark and the computer powered off instantly. Thanks goodness it powered on fine and the USB port was still working fine. To this day I hate audio ports next to USB-A in some laptops.
I assume you meant type B, not type A, but anyway, lol. I had a somewhat similar "bad advice that always used to work" experience recently with someone, except this case was a proprietary USB-to-10P10C cable for APC UPS control, and they thought it was a USB/Ethernet adapter. Of course 10P10C and 8P8C modular connectors are exactly the same size and shape.
Nope, type A. Both connectors were damaged beyond repair. I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it myself - that woman must have the grip strength of an enraged gorilla.
The RJ-45 socket on my MacBook was right next to a USB-A socket. I once inserted the USB into that Ethernet port, no jamming, and doscovered that indeed they are almost exactly the same width.
I've actually seen someone plug in a DB 25 upside down! Every pin in the male connector was bent and the metal hood which mated with the socket was flared out.
