Why would my camera work when held in hand but not when on the tripod?

It works fine with the connecter doohickey attached but when said doohickey is mounted on the tripod the camera shuts down every time I take a picture.

I am assuming my house is in a crazy parallel dimension, but if there's a real reason for this behavior, lemme know.

Is your doohickey attached to the whatsit? Because if so, kablooey!

between the camera & the tripod