Re: OT: Customer Service Horror Stories

From: Jonathan Kirwan (jkirwan_at_easystreet.com)
Date: 03/05/05 

Date: Sat, 05 Mar 2005 19:57:41 GMT

On Sat, 05 Mar 2005 12:57:28 -0500, Mark Jones <abuse@127.0.0.1> wrote:

>Share 'em. Here's one from 2003 when I was an internet support rep for a major
>US internet service provider.

In 1984, I was the Director of Technology for a small firm (28 employees) and
managed a small staff of programmers. However, I set aside 2 hours of time, on
every other day, to handle screened technical calls our support staff couldn't
fathom or handle well. I got this one (reduced for brevity) from a lady:

HER: "I can't get the program to work."
ME: "What's not working?"
HER: "Nothing. It just won't work for me."
ME: "Can you describe the problem?"
HER: "Well, it just doesn't work. Nothing happens."
ME: "What screen are you looking at? What does the screen show you?"
HER: "What do you mean?"
ME: "Well, on the screen... what words can you see there?"
HER: "I don't know."
ME: "Do you see any words you can tell me about?"
HER: "Well, the program's not working. There's nothing."
ME: <getting the point, finally>
      "Is the computer on?"
HER: "On? How do I tell?"
ME: "Do you see, on your right side towards the back.. a BIG RED switch?"
HER: "Hmm... Yes, there is one there."
ME: "Would you try and flip it to the other position for me?"
HER: "Oh! It's working!! Something is happening!"
...

Sometimes, I have wondered how this person ever managed to feed herself.

Jon

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