* * * * * More overheard technical support phone call conversations “Your call may be monitored for quality assurance. The expected hold time is currently 1 minute. Please wait for the next available represenative.” “Hello, this is Bob. Not the same Bob as you called yesterday [1], but still, just call me Bob. [I should mention this was a very perky Bob. —Editor] How may I help you?” “I'm calling in reference to ticket number ‘tango mike papa charlie zero zero zero six six six zero zero zero foxtrot uniform.’” “And whom am I speaking to today?” “This is Sean.” “Okay, Mr. Sean, if you can please hold while I review your ticket.” “Okay.” (cue FX (sound effect) of Girl from Ipanema [2]) “Thank you for holding, Mr. Sean. I didn't understand a word that Bob wrote yesterday but I gather it has something to do with sending email.” “That's the gist of it.” “Can you please send an email message to [garbled]?” “What was that?” “[garbled]” (cue montage of Sean roaming around the office looking for a quiet place to write down the email message—many minutes go by while this happens) “Oh! It's testmyemail@mpc.example.net!” “Yes Mr. Sean. From that the email [DELETED-company-DELETED] department can diagnose what happens.” “Please hold on a second, I can test this right now.” “Okay.” “Yup, just like I said, it won't get through because your The Monopolistic Phone Company's email server is dropping the connection from this particular server.” “So it's a networking issue?” “No, because I can get to The Monopolistic Phone Company's email server from other computers.” “Oh. Well then, just send a message to testmyemail@mpc.example.net explaining the situation and they'll be able to handle it.” “Okay, can I include the ticket number?” “Yes.” “Okay, thank you.” “You're welcome Mr. Sean! Thank you for calling The Monopolistic Phone Company Dialup Support Line.” Click. Update on Saturday, September 24^th, 2005 Director's Commentary on this entry [3]. [1] gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2005/09/22.1 [2] http://wilstar.com/midi/ipanema.htm [3] gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2005/09/24.2 Email Sean Conner at sean@conman.org .