NATO Alphabet! Do you speak it?

[lolotehe]

(After telling the caller to actually spell the ID, as opposed to punching buttons on the phone)*

CALLER: ...that's L like Larry, M like Mary, and # as in #all.

ME: I'm sorry, what was that last letter?

CALLER: It's # like in #all.

ME: Is there another word that starts with that letter please?

CALLER: IT'S # LIKE IN #ALL!

ME: Was that T as in tall, B as in ball, C as in call, D as in doll, or P as in Paul?

CALLER: Don't you speak English?

ME: It's just that you've picked a phonetically ambiguous word that does not parse correctly over the phone.

CALLER: A what?

ME: A phonetically ambiguous word. Let's try this again. B as in bravo, T as in tango, C as in Charlie--

CALLER: Can I talk to someone else?

ME: Sure thing. (transfers call to India)


*I have ranted about this before, and how people mistake me for the VRU.

Professional Masochist Once Again!

[fuego.livejournal.com]

After being unemployed since August of 2009, I have been offered a job. As of the end of the month, I'm going to be doing tech support for Apple again. (I did that from 2003-2006 as well.)

Yes folks, I will once again be one of you.

Watch this space for stories of Teh Dumb. No doubt it hasn't changed much.

In honor of my return to work, and because this just wouldn't be a proper post without a story, I will leave you with the favorite story of anyone who's ever heard my tech support stories...

So one day, I get a call about a faulty optical drive. Discs won't go all the way in. Lady on the phone is relaying instructions to her husband who seems to be doing as told. Finally, after a few steps I tell her to have him insert a disc in the drive and see what happens. After a moment, I hear "No! no! Not your dick! a disc!" then she tells me to hold on a minute and there is muffled talking on the other end.

A few seconds later a male voice on the phone informs me "I put it in but it wouldn't go all the way in."