It's time once again to pay homage to those in the front line of Information Technology. For those who work or (like myself) have worked in the area of customer technical support, here's something from Matt Ranlett just for you. Don't hesitate to share your own stories!

My job while in college was as sales and tech support for a local ISP back before everyone was bought up by Earthlink.  The "office" I worked in was actually three rooms in the back of a hair salon outside of Athens GA!  Most of the hair clients were older women, and "Blue-hair dye day" Wednesdays always flavored the air something awful!  But that's another story.

I had a couple of great calls, including:

Customer: "I called you guys like three weeks ago to buy the Internet, but I haven't gotten it in the mail yet"
Me: "Did you get the CD we mailed you?"
Customer: "Sure did.  I got it right here"
Me: "Have you tried putting the CD into your computer like it shows in the picture on the CD?"
Customer: "I don't have a computer"
Me: "You don't have a computer?"
Customer: "You mean I need to have a computer?"

Another good call:
A customer calls me up and purchases an unlimited dialup account.  I walk him through setting up his computer for an hour and then we hang up and he gets online.  Two hours later he calls me back:

Me: "*ISP NAME* Technical Support, can I help you?"
Customer: "I need some help"
Me: "How can I help you, sir?"
Customer: "I can't find naked women on the Internet."
Me: after a short pause, "Have you tried typing what you are looking for into the search box on your home page?"
Customer: "Yes, but they all want credit cards"

You see, he really wanted FREE porn!

Me: after a longer pause, "Have you tried typing the word FREE into the box?"
Customer: "Let me try that."

He hung up and I laughed till I cried!  Imagine calling Tech Support b/c you can't find FREE PORN!

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