when I was doing phone work, I fielded an ungodly number of trouble calls that went something like this:
<customer>: My phone doesn't work.
<me>: How *exactly* doesn't it work?
<customer>: I get no dialtone.
<me>: I'm sure you've already checked this, but I have to ask... is it plugged in?
<customer>: OF COURSE IT'S PLUGGED IN!
<me>: I'll be out as soon as I can.
I get there, climb under/over/around the massive piece of office furniture that someone has conveniently placed directly in front of the phone jack, find the *end* of the phone cord, plug it back in, and get dialtone.
<customer>: OH! It's *working*!? What did you do?
<me>: Um... I plugged the phone back into the wall-jack.
Apparently, people seem to believe that just having the cord plugged into the phone is enough to make it work.
Of course, I fielded about as many calls that went:
<sucker... I mean customer>: I moved offices, brought my phone with me, but I don't have the same extension.
<me>: Well, that's because you're extension isn't governed by your phone.
<customer>: What does that mean?
<me>: Um... the phone number is in "the wall", not the phone.
<customer>: Oh... can you give me my old extension back?
<me>: Sure, I'll be out as soon as I can.
My favorites went like this:
<customer>: This phone is broken.
<me>: How is it broken?
<customer>: it has no dialtone.
I plug it in, and it works fine...
<me>: well, it works fine now.
<customer>: That's odd, I brought it home, and it didn't work.
<me>: Well, that's because this is a digital phone. The phone line at your house is analog. This phone will *never* work at your house. And by the way, you don't own this phone. Bringing it home constitutes theft.
<customer>: Um... uh... well... uh...
I used to be a phoneman for a college. The departments "leased" their phones, but because they paid for the installation, they seemed to think they owned them, and would try to bring them home because "they were nicer than the phones they had at home." Trying to explain digital vs. analog to an English Ph.D. is NOT fun, by the way. |
