Actual Conversation:

The following was an actual conversation I had with a customer:

*Ring*"Service, call on line 3"

*Sigh.....* I get about 1-2 phone calls a day that require me to offer over the phone support.

Customer: "You have to help me! my computer said it had a fatal exception! I can't lose all my files!"

Me: "Ok, it was probably a small glitch, do you still have the error up?"

Customer: "Yes! and it is says that a fatal error happened! Is my pc broken!? I don't have time for this! I need it fixed as soon as you can! How serious do you think it is? I really can't lose my files and I need it for work!"

Me: "Ma'am, it's probably not a big problem. If you can tell me when the error says I might be able to help you a bit more."

Her: blah blah blah.... she repeats the problem and she can't loose anything 2 or 3 more times....

Me (frustrated after getting no where due to the customer panicking): "Ma'am..."

Her (insert attitude): "what?"

Me: "Is the computer on fire?"

Her (The confusion coming down the line is evident): "............... no?"

Me: "Then the problem is not that serious, please calm down and follow these instructions...."


I hate trying to provide support over the phone.

They make me want to go BoFH on them...

However, I do love having a boss who isn't concerned about providing support for non-paying customers.