Entertaining Tech Support

I had to call help desk yesterday. Seems I had neglected to install some updates so I was having trouble accessing the network from home. I was connected to a very nice man we will call "Bob", mostly because his name is Bob.

Did you know that help desk folks are advised to keep on talking while stuff loads on your computer? I guess they need to keep you engaged and reassured that they have it under control. I can understand this. There have been times when I have called help desk where I was a little worried about having lost a document or was working against a deadline. Poor Bob had me on the line for about an hour and a half (not to self: be more diligent when you get software update alerts). He could have told me what to do and then let me go but he wanted to make sure it all worked and walk me through it. Nice guy.

In the course of the conversation, due to the requirement that he chat throughout, I learned a lot:

-Bob's family calls him "Mr. Know-it-all" and tried to stump him with questions

-If a pet cat tries to bite your eyeball, it's because they think you are dead. Go see a doctor (or congratulations for so sleeping so soundly)

-Dolphins and whales beach themselves because of bird doody, which is the main carrier of viruses that affect humans and animals (and we are only hearing about the bird flu now?)

Now that is some serious help desk! Not only did I get my computer fixed but I learned a little something. Never was a help desk call so fun.