>Check out the following
>excerpts from a Wall Street Journal article by Jim Carlton --
>
>1. Compaq is considering changing the command "Press Any Key" to "Press
>Return Key" because of the flood of calls asking where the "Any" key is.
>
>2. AST technical support had a caller complaining that her mouse was hard to
>control with the dust cover on. The cover turned out to be the plastic bag
>the mouse was packaged in.
>
>3. Another Compaq technician received a call from a man complaining that the
>system wouldn't read word processing files from his old diskettes. After
>trouble-shooting for magnets and heat failed to diagnose the problem, it was
>found that the customer labeled the diskettes then rolled them into the
>typewriter to type the labels.
>
>4. Another AST customer was asked to send a copy of her defective diskettes.
>A few days later a letter arrived from the customer along with Xeroxed
>copies of the floppies.
>
>5. A Dell technician advised his customer to put his troubled floppy back in
>the drive and close the door. The customer asked the tech to hold on, and
>was heard putting the phone down, getting up and crossing the room to close
>the door to his room.
>
>6. Another Dell customer called to say he couldn't get his computer to fax
>anything. After 40 minutes of trouble-shooting, the technician discovered
>the man was trying to fax a piece of paper by holding it in front of the
>monitor screen and hitting the "send" key.
>
>7. Another Dell customer needed help setting up a new program, so a Dell tech
>suggested he go to the local Egghead. "Yeah, I got me a couple of friends,
>"the customer replied. When told Egghead was a software store, the man said,
>"Oh, I thought you meant for me to find a couple of geeks."
>
>8. Yet another Dell customer called to complain that his keyboard no longer
>worked. He had cleaned it by filling up his tub with soap and water and
>soaking the keyboard for a day, then removing all the keys and washing them
>individually.
>
>9. A Dell technician received a call from a customer who was enraged because
>his computer had told him he was "bad and an invalid". The tech explained
>that the computer's "bad command" and "invalid" responses shouldn't be taken
>personally.
>
>10. An exasperated caller to Dell Computer Tech Support couldn't get her new
>Dell Computer to turn on. After ensuring the computer was plugged in, the
>technician asked her what happened when she pushed the power button. Her
>response, "I pushed and pushed on this foot pedal and nothing happens." The
>"foot pedal" turned out to be the computer's mouse.
>
>11. Another customer called Compaq tech support to say her brand-new computer
>wouldn't work. She said she unpacked the unit, plugged it in, and sat there
>for 20 minutes waiting for something to happen. When asked what happened
>when she pressed the power switch, she answered "What power switch?"
>
>12. True story from a Novell NetWire SysOp:
>Caller: "Hello, is this Tech Support?"
>Tech: "Yes, it is. How may I help you?"
>Caller: "The cup holder on my PC is broken and I am within my warranty
>period. How do I go about getting that fixed?"
>Tech: "I'm sorry, but did you say a cup holder?"
>Caller: "Yes, it's attached to the front of my computer."
>Tech: "Please excuse me if I seem a bit stumped, It's because I am. Did you
>receive this as part of a promotional, at a trade show? How did you get this
>cup holder? Does it have any trademark on it?"
>Caller: "It came with my computer, I don't know anything about a promotional.
>It just has '4X' on it." At this point the Tech Rep had to mute the caller,
>because he couldn't stand it. The caller had been using the load drawer of
>the CD-ROM drive as a cup holder, and snapped it off the drive!

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