Unfiltered Story #28103

(I’ve had a hard week, all the customers I’ve been getting on the line have been angry and rude, taking their time to complain about everything, which increases the wait for other customers, who in turn complain as well. As a result I’m really stressed, with a bad headache and I can barely keep from crying when people scream at me. Then I’m getting this guy on the line…)

Me: Hello, this is the line support of (ISP), I hear your connection is dead.

Caller: Yes, this is correct. It’s my father’s line, actually, he’s right here, but I’m calling for him because he’s not really tech savvy.

Me: This is alright. Can you tell me when the connection stopped working?

Caller: Well, my dad says he could still surf and call yesterday, I suppose it disappeared in the night at some point… He hasn’t touched any cable, neither has he changed his network settings.

Me: Okay, this is all good. We’ll check your line first, let me run some tests.. Can you tell me what type of router your father uses and how the LED lights on it are looking right now?

Caller: He has this (ISP brand router), he got it last year. As for the lights, only Power and WLAN are on *this basically means the router doesn’t get signal, although it could also mean that the router doesn’t work properly anymore*

Me: Thank you, I’m writing it down… And there’ll be a few seconds before the tests are finished, sorry about that, the system is really slow tonight. *I’m already cringing, because his results aren’t looking well, and everyone so far has complained that my system takes too long to test the line*

Caller: This isn’t a problem, just tell me the verdict whenever you’re ready.

Me: All-righty, so here’s this, I can’t detect any physical damage on the line, but the connection is just not there. So let’s try and reconfigure the whole thing. This also takes some time, but we can stay on the phone until it’s through. Then I’ll need you to restart your device. I’ll start right now.

Caller: Sounds great. Can it help?

Me: You won’t believe how often it helps, however I’m not overly optimistic about it, because your DSL port doesn’t answer. Of course we’ll try, just in case it works, but if it doesn’t you’ll have to wait for a field technician… *cringing again, because appointments for field technicians take some time and people usually are a******s about it*

Caller: This is okay, if it doesn’t work now, then of course we’ll wait.

Me: Oh wow.

Caller: Excuse me? Is something happening? Do I have to restart my router now?

Me: No, not just yet, I’m still waiting for the OK message. It’s just.. people have been screaming at me this whole week and you’re the first customer I’ve had on the phone today that doesn’t go berserk about waiting.

Caller: Oh, I’ve worked in the service. I know how it is and I feel no need to scream at you. Technology doesn’t always work, things can get broken and if I yell at you, I won’t make it work faster. I’d just make you miserable and I don’t want this, because you’re just trying to help me.

Me *dumbfounded*: You literally just restored my faith in humanity, sir. So, everything is through, please unplug your router for about 30s and then plug it back in. Then we’ll see if it worked.

(In the end I had to book a technician for him, because his DSL port remained stubbornly silent. He was friendly and civil all the time, and I didn’t hear a complaint from his father, either. I managed to find them an appointment for the next day. It’s those rare customers that are really worth it. Thank you, sir, for being nice to a strange lady on the phone!)