Unfiltered Story #57209

(I work in closed captioning, making sure everything is running smoothly behind the scenes rather than actually putting captions up on screen. One night, I am setting up a captioner for a program. The program is that of a popular entertainment brand, but is shown on a subsidiary of a major broadcast company. As such, when we run a captions test before the show – making sure captions are appearing correctly – we run two tests: one with [major broadcasting company], and one with [entertainment brand]. The captioner’s audio, which is simply a phone line they dial into, is supplied by [major broadcasting company], NOT [entertainment brand]. This happens when I call [entertainment brand] to test.)

Brand employee: Okay, can you have your captioner write what they’re hearing on the audio line?

Me: Sure, one moment, please.

(This is a bit of an unusual request, since sending out the word “test” will usually suffice, but it’s not unheard of. I switch to the other phone line and ask my captioner to write what’s playing on their audio line.)

Captioner: The audio line is actually silent right now.

Me: *thinking [major broadcasting company] just isn’t playing anything yet and it’s not a big deal* Oh, okay. Well, just send out the word “test” like usual. I’ll be right back.

Me: *switching back to [entertainment brand]* Okay, my captioner is sending the word “test,” but [major broadcasting company] isn’t routing us any audio just yet so it’s still silent.

Brand employee: *sounding very concerned* Oh. Uh…okay, I see the test…hold on a minute, please.

(I get put on hold. From his reaction, I’m certain he thinks that the issue is on his end, but I didn’t have time to remind him that we’re not getting audio from him, so I wait. I’m also confused as to why he would think that, as we have never, and I mean NEVER, gotten our audio directly from [entertainment brand], and I even mentioned specifically that it was the network that wasn’t giving us anything. He picks back up a minute or so later.)

Brand employee: Okay, can your captioner try again? They should be getting audio now.

Me: Well, we’re not getting our audio from you guys. [Major broadcasting network] routes us our audio.

Brand employee: …I…um…are you sure…? Hang on…

Me: Yeah, it’s a [111-2222] number, so– *intending to say “I don’t think that’s you guys.”*

Brand employee: *cutting me off* Well, I don’t know their number or anything…

Me: …I know. *I* was giving *you* the number that my captioner is dialed into. We get our audio from [major broadcasting network], not you guys. So there’s really nothing for you to fix on your end.

Brand employee: Oh. Okay. Well, um…I guess…I mean, I saw the word test come through, so I guess we’re okay, and if there’s any problems, we could…we could go from there.

Me: Okay, sounds good.

Brand employee: Okay. Bye.

(We finally hung up, and I contacted [major broadcasting network]. Turns out they hadn’t routed the audio correctly, and I got it playing for my captioner in less than a minute. The sad part? I wish I could say this was an isolated incident with [entertainment brand], but they’re like this almost every time we call.)