Internot Getting It, Part 3
I’m working in tech support for AOL around 1997, around the time that AOL carpet-bombed households. I get a call from a woman wanting help getting online. This is not an uncommon request.
Me: “Do you have an AOL disc or CD?”
Caller: “I received a CD in the mail, but I don’t know how to get online.”
Me: “Okay, I can walk you through the process. Are you in front of your computer?”
Caller: “I don’t own a computer.”
I pause.
Me: “Ma’am… a computer is necessary to connect to AOL.”
Caller: *Angrily* “I received the disk in the mail, and it had ‘You have the disk, so why not get online?’ printed on it! It didn’t say I needed to buy a computer first!”
I tried to get her to understand, but she still complained and marked me a one-star in the survey after the call. It dropped my average score and damaged my raise that year. Thanks, lady!
