Named And Shamed, Part 10

My boyfriend works at the IT Help Desk for a university unlocking accounts, resetting passwords, and that sort of thing. Today, he is working from home, so I hear his side of this conversation. The first thing he always has to do is get the user’s university ID code so he can start putting together a ticket and to make sure he is looking at the correct person’s account.

Boyfriend: “Thank you for calling [University] help desk; may I please have your [University] ID?”

He looks up the account.

Boyfriend: “Okay, [First Name]?”

The user confirms their name and then tells my boyfriend the issue; it sounds like she is having trouble getting into some university system.

Boyfriend: “Okay, and you said your ID is [ID]? So, looking at your information, some places are saying you are still a student, which might be the reason you’re having trouble.”

The user apparently says that this isn’t right.

Boyfriend: “Okay, and you said your ID is [ID]? Oh, [similar-sounding ID]? Okay, one moment.”

He retypes the information.

Boyfriend: “Oh, so, your name is actually [Totally Different First Name]? Okay. Because when I asked if you were [First Name], you said yes…”

I understand mishearing the ID confirmation since the two IDs contained similar-sounding letters and neither of them was spelling the ID phonetically, but the names were totally different. The user just wasn’t listening.

Related:
Named And Shamed, Part 9
Named And Shamed, Part 8
Named And Shamed, Part 7
Named And Shamed, Part 6
Named And Shamed, Part 5