The Bare Truth Is A Little Embarrassing

The program our company uses to track customers, invoices, etc., recently had an upgrade. Several customers have notified us that they no longer have access to their own accounts.

I go to the website and start a “chat” to see what can be done.

Me: “I’ve had many customers call or email to say they can’t log in. I don’t seem to have access to usernames or passwords through the back end anymore, so I can’t help.”

Chat Operator: “Can you give me a customer’s name so I can look at a specific account?”

Me: “Sure. The last fellow was [Customer].”

Chat Operator: “Okay, bare with me.”

I smirk a bit.

Chat Operator: “I do see that they are not registered in the system.”

Me: “Yes. But they were before the system upgrade. Now they can’t get back in, and I can’t seem to register them directly, either.”

Chat Operator: “I’m going to look into this a little further. Please bare with me.”

We don’t end up getting the issue resolved. The chat operator lets me know that a report will be submitted and I’ll be contacted once there is a solution.

Me: “Thanks. I appreciate that. Just so you know, since this is a typed communication, the phrase you are looking for is ‘Bear with me.’ ‘Bare with me’ suggests we should both disrobe. I don’t think that was what you were going for.”

Chat Operator: “Are you sure?”

Me: “Absolutely sure.”

Chat Operator: “I type that all the time!”

Me: “I’d suggest you change it. You know, bear it in mind.”