Conversations I have had, Pt. 2

Scene: I share a direct line to my office with two other colleagues. Recently we all got fancy cordless phones. Mine has worked fine, but my colleague Ben was having trouble with his, so he called in two repair technicians to fix the problem. They tested the line in my office and it was fine; they determined the problem was with the actual phone. However, they pressed some button and the phone suddenly worked fine. They declared the problem solved and went away. Yesterday they reappeared.

Technician 1: Hi, we’re back to fix the phone.

Me: The phone has been working fine since you were last here. I just made a phone call a few minutes ago.

Technician 1: No, it’s still broken. You need to use the other one. (Referring to the fixed handset model I was using before.)

Technician 2: Yes, you see the computer is causing the problem.

Me: But there is no more problem. The phone works.

Technician 1: Yes, it’s the computer that’s causing the problem.

Me: How is the computer causing the problem?

Technician 1: Interference.

Me: But the phone works fine.

I turn the phone on speaker mode and dial my cell phone to show it works. The call is completed without problems.

Technician 1, to Technician 2: Well, I guess it works okay.

Technician 2: Yes, I guess they should just use their own telephones.

Technician 1: I suppose it’s okay. (Now to me) Okay, please sign this paper saying I fixed the phone again today.

I look at the paper. It is an invoice written by hand on a scrap of paper about 6”x6”.

Me: Well, I’m not the one who ordered your services, so I can’t sign it. Also, the phone was working just fine.

Technician 1: Yes, but you have to pay for our services today.

Me: You should probably see the person who called for your services. Who called you?

Technician 1: No one. We are just following up.

At this point I just send them to Ben down the hall.