In which Rainien rambles about modems, xenophobia, and an update on life in general...
So last Sunday night the phone conversation when somewhat like this:
Man (In a very heavy Indian accent)Thank you for calling HughesNet technical support. My name is Bob. How may I help you today?
Bob? Are you kidding me? BOB?? Do you really think giving yourself some overly-common non-Indian name is going to trick me into believing the call center is not in India?? I think I need a new modem. I've been having connectivity problems for a couple of weeks now and it's just getting worse.
[Insert all sorts of silly "troubleshooting" experiments while "Bob" taps away at his keyboard and reads whatever stupidity pops up on his monitor and Yours Truly tries valiantly to understand just what the hell he's saying.]
Finally...
Bob: It sounds like you need to purchase a new LAN line.
Me: A LAN line? You're not going to send me another modem?
Bob: We need to try a new LAN line first. I'm going to give you a case number and if the LAN line doesn't work you can call back and we'll go from there. OK?
Me: All right. Thank you. [writes down case number]
Monday I bought a new LAN line.
Man (In a very heavy Indian accent): Thank you for calling HughesNet technical support. My name is Steve. How may I help you today?
*head/desk* I have a case number. [gives said number]
Steve: Did the new LAN line work?
Me: Why the hell would I be calling you if the damn thing worked?? No. There's no change. I'm still unable to connect.
Steve: [pecking away at keyboard] Let me put you on hold for one moment while I transfer you to Advanced Support.
Me: [cheering because Advanced Support is in the US] Ok. No problem. [waits]
Man (In a perfectly generic Midwest American accent)Are you there, Ms. H?
Me: Yes.
Man: This is Brian with HughesNet Advanced Support. It looks like you need a new modem.
Me: [feeling stuck in the land of overly-common names] *laughing* I think that's what I told Bob last night.
[verifies shipping address]
Brian: Your new modem should arrive by FedEx in a couple of days. [gives additional instructions]
A couple of days later...
Modem? Nope.
A couple more days later...
Modem? Nope.
Finally, nearly a friggin WEEK later, I have a new modem. I'm zooming around the Webs once again. I can actually read my Friends page. I can open my email. Pages don't time out. Everything works! And the best part of all? I didn't have to call technical support for any assistance like Brian threatened I might have to!!
*sigh* I admit it. Nothing brings out the Ugly American in me more quickly than being routed to an overseas call center. It's a failing in me, I know. I just can't seem to help it. When I'm having a problem, I want to speak to someone who speaks English as a FIRST language - someone who doesn't have an accent so thick I can barely understand what the hell they're saying. The whole reason my modem problem got so bad before I called tech support is because I didn't want to deal with the language barrier. Procrastination much?
Anyway. I'm up and running again and loving the new modem. It's made of much loveliness.
In local news...
Work continues to be a lot of work. At least a third of the patients continue to be idiots. Another third seem to want to live their lives in a medicated fog. The other third are too healthy for their own damn good and we don't see them nearly enough to make up for the other two-thirds. Despite all of this, I'm still loving my job because it keeps me busy all day.
In even more local news...
The boys went back to school today. Older Son is now a sophomore. Yikes! After one minor adjustment made to his schedule last week, I'm pleased with all of his classes. Younger Son is in sixth grade. When I told him today that after he finishes this year he'll be half-way finished with school (not counting college), he didn't quite know how to react. LOL He didn't know if he wanted to be a glass-half-full or glass-half-empty kind of person about this bit of information. The day went well aside from Younger Son having homework on the first day. He seems to think this is some sort of omen.
Pete continues to be a source of drama and entertainment around the house. He's growing by leaps and bounds. I had to intervene yesterday when he climbed as high as he could in preparation of taking a flying leap at a moth that was flitting around in front of the curtains in the living room. I could just see massive rips in the curtains resulting when the proposed flying leap resulted in nothing but cloth and claws.
In extended family news...
My step-brother was cutting down a tree last week and the friggin' thing fell on him. I'm not quite sure how it happened. The short version is that a rather large-ish tree fell across both of his knees and he was pinned underneath for about an hour. Friends were finally able to move the tree and step-brother was taken to the hospital. The good news is that he can still walk - a miracle all its own. The bad news (delivered today) is that the cartilage in both knees has been completely destroyed and he's going to need total replacement of both knees. He came to see me at work today after he was given the news. *eye roll* He hadn't even told his wife yet. she's a bitch He says he's not going to tell the parents yet because they'd just worry and he wants to work a little longer and try to pay off a few more debts before he faces possible permanent disability.
I tried to talk him into letting the parents know. I would want to know if one of my sons was facing something like this. It's not my place to tell it, though, so I'll just keep my mouth shut for now and hope he tells them soon. *sigh* I really hate to keep this secret. Mom and Step-dad deserve to know.
Ok. Enough rambling from me. I've got loads and loads of catching up to do. My inbox runneth over. Much to be read. Huggles to all because I've sooooo missed being here this past week!
Man (In a very heavy Indian accent)Thank you for calling HughesNet technical support. My name is Bob. How may I help you today?
Bob? Are you kidding me? BOB?? Do you really think giving yourself some overly-common non-Indian name is going to trick me into believing the call center is not in India?? I think I need a new modem. I've been having connectivity problems for a couple of weeks now and it's just getting worse.
[Insert all sorts of silly "troubleshooting" experiments while "Bob" taps away at his keyboard and reads whatever stupidity pops up on his monitor and Yours Truly tries valiantly to understand just what the hell he's saying.]
Finally...
Bob: It sounds like you need to purchase a new LAN line.
Me: A LAN line? You're not going to send me another modem?
Bob: We need to try a new LAN line first. I'm going to give you a case number and if the LAN line doesn't work you can call back and we'll go from there. OK?
Me: All right. Thank you. [writes down case number]
Monday I bought a new LAN line.
Man (In a very heavy Indian accent): Thank you for calling HughesNet technical support. My name is Steve. How may I help you today?
*head/desk* I have a case number. [gives said number]
Steve: Did the new LAN line work?
Me: Why the hell would I be calling you if the damn thing worked?? No. There's no change. I'm still unable to connect.
Steve: [pecking away at keyboard] Let me put you on hold for one moment while I transfer you to Advanced Support.
Me: [cheering because Advanced Support is in the US] Ok. No problem. [waits]
Man (In a perfectly generic Midwest American accent)Are you there, Ms. H?
Me: Yes.
Man: This is Brian with HughesNet Advanced Support. It looks like you need a new modem.
Me: [feeling stuck in the land of overly-common names] *laughing* I think that's what I told Bob last night.
[verifies shipping address]
Brian: Your new modem should arrive by FedEx in a couple of days. [gives additional instructions]
A couple of days later...
Modem? Nope.
A couple more days later...
Modem? Nope.
Finally, nearly a friggin WEEK later, I have a new modem. I'm zooming around the Webs once again. I can actually read my Friends page. I can open my email. Pages don't time out. Everything works! And the best part of all? I didn't have to call technical support for any assistance like Brian threatened I might have to!!
*sigh* I admit it. Nothing brings out the Ugly American in me more quickly than being routed to an overseas call center. It's a failing in me, I know. I just can't seem to help it. When I'm having a problem, I want to speak to someone who speaks English as a FIRST language - someone who doesn't have an accent so thick I can barely understand what the hell they're saying. The whole reason my modem problem got so bad before I called tech support is because I didn't want to deal with the language barrier. Procrastination much?
Anyway. I'm up and running again and loving the new modem. It's made of much loveliness.
In local news...
Work continues to be a lot of work. At least a third of the patients continue to be idiots. Another third seem to want to live their lives in a medicated fog. The other third are too healthy for their own damn good and we don't see them nearly enough to make up for the other two-thirds. Despite all of this, I'm still loving my job because it keeps me busy all day.
In even more local news...
The boys went back to school today. Older Son is now a sophomore. Yikes! After one minor adjustment made to his schedule last week, I'm pleased with all of his classes. Younger Son is in sixth grade. When I told him today that after he finishes this year he'll be half-way finished with school (not counting college), he didn't quite know how to react. LOL He didn't know if he wanted to be a glass-half-full or glass-half-empty kind of person about this bit of information. The day went well aside from Younger Son having homework on the first day. He seems to think this is some sort of omen.
Pete continues to be a source of drama and entertainment around the house. He's growing by leaps and bounds. I had to intervene yesterday when he climbed as high as he could in preparation of taking a flying leap at a moth that was flitting around in front of the curtains in the living room. I could just see massive rips in the curtains resulting when the proposed flying leap resulted in nothing but cloth and claws.
In extended family news...
My step-brother was cutting down a tree last week and the friggin' thing fell on him. I'm not quite sure how it happened. The short version is that a rather large-ish tree fell across both of his knees and he was pinned underneath for about an hour. Friends were finally able to move the tree and step-brother was taken to the hospital. The good news is that he can still walk - a miracle all its own. The bad news (delivered today) is that the cartilage in both knees has been completely destroyed and he's going to need total replacement of both knees. He came to see me at work today after he was given the news. *eye roll* He hadn't even told his wife yet. she's a bitch He says he's not going to tell the parents yet because they'd just worry and he wants to work a little longer and try to pay off a few more debts before he faces possible permanent disability.
I tried to talk him into letting the parents know. I would want to know if one of my sons was facing something like this. It's not my place to tell it, though, so I'll just keep my mouth shut for now and hope he tells them soon. *sigh* I really hate to keep this secret. Mom and Step-dad deserve to know.
Ok. Enough rambling from me. I've got loads and loads of catching up to do. My inbox runneth over. Much to be read. Huggles to all because I've sooooo missed being here this past week!