i almost got lucky today
first of all, comcast tech support blows chunks.
at about 0530 this morning, my net connection up and died. i tried the various troubleshooting measures (check to see the cables are seated properly, reboot the modem, redo the dhcp stuff, etc) in varying combinations for an hour before finally thinking "if i am not the only one affected, they might have a reported outage.
so i phone in to see, get put on hold for 20 minutes, explaining what the symptoms are, and asking if there are any reports of an outage in this area. the asshat on the other end of the line says "no, your modem appears to be working properly. are you using windows xp?"
"no."
"mac?"
"i have never used either windows or mac."
"what are you using?"
"i do not see how this is relevant. working at 0525, not working at 0530. i was calling to see if any outages were reported."
"what are you using?"
"linux."
"hold on a sec." ... ... ... "we do not support any varieties of linux."
"i know. we have been through this already. i was calling to ask about outages in my area. would you please log this as an outage for me?"
"i can't do that. there are 25 other people in your area, and their modems are all fine too. you should not be experiencing any loss of connectivity."
"fine then, i will dig out my old windows laptop."
SIGHUP
well, much to my surprise (ha!), it was not working with windows either. so i called back, and got a different rep who did not suck dingleberries.
i do not give much weight to polite, cheerful help, but it certainly did not hurt that she was very polite. or that i was only on hold for a couple of minutes. she was possibly even a little cheerful. she guessed before i asked "it's not working?"
i said "indeed. i had called a few minutes ago, but the guy decided that my problem is not using windows xp, so i was up a creek."
"no, the switchboard is lighting up, everybody in portland is down right now. i don't know what to tell you other than we are working on it..."
"oh good. i thought i was losing my mind."
"no, you are perfectly sane."
"i think that is about the first time i have ever heard that. at any rate, i do thank you very much. i am sure you have other calls to attend to, and it does not sound like today is going to treat you very well."
SIGHUP
so anyway, i went to blockbuster to return some movies and on the way back, stopped at a cornerstore. making a right turn to leave, and having a green light in front of me, i quickly did a left turn, not seeing the ugly-ass vehicle that i had looked back to ensure was not there. he probably came from the other side of the street at the muffler shop, doing two left turns to get onto lombard eastbound.
*honk*
he pulls up next to me as i'm riding by, and hollers (with the worst redneck accent i have ever heard, apart from cletus t judd) "you came this close to gettn' hit, bud!"
how close? i do not know. but so close to being lucky. oh well. there is always tomorrow.
at about 0530 this morning, my net connection up and died. i tried the various troubleshooting measures (check to see the cables are seated properly, reboot the modem, redo the dhcp stuff, etc) in varying combinations for an hour before finally thinking "if i am not the only one affected, they might have a reported outage.
so i phone in to see, get put on hold for 20 minutes, explaining what the symptoms are, and asking if there are any reports of an outage in this area. the asshat on the other end of the line says "no, your modem appears to be working properly. are you using windows xp?"
"no."
"mac?"
"i have never used either windows or mac."
"what are you using?"
"i do not see how this is relevant. working at 0525, not working at 0530. i was calling to see if any outages were reported."
"what are you using?"
"linux."
"hold on a sec." ... ... ... "we do not support any varieties of linux."
"i know. we have been through this already. i was calling to ask about outages in my area. would you please log this as an outage for me?"
"i can't do that. there are 25 other people in your area, and their modems are all fine too. you should not be experiencing any loss of connectivity."
"fine then, i will dig out my old windows laptop."
SIGHUP
well, much to my surprise (ha!), it was not working with windows either. so i called back, and got a different rep who did not suck dingleberries.
i do not give much weight to polite, cheerful help, but it certainly did not hurt that she was very polite. or that i was only on hold for a couple of minutes. she was possibly even a little cheerful. she guessed before i asked "it's not working?"
i said "indeed. i had called a few minutes ago, but the guy decided that my problem is not using windows xp, so i was up a creek."
"no, the switchboard is lighting up, everybody in portland is down right now. i don't know what to tell you other than we are working on it..."
"oh good. i thought i was losing my mind."
"no, you are perfectly sane."
"i think that is about the first time i have ever heard that. at any rate, i do thank you very much. i am sure you have other calls to attend to, and it does not sound like today is going to treat you very well."
SIGHUP
so anyway, i went to blockbuster to return some movies and on the way back, stopped at a cornerstore. making a right turn to leave, and having a green light in front of me, i quickly did a left turn, not seeing the ugly-ass vehicle that i had looked back to ensure was not there. he probably came from the other side of the street at the muffler shop, doing two left turns to get onto lombard eastbound.
*honk*
he pulls up next to me as i'm riding by, and hollers (with the worst redneck accent i have ever heard, apart from cletus t judd) "you came this close to gettn' hit, bud!"
how close? i do not know. but so close to being lucky. oh well. there is always tomorrow.