Here are some conversations that actually happened between help desk people and their customers.

Customer: “You’ve got to fix my computer. I urgently need to print a document, but the computer won’t boot properly.”

Tech Support: “What does it say?”

Customer: “Something about an error and non-system disk.”

Tech Support: “Look at your machine. Is there a floppy inside?”

Customer: “No, but there’s a sticker saying there’s an Intel inside.”

Tech Support: “Just call us back if there’s a problem. We’re open 24 hours.”

Customer: “Is that Eastern time?”

Tech Support: “Ok, now click your left mouse button.”

Customer: (silence) “But I only have one mouse.”

Customer: “Excuse me can I use this disk? It has a hole in it.

Tech Support: “Do you have 3 1/2 inch diskettes?”

Customer: “No, I only have 3 of them.”

Tech Support: “I need you to right-click on the Open Desktop.”

Customer: “Ok.”

Tech Support: “Did you get a pop-up menu?”

Customer: “No.”

Tech Support: “Ok. Right click again. Do you see a pop-up menu?”

Customer: “No.”

Tech Support: “Ok, sir. Can you tell me what you have done up until this point?”

Customer: “Sure, you told me to write ‘click’ and I wrote ‘click’.”

Customer: “Now what do I do?”

Tech Support: “What is the prompt on the screen?”

Customer: “It’s asking for ‘Enter Your Last Name.’”

Tech Support: “Ok, so type in your last name.”

Customer: “How do you spell that?”

Customer: “I received the software update you sent, but I am still getting the same error message.”

Tech Support: “Did you install the update?”

Customer: “No. Oh, am I supposed to install it to get it to work?”