Friday, November 10, 2006
Jacked up
Because our service is a dialup Internet service, we normally ask people who inquire about signing up whether or not they've got a dialup modem. It's usually a simple question! Many people know the answer, and if they don't, we suggest that they take a look at the computer. If it's a desktop, then the vast majority of dialup modems will be a slot with two phone jacks. We tell them to look for two jacks, side by side. If it's a laptop, it'll possibly have one or both of an ethernet jack and a phone jack, and they'll be marked. In either case, the caller needs to look for a phone jack. Most of the time, that's fine. Just not for my last caller.
She had a laptop, so I explained that she'd need to look for a phone jack. She spent the next few minutes asking me what a phone jack looked like. I tried various ways of describing it, and suggested that she look at a phone jack in the wall to get a better idea of what they look like. "I don't know if this spot on the computer is a phone jack or not. How can I tell?" "Does it look like the phone jack in the wall?" "I don't know. How can I tell?"
Um, look at it?
She had a laptop, so I explained that she'd need to look for a phone jack. She spent the next few minutes asking me what a phone jack looked like. I tried various ways of describing it, and suggested that she look at a phone jack in the wall to get a better idea of what they look like. "I don't know if this spot on the computer is a phone jack or not. How can I tell?" "Does it look like the phone jack in the wall?" "I don't know. How can I tell?"
Um, look at it?
# posted by Terry @ 8:01 AM 
