(Note: 1-1-2 is Germany’s version of 9-1-1.)
Me: “1-1-2, what’s your emergency?”
Caller: “Oh my god! Help me! Help me!”
Me: “Calm down, please. Can you tell me what happened, if someone is hurt and where you are?”
Caller: “I’m at home, and my brain stopped working!”
Me: “Your brain…stopped working? Sir, if your brain
would stop working, you would be dead. Can you tell me exactly what
happened? Are you bleeding?”
Caller: “No, no. But my brain stopped working! At
least half of it! Oh my god, will the other half stop working as well?!
Will I die?! My wife was right! I can’t believe it!”
(At this point, I’m unsure what to do. The man is really in a state of panic, but sounds otherwise fine.)
Me: “Sir, is your wife at home? Can I speak to her? If not, please tell me exactly what you did when your…brain stopped working.”
Caller: “I watched soccer! And drank beer! My wife
always told me ‘When you don’t stop that crap, your brain will stop
working’ and now it did! I was sitting on the couch and turned my head
to look at the clock and suddenly I can’t move my head anymore because
the left side of my brain stopped working! Help!”
Me: “Sir, it sounds like you only cricked your neck!”
(I start describing him what a cricked neck feels like and he
agrees that this is indeed his problem and that he’ll see a doctor in
the morning. I’m about to end the call, when…)
Caller: “Hey, dude…”
Me: “Yes?”
Caller: “Is she right?”
Me: “Who?”
Caller: “My wife. You seem to know a lot about
medicine and stuff, so can my brain really stop working from watching
too much soccer and drinking beer?”
Me: “Well, alcohol is known for indeed killing brain cells when you drink too much, but you won’t–”
Caller: “Oh my god! Thank you! I thought she was
only kidding me, but when you say it, then I’ll stop! Thank you so much
for saving my life! Thank you!”
Me: “Wait, I didn’t say–”
Caller: *hangs up*
Tech Support | Boulder, CO, USA
(I’m trying to instruct a caller how to visit a website.)
Customer: “It says ‘page cannot be displayed’.”
Customer: “Okay, it came up.”
Me: “Alright, it looks like we got the address wrong the first time. Let’s try it again.” *I spell out the entire URL*
Customer: “It’s still not working.”
Me: “OK, could you please spell it back to me?”
Customer: “H-T-T-P-F…”
Me: “I see what happened here. At the beginning we need to put H-T-T-P-S as in ‘Sierra’.”
Customer: “OK, H-T-T-P-F…”
Me: “No, not F as in Frank, S as in Sam. S as in sample.”
Customer: “H-T-T-P-F…”
Me: “Sir, no, we need to make sure that it is an S as in Sierra.” S as in solution.”
Customer: *really upset at this point* “YOU’RE NOT MAKING ANY SENSE! F AS IN SIERRA?! F AS IN SIERRA?! SIERRA BEGINS WITH AN S!
Veterinarian | Mountain View, CA, USA
Me: “Hello, Mrs. ***, how can I help you?”
Customer: “I’m very upset because you have my dog’s name before my last name here on this check-in sheet!”
Me: “Well, hat’s because we print out the pet’s first name and your last name so we know who the pet belongs to.”
Customer: “But this is horrible! It is though you are saying I am married to my dog! I’m not into bestiality!”
Me: “No, it is more that we are trying to say that you are like the pet’s parent.”
Customer: “You are saying that I gave birth to a dog?!”
Me:” No…I’m really sorry, but the computer prints
out the pet’s first and the owner’s last name. It is part of the system
and I cannot change it.”
Customer: “It’s the computer’s fault?”
Me: “Yes. I am so sorry, but I cannot change the program. It does this for every pet.”
Customer: “Then black out the name on the paper so nobody thinks I am married to him!”
Computer Repair | Oregon, USA
(I am one of the few women working at my computer store. One day a male customer speaks up near me.)
Customer: “Wow, that’s a pretty big rack you’ve got there!”
Me: *looking up from monitor screen* “…excuse me?”
(I then follow his gaze to see him looking at a giant walk-in rack mount we have for sale.)
Customer: “Oh, wow. I gotta watch how I phrase things.”
911 Call Center | Montreal, QC, Canada
Me: “9-1-1, police, fire, or ambulance?”
Caller: “Help, please God, help!”
Me: “Sir, what’s the emergency?”
Caller: “Someone’s trying to break into my house! Please, send the cops!”
Me: “Calm down… the police are well on the way as we are talking.”
Caller: “I don’t want to die! Oh my God, why me?”
Me: “Sir, take a deep breath. Do you know this person?”
Caller: “Yeah, I ordered some pizza, I paid, and he
gave it to me. I can see through the window it’s him… he’s pounding on
my door trying to get in! Where are the cops?!”
Me: “Sir, I’ll stay on the phone with you if it makes you feel safer. Can you yell what he wants?”
Caller: “Okay…” *yells toward the door* “What do you want, man?!”
Pizza guy: *faintly, behind the door* “You forgot your change!”
Veterinarian | United Kingdom
(My
husband works for the out of hours service and drives/assists the
doctors with their house calls. I’m a veterinary nurse and as we work
in the same area we often see the same people. At 2 am, the phone
rings.)
Me: “Uh, hello?”
Husband: “Hi, my love. It’s just me. The doctor has a question for you about some meds. Do you mind talking to him?”
Me: “No problem, put him on.”
Doctor: “Hi, we’re at a patient’s house now. She’s worried
because she accidentally took her cat’s medication. The thing is, she’s
decanted the tablets into a tub and has lost the label. Can you tell me
what they are?”
Me: “Well, give me a description of the tablets, I’ll see if I can recognise the med code.”
Doctor: “The pills are round, white and have A-S-P-I-R-I-N stamped on them.”
Me: “Seriously? Are you kidding me?”
(This clearly sets the doctor off, as he goes off on the following tirade:)
Doctor: “No! You said you would help! What’s your problem,
for f*** sake! I have a patient that may be poisoned and you’re being a
b****! It’s my JOB on the line here, do you understand that? MY JOB, I
don’t know why I listened to that b**** driver what would you know
anyway you are just some idiot nurse for f***ing animals nobody would
give a s**t what you say you ignorant cow!”
Me: “It’s an aspirin…spelled A-S-P-I-R-I-N.”
Doctor: *prolonged silence* “I guess I should say sorry now, right?”
Computer Repair | Auckland, NZ
(The receptionist at our computer repair store was handling a customer at the front desk.)
Customer: “Can you fix my laptop screen? There’s a big black mark on it.”
(The customer opens the laptop to show a cracked screen.)
Receptionist: “How did that happen?”
Customer: “I closed it, but there was a beer bottle lid inside. It went weird after that.”
Receptionist: “We can repair it for you, but it will cost approximately $1,000 as this is physical damage and not covered by warranty.”
Customer: “I am not paying $1,000 to repair a
stupid laptop! You are trying to rip me off, you little b****! It’s
under warranty, I know my rights!”
Receptionist: “I am sorry, sir, but we cannot
replace the LCD under warranty and you will have to pay for it yourself
if you want it replaced.”
Customer: “I’m not paying, so you can go f*** yourself!”
Receptionist: “That’s the best idea I have heard all day, thanks! I’ll go do that right now.”
(The receptionist goes around corner and into back room.)
Customer: “What the f***?!” *leaves, slamming door*
Receptionist: “Is he gone?”
Manager: “Yes, are you finished?”
Tech Support | Kennewick, WA, USA
Me: “Thank you for calling Tech Support, how can I help you?”
Customer: “My device won’t charge!”
Me: “Okay, is it plugged in right now?”
Customer: “No, but it doesn’t charge!”
Me: “Okay, ma’am, just to cover all the bases, can you plug it back in for me?”
Customer: “Okay, but it won’t charge!” *pause* “G** D*** it! It’s charging!”
Me: “Well, it sounds like it was a one-time glitch, but if it
gives you any more problems, please call us right away so we can get it
fixed for you, okay?”
Customer: “I’m not going to call you back! You’re just going to make it work again!”
911 Call Center | West Virginia, USA
(The following quotes are from various phone calls made to a West Virginia 911 line)
1. “What are the Daily Pick Four lottery numbers?”
2. “My TV is out.”
3. “How much snow/rain are we supposed to get?”
4. “Is it illegal to tape a cat to a bottle rocket?”
5. “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.”
6. “How high are gas prices going to get?”
7. “Why am I getting Error Message #781 on my computer screen?”
8. “I have never roasted a turkey before and my inlaws will be here in an hour.”
9. “I am reading this recipe. What is fennel?”
10. “I am doing my homework. What is the square root of 435?”
11. “Are crabs in season?”
12. “I wanna talk to a cop about my child support if you can drag one away from the donut shop.”
13. “I just wanted to make sure you were all awake.”
Tech Support | Sacramento, CA, USA
Me: “Thank you for calling Tech Support, how can I help you?”
Customer: “Hi – could you send me one of your free connection CDs?”
Me: “Sure!”
(I pull up her account and see that she’s already ordered 50 copies.)
Me: “Uh, ma’am? It seems you’ve already requested several CDs. Is there a reason you need another?”
Customer: “Well, yes! I used up the other CDs already.”
Me: “Ma’am, you can re-use the CDs. Have you been throwing them away?”
Customer: “No. I put them into the little slot and they just slide in, and the computer keeps them. I thought it was like a bus ticket!”
(I recommended that she go to a local repair shop. They in turn removed almost 100 CDs from the inside of her case.)
TV Company | Nashville, TN, USA
Me: “Thank you for calling [TV Company], how may I help you?”
Customer: “Yes, my TV is broken.”
Me: “I’ll be glad to help you today. What is wrong with your TV?”
Customer: “The picture keeps flashing on and off.”
Me: “Okay, ma’am. Can I have you check the connections on the back of your TV to make sure everything is screwed in tightly?”
Customer: “Well, the lights in my house are flashing on and
off too. We’re in a tornado warning. Do you think that has something to
do with it?”
Call Center | Melbourne, Australia
(A
customer calls in wanting to cancel her son’s car insurance. After
going back and forth for 20 minutes, she asks to speak to me, the
manager.)
Me: “Thank you for holding, Mrs. S.”
Caller: “I want to cancel my son’s car insurance. Why won’t you let me?”
Me: “Because the insurance is a legally binding
contract between us and your son, and only he has the legal authority
to cancel the contract.”
Caller: But he’s been in London for months and won’t be back until next year. The car’s just sitting there!
Me: “Well, we would need your son to cancel or
authorise you to act on his behalf. He can call us on [number], or he
could send us a fax with the details.”
Caller: “Don’t be ridiculous, he can’t call from England! I’m his mother! I should be able to do it for him.”
(We went round and round in circles for another 15 minutes, then…)
Caller: “I’m going to sue you for sexual discrimination!”
Me: “Sorry?”
Caller: “I’m going to sue you AND your company for sexual discrimination.”
Me: “Um, on what grounds?”
Caller: “Because if I had gotten my husband to ring
you, he could have pretended to be our son and you wouldn’t have known
it wasn’t him. I’m a woman and can’t impersonate my son, and that’s
sexual discrimination!”
Call Center | Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Me: “Hello, may I speak to Mr. ***?”
Wife: “He’s in the shower, may I ask what this is about?”
Me: “I’m just calling to find out if he would like to renew a magazine subscription.”
Wife: “What magazine?”
Me: “Playboy, ma’am.”
Wife: “Just a second.”
(I can hear the shower in the background.)
Wife: *sweet voice* “Honey! Someone is calling to see if you want to renew a magazine.”
Husband: “Which one?”
Wife: *slightly homicidal voice* “Playboy…”
Husband: “Uh…no, I don’t think I’ll renew that.”
(The wife picks up phone again; her sweet voice is back.)
Wife: “No, thank you. I don’t think we’ll be needing that one anymore!”
Call Center | Chatsworth, CA, USA
(Note: our customer support number is close to a local driving school’s number.)
Me: “Thank you for calling. How may I help you?”
Customer: “How much for my daughter?”
Me: “Um…”
Customer: “She’s 16. It’s her first time. She needs training.”
Me: “Sir, I think you want the driving school.”
Customer: “Oh, what do you guys do?”
Me: “Adult websites.”
Customer: “Oh…OH! Oh my God!”
Veterinarian | Oildale, CA, USA
Me: “Can I help you, sir?”
Customer: “Yeah, I need to know what you can do for
my dog. He’s really aggressive and tries to bite me and everyone. Do
you train dogs here or something?”
Me: “No, sir, but I can refer you to a trainer.”
Customer: “I don’t have time for that I need advice now. What do you think I should do?”
Me: “Well, sir, is he a show dog?”
Customer: “No.”
Me: “Are you going to use him for breeding?”
Customer: “No.”
Me: “I would suggest that you have him neutered as
a first step; it will help calm him down. Also, enroll him in an
obedience class, that will–”
Customer: “Neuter him? You mean cut his ball off!?”
Me: “Well…”
Customer: “G**d***it, that’s so typical! All you feminist Nazis all just wanna cut off all us men’s balls!”
(Just then, the main veterinarian comes out from the back to see what the yelling is about.)
Veterinarian: “What seems to be the problem?”
Customer: “I’ll tell you what! That girl there suggested I get his balls whacked off!”
Veterinarian: “Now, Sarah, I’ve told you before we don’t treat exotic animals here, haven’t I?”
Me: “Yes, sir?”
Veterinarian: “Well lets not have this happen again…” *turns back to customer*
“I am sorry, sir. We normally do not treat large apes, but since my
person here already told you we did, I’ll honor it. When would you like
to make the appointment?”
Customer: *storms out*
Vet | Carbondale, IL, USA
Me: “Animal hospital, how can I help you?”
Caller: “Yeah, you got any prostitute dogs?”
Me: “… what, sir?”
Caller: “Prostitute dogs, do you have them there?”
Me: “I am not quite sure I understand what you are asking me.”
Caller: “My dog wont stop humping my leg. Do you have any dogs that are prostitutes that he could hump?”
Me: “Sir, those don’t exist.”
Caller: “How do I get him to stop humping me, then?”
Me: “You could get him neutered. That sometimes helps.”
Caller: “F*** NO! I ain’t choppin’ his balls off!”
Me: “I am sorry, I can’t help you.”
Caller: “That’s bull***t. I am going to find me a prostitute dog somewhere else!” *click*
http://notalwaysright.com/
Does this include the ET's at Area 51? World's best kept secret I hear is the Alien Power Source buried beneath the desert. It's like ET Prozac I hear =) What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas =)