International Talkers

Anyone who knows me, knows that talking is never an issue with me. But I must say, talking internationally is very different from my chats at home.

I purchased a new computer program and settled in Tuesday morning to load it and get to work. Imagine my impatience when the error message came up!! And came up and came up. I couldn't get it to load. So I broke down and called their support line. The voice at the other end was deeply accented and I had to strain to follow exactly what she was saying. She gave me a suggestion and I was back on my own. Only to get very discouraged and had to break down and call support a second time.

Of course a different, but equally impossible to understand person said hello on the other end of the line. She insisted that I needed to pay for support in order to continue and becoming more desperate by the moment, I agreed to pay and let her take over the controls of my computer. Occasionally, I would make a comment about what she was doing, which typically fell on deaf ears. I don't think she got my humor. Finally, she told me she would let the program do its thing for the next half hour and call me back to continue my support session.

No shock to me, the half hour came and went with no return phone call. I called the 800 number and yet again was greeted by a person who had a very thick accent. "His name was RICO"....anybody remember Copacabana by Barry Manilow???? I couldn't help singing that old 80s tune to myself as I once again described my problem and allowed yet another technician to take over my computer. After another HOUR on the phone, he hadn't solved anything and it was time to get the kids from school.

Once back from getting the kids, I steeled myself to call that 800 number and for a FOURTH time was greeted by a strange voice at the other end of the line. This accent was so hard to understand, I am not sure what I agreed to. They maybe coming to take possession of two horses and a few guinea hens for all I know. I did understand enough to agree to once more let her take control of the computer. I, in the meantime, cruised around the house with my hands free headphones, fixing supper, folding laundry, occasionally checking the computer screen to see what the unknown hands at the other end were doing and even eating my supper later on. Yes, I was on the phone for another THREE hours.......and you guessed it, the program still wasn't running.

At this point, I had a permanent sore ear, and had lost all hope that this program could ever be run. The voice at the other end suggested I call back in the morning and let them work on it some more, but she didn't even sound convinced that anything could be done. I said "no way", when she asked if I would mind taking a short survey on the service she had provided that day. I didn't think she would appreciate the less than glowing grades she would have received.

Gratefully, my brilliant father determined he could set up a spread sheet to do the same thing I was trying to do with this wonderful new program. I took him up on his offer. He speaks English, and in complete, coherent sentences, which was a welcome change from what I had gone through for over 5 hours that day.

Oh, and they did something bad to my computer, and I could no longer get on-line. So guess what I got to do today????? Spend another hour and a half with Dell customer service to fix that problem. He was from India......and didn't get my joke about how much snow he was looking at out his window. Me? about 4 inches.