So a friend tells me that his email “just won’t work.”
Me: “Okay, how does it not work?”
Friend: “Um, I don’t know. I just don’t get mail.”
Me: “Well, can you try it and tell me what it does?”
Friend: “I can’t do it while I talk to you.” (one phone line, no cell phone)
Me: “Okay, so hang up, log on, and talk to me on Yahoo Messenger.”
Okay—he does that, but he can’t find me on Messenger, so I message him.
Me: “Okay—so what happens when you try to check your mail?”
Friend: “I don’t know.”
Me: “Is Eudora open?”
Friend: “No.”
Me: “Well, maybe you should try opening the program.”
Friend: “Oh, yeah, okay.”
After delay and such, we finally have Eudora going…
Me: “So what’s Eudora doing.”
Friend: “It’s getting my mail.”
Me: “So it’s working now?”
Friend: “Yeah—maybe I wasn’t online when I tried it before.”
Me: “Or maybe you just didn’t have any new messages.”
Friend: “That too.”
Believe me, this was far better than many of the conversations I had while doing tech support for money.
