Easy Peezee

"It will be simple," she said. the voice on the phone was young, sweet and full of energy, "Mam, what is the serial number on the side or bottom of your mach?"

Emily Fuller is an active octogenarian who spends most of her free time with her computer; but her computer never cooperates. So she calls the tech support number and this young woman is about to be attacked by an old lady....

"Young lady, my name is Emily Fuller and my machine is not working."

"Why that's terrible... let's see if we can get it going for your... First I need the make and model of your machine, your OS and the serial number?"

"It says Sony on the bottom of the screen. I don't see a model number."

"No mam, that's your monitor, I need the model of your computer... that big black or gray box that the monitor is attached to."

"Listen, I'm not a mam, my name is Emily... call me Emily...and I don't see no box..."

"Is it under your table or desk maybe?"

"There's nothing down there but my feet and my slippers."

A bit of the girls initial energy is beginning to fade, "Okay then, Mm... Emily... can you tell me if the power light is lit or what's going on, on the screen?"

"The little red light next to the button is on and there's a C and a colon and a white line is flashing on the screen."

"Oh," She pauses a moment...

"Is that bad?" Emily seems alarmed.

"Maybe not... Please hit your enter key and tell me what happens." She hears the click of the key stroke.

"Now there's another C and a colon under the first one."

"Type the word exit...and hit enter again." She hears her typing.

"What do I do next?"

"What happened on the screen?"

"It says error and another C Colon."

"Miss Fuller, how old is your machine?"

"Don't really know, it was my son's and then it was my husbands..."

"Emily, could you turn your machine off, it's on that box you couldn't find - count to ten and turn it back on again?"

"Sure, I can do that if you think it'll help."

The girl listens and hears the snap of the power switch, which makes her smile. She can hear the drone of the old fan subside and a few seconds later the snap again and a beep. "Emily, tell me what your see happening on the screen?"

"Oh there's a whole bunch of stuff and now it says Windows."

"What exactly does the Windows display show?"

"A flag with four colors and it says Windows... 3.1""

"Mam... Sorry, Emily... we cannot help you if you are having problems with that machine... I'm sorry... It's too old..."

"But we only purchased it in 1996, it's only twenty years..."

"Twenty one. It's old enough to drink... Maybe your husband or son could buy you a new one."

"No they both are gone now." She can hear the sadness in Emily's voice.

"I'm so sorry, if you want, you could go to a number of places to buy a newer machine. I'm sure there's someone you know that could help you..."

"You sound so young, are you married?"

"Not yet... "

They begin to converse and they exchange stories and anecdotes. A little family information; she feels shes giving something back to the old woman at the other end of the line. They talk for over twenty minutes before the girls supervisor steps up to her and plugs into her station. She listens in for a moment before reaching over and hanging up...

The girl is surprised and shocked, "Why did you do that? She was just an old woman and..."

"Yeah I know. She's been calling here for ten years now. She lives in Chicago and lives in a retirement home. I sent a field tech over to her residence two years ago and he found that she has a perfectly good machine... she only wants company."

Feeling a little foolish and sad, the girl takes a coffee break and in fifteen minutes is back at her station... She answers another call.

"Don't worry...I promise..." Checking the Caller ID "It will be simple," she said.


W/C 715