"Windoz Support"

[Michael O'Dell]

Actually, I think we violently agree. I was reflecting *his* point of view. (grin)

When UUNET went public, everyone listed in the S-1 was immediately deluged
with calls from people wanting to “help” with hot stock tips, etc, etc. 
Rick Adams had a completely masterful “Mr. Rick" solution. 

Rick's son Matthew was circa 3 years old,
and when one of the leeches called Rick, he would give the phone to Matthew
with the instructions to “keep the nice man company while i go get a glass of water.”

Matthew *loved* talking on the phone to the nice people. He would go on and on
and on and on. The caller would occasionally break-in and ask Matthew if his
dad was back yet. “Daddy, are you back yet?” “No, just a couple more minutes.”
Which Matthew would report to the caller. Eventually most of them gave up
and hung up, but this was the most excruciating circumstance for the sales droid:
you *had* the mark, er, customer on the phone and HE’S COMING RIGHT BACK!
They *can’t* hang up on you, especially not your kid! But he MUST HANG UP!
He’s graded on how many calls he makes in an hour, but HE’S COMING RIGHT BACK!

Rick and Matthew kept one poor slob on the line for over 30 minutes when Matthew
finally said, “I’m tired of talking. Goodbye.” And he hung up then asked Rick if that
was OK. “That was great Matthew - just great!”

	-mo



On Oct 11, 2014, at 1:05 AM, Chip Fetrow <tacos at fetrow.org> wrote:

> I TOTALLY DISAGREE!  It is not the worst thing you can do to waste their time, it is the best thing you can do.  If you waste their time, they cannot hurt other people.
> 
> I have more than a few stories about this, though not Windoz stuff.
> 
> I got my first job as a Chief Engineer and I got a call from “MY lamp guy.”  He was gong to send me a bunch of 4 foot tubes at an incredible price (according to him) and he wanted to send me a stereo to thank me for our business.  He asked for the address and I gave him the address of the radio station.  He was perplexed and wanted my home address.  I returned that the stereo would belong to the business, not to me.  After some argument, he just hung up.
> 
> Another, was at another job, I got a call wanting to “confirm” the model and serial numbers of our copiers.  I told him I would get “Gwen” in to gather the information.  Gwen wasn’t good at her job.  The scammer called back several times, after being on hold forever.  After five or six hours, he asked if I was not going to give him the information, and I told him that there was no way.  He asked why I f*****d with him for so long. I told him, quite honestly, that I saved quite a few receptionists and secretaries from being dragged over the coals or even fired for falling for his scam, and that I thought he should get an honest job.  Amazingly, he wasn’t that mad, and kind of got it.
> 
> The longer you keep these assholes tied up, the fewer people are screwed.
> 
> —chip
> 
> On Oct 11, 2014, at 12:09 AM, tacos-request at amrad.org wrote:
> 
>> Message: 7
>> Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 00:08:58 -0400
>> From: Michael O'Dell <mo at ccr.org>
>> To: Chip Fetrow <tacos at fetrow.org>
>> Cc: Tacos <tacos at amrad.org>
>> Subject: Re: "Windoz Support"
>> 
>> I?ve gotten those a few times now.
>> 
>> When I get really pissed at them,
>> I just play along based on memory and then make stuff up
>> when it?s particularly inopportune. 
>> Sort of ?Who?s On First? played with the Windoze GUI.
>> 
>> The worst thing you can do is waste their time.
>> 
>> 	-mo
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