Call Centre ‘Nam Flashbacks

I have since left my last job for multiple reasons, but I figured to share one last juicy story of how my last day of the job went.

So to preface it, I was working for a video game console company. I shall leave it to your imagination to figure out which one, and will neither confirm or deny it.

I will however say, that to whoever called me that day, which I will call Angry Australian Man-child (AAM) thanks for the mental trauma…

So, on to the story. It’s the last call of my last day at work, I do my usual “Thanks for calling us, how can I help you today?”

The call came through to our console support line and Angry Australian Man-child is on the other end of the line. He has an issue with his console. It’s a common issue, they accidentally knocked their power cord, corrupted their hard drive, and the console is in safe mode, needing a software installation file.

Now, normal people, at the very least, have a computer or laptop for everyday use. One simply needs to go to our website and download the right file from said site, put it into a flash stick of decent size, and simply plug it in and follow the prompts.

But not Mr. Man-child, oh no, he bragged like an arrogant fanboy about “not having a computer because our console was all he needed as it’s the best”.

Whilst I thanked him for the compliment, this unfortunately made support for him that much more difficult. This was especially the case with the current situations going on.

So, after taking down his details to log his call and incident, I asked politely, “Okay, well….do you have any neighbours or friends that you could borrow a computer or laptop device?”

To this Mr. Man-child said no. Figures.

The next solution that I asked was, “Right…Do you have access to a Public Library of any sort? They most likely have computers you can use.”

Mr. Man-Child did hint likely of this, so that was one option to utilise, and for me an out at least.

Last question I asked was, “Okay, that’s one avenue we can proceed with. The alternative is if you have a smart device, do you use an Android or Apple Device?”

Thankfully, Mr. Man-Child said Android.

With this I had his solution plan laid out for him,” Okay, here is what I can do for you, I will be sending you an email to your contact email with instructions. It’s very important you have access to a computer and flash drive to do this, sir.

Alternatively, you can use your mobile phone to download the file, but you will need a special cable to transfer the file and format the flash drive to the right settings.

Once you follow those instructions, to the letter, you should be able to have your console back up and run-“

To this, Mr. Man-Child decided to interject and ask, “So you’re saying my console is broken?”

Confused as to why he asked that, I politely reiterated that his console wasn’t broken, namely that it’s in safe mode needing the software to be installed on it. I explained to him a PC analogy of BIOS screen if one’s operating system is corrupted or non existent.

This however didn’t deter Mr. Man-Child to make a wild assumption, “So that means my console won’t be fixed?! That means it’s useless! I spent a lot of money on this console!”

I reiterated, “Sir, your console just needs a software installation. I have explained how it can be fixed, you just need a computer and flash drive, okay?”

Next thing I hear is Mr. Man-Child, after a brief pause, starting to smash his console, cursing and yelling up a storm.

I had to cut the call at the point, I wasn’t paid to take his abuse.

But at least now he can say his console is broken, and if he calls support again, I’d love to see him try to explain why his out of warranty fee should be waived.