Customer Service Reps - [insert company name here]

Customer Service Reps - [insert company name here]... i.e. "Help [less] Desk"

Please forgive my 'venting' here; I just spent all morning long troubleshooting my internet connectivity - from about 7:30AM to about 11:00AM. WHAT A WASTE OF A MORNING! GRRRR!

So, I get up this morning and all is normal.

• Suddenly the router gives me blinking amber lights - no connection. I have seen this before when Comcast works on their stuff here at my apartments...so I didn't panic right away. Looking at my modem, it had all green lights as normal. Hmmm?!
  
• I tried unplugging the router to reset it - NO GO. So I must have spent an HOUR going through notes and owners manuals and CD's JUST to find the static IP address for the router to restart it that way - NO GO.
• Now I'm a bit frustrated: unplugged the modem/router AND restarted the computer - NO GO. So, this is where Vonage phone service is a PAIN - NO INTERNET = NO PHONE. I tried reinstalling software and drivers and network settings.
• Finally getting on my cell phone, called Belkin, the maker of my router. I figured that since I had all green lights on my modem, it must be the router. So, I go through all the same-o crap that automated systems do to troubleshoot before I get to a REAL PERSON(?) - someone with a THICK India-accent, who has to DOUBLE-VERIFY all my info and then goes down his checklist (all of which I have done beforehand) and at the last steps, when I'm like a contortionist behind the computer tower with all the plugs and cables/connections (some of which I need to do one-handed) when I get back up to say that I did what he wanted me to do...HE IS GONE! - HUNG UP ON ME! THANKS FOR NOTHING, JERK!
• So, on my own again, I'm thinking that I have to take back the router to Costco; it must've crashed. I connected modem straight to computer and had limited connection. SO, now calling COMCAST, their automated system restarts the modem, which fixed THAT, which gave me the idea that the MODEM could've been the issue all along...so I took the router back out of the box (which was all packed up ready to go) and reconnected it. VOILA! It works! YAY!
  

All of this reminds me of work. At my job; the company cannot be named here; I have been doing this trade for almost 6 years now, so at the shop, they think of me as the GURU of the place. This is not giving me a big ego trip, believe me. So, if/WHEN I happen to need TECH SUPPORT, there is very little help for me. There are a few techs that have been around LONGER than me, so I try them for help first - usually they're not very helpful, but I continually give them the benefit of the doubt. More often than not, I end up calling the 1-800-xxx-xxxx for tech support and I end up telling THEM what to do for me...but I STILL get the same run-down of the automated system, then the person has to DOUBLE-verify, then I have to "PROVE" that I know what I am talking about...It's all a real PAINFUL EXPERIENCE!

So, with GREAT DELIGHT, when I get the survey's on how they did...oooooh how I let 'em have it with BOTH BARRELS...feels so good!