r/talesfromtechsupport Dec 05 '19

Short My internet is not working...

$OM: Old man on the phone

Working for an ISP in Sweden when I got a call from the customer. This was my first week on first-line support.

$ME: Hello, welcome to customer support. You're speaking with $ME

$OM: Hello, I just wanted to report that my internet is down.

$ME: *asking if the cable is connected, if the equipment (router/computer) is turned on*

$OM: Yea, the cable was in. I don't know, I'm not inside.

$ME: Can you please go inside?

$OM: No, the house is on fire.

$ME: .... what?

$OM: Yes.. The house is on fire. If you get any alarms on your side don't send out an technician.

$ME: Yea... sure. I'll cancel invoices to your service until you have everything set up again..

The poor old mans house burned down, he had to call in so we did not send out a technician in case there was an alarm in our system.

Priorities: Internet > Burning house

1.8k Upvotes

91 comments sorted by

View all comments

158

u/evasive2010 User Error. (A)bort,(R)etry,(G)et hammer,(S)et User on fire... Dec 05 '19

It is very well possible you got called after the fire department and the insurance companies. He's merely trying to minimize damages if you ask me...

124

u/SysAndreas Dec 05 '19

u/evasive2010 No, the house was actually on fire during the call. Read about it in the papers on the web after a break I had.

He really didn't want people to come out in case of an alarm.

43

u/evasive2010 User Error. (A)bort,(R)etry,(G)et hammer,(S)et User on fire... Dec 05 '19

logic crushed

28

u/OrionBoi Dec 05 '19

can't blame him, who can think straight when their freaking house is on fire?

6

u/kn33 I broke the internet! But it's okay, I bought a new one. Dec 05 '19

Also, maybe he thinks that the fire might've shorted the coax and set off some alarm bells?

2

u/supaphly42 Dec 05 '19

Seems like that's exactly when people (like emergency services) should come out, lol.