Fsckmylife

So I've started doodling a lazy comic I decided to title 'fml'. It's nothing serious, so don't expect high quality; they're doodles.

It'll be mostly stuff that I hear or find funny, quite a few centered around housemate and co-author David, aka Affirmative and the work-from-home helpdesk calls he gets. If I wasn't hearing half the convo, I wouldn't believe that these calls ever happened, but they're freaking real, and hilarious as hell - or nightmarish, depending on your point of view. David, being a sarcastic Australian with a baritone voice, is absolutely FUNNY to the listener when he gets started. *He*doesn't find these calls funny and tends to cry out 'fuuuuuuuuuuuck myyyyyyyyyyy liiiiiiiiiiiiiiife~' and swear when he hears his phone ring. His rants get more amusing the higher his annoyance level gets.

This isn't to say that he yells at every difficult customer he encounters. Sometimes, they're old folk who he finds are highly resistant to change and / or are confused by modern computers and appliances. Some of them are people who have been using very outdated computers and kept them in good order for fifteen years and simply have never needed to upgrade, and when their computer finally broke down and they upgraded... well, try and imagine how jarring that would be!

A few nights ago he got a call asking for support for an Amiga. Aff learned on the Amstrad. He was able to at least advise the customer that he should get his data off of the thing as fast as possible before his hard drive finally kicked the bucket. It wasn't a very funny phone call (except for the customer asking for someone older at first till Aff assured him he knew what he was talking about) but it does illustrate how sometimes, there are things that don't need to be changed simply because they're not broken, until they're broken.

A number of these calls are for people who rent their stuff or rent-to-own. For most of these calls, they're about the things getting wrecked. But on occasion, they'll run across a customer or two who REALLY take care of their things and simply never feel like upgrading because what they have does what they want in ways they are used to. Like the Baptist family who had a computer so old that it didn't have a DVD drive, but had been fastidiously paying the monthly fee. The tech they sent over to have a look described a computer that must have dated from the 1990s, but looked completely and totally brand new, it was so well kept. They just used it to write and wanted to watch some religious band music videos on DVD and discovered the CD player didn't play those. The tech also said that the fridge they had was a classic Frigidaire, and was also meticulously cared for. The company decided to follow the recommendation of the tech and upgrade the family's various appliances and computer, they had so much credit on their account. Also while the tech was there, he was shocked at how nice and polite and friendly the family was - the quintessential classic American family. While setting up their new stuff, the wife kept trying to feed him muffins and cookies and give him drinks, the husband listened attentively to the various instructions and wasn't the usual screaming wankbeast that the tech was used to dealing with, and the children were 'surprisingly nice, normal and not brats.'

Aff had to explain to the home-owner that no, the upgrades were wholly paid for, and he didn't need to keep paying the monthly rental fees on the items and he owned the things already. The customer said something along the lines of that he didn't feel right about having to call for support if he wasn't paying for the 'insurance' of the service, or something like it. So he'll still be paying the rental fee on time as always.

Afterward, Aff said "I figure in a few years time he'll have earned enough credit again to qualify for upgrades to everything in his home."

Me, I'm just happy knowing there are still nice and decent people in this world.