This morning, I missed a call on my cell phone, and it went straight to my answering service. Later when I checked my messages, I totally freaked out. The message was from "The bank", and a female voice from the southernmost regions of Norway kindly informed me that I'd exceeded the limit on my credit card, and could I please make sure it got taken care of.
I freaked out - partly because it ain't the kind of news you want to hear, and partly because I knew that if the limit had been anywhere near approached, it wasn't by me, which would have meant that I'd lost my card or that somehow the info had ended up in the idle hands of some up-to-no-good douchebag. It took less than five seconds to figure out that I hadn't lost the card, and I couldn't remember having used any ATM's with misspellings, like "VIZA", "Dinnerz" or "Amreecan Exprezz".
Needless to say, I went online to check my account at the earliest opportune moment, and I was partially relieved when no problems could be detected. Still; what if my online bank hadn't been updated or something? So I called the number left on my answering service.
When I got the message on my machine, the caller just informed me that it was from "The bank", without providing me with the name of the bank. Naturally, I assumed it was my bank. When I called the number, the same person who'd left a message called and presented the name of some local bank way down south. I stated my name and business, and it got real quiet for a couple of seconds - which didn't help me one bit, I might add - before she said that there must have been some mistake, 'cause my name didn't match the person she'd called up. And the fact that I didn't have an account in that bank also didn't track with me having exceeded my limit. So they had screwed up the phone number, and apologized a lot. In retrospect, I should have given them hell for screwing that up and freaking me out, but I was so relieved, it didn't matter at the time.
DAMN! TGI-freakin'-F!
I freaked out - partly because it ain't the kind of news you want to hear, and partly because I knew that if the limit had been anywhere near approached, it wasn't by me, which would have meant that I'd lost my card or that somehow the info had ended up in the idle hands of some up-to-no-good douchebag. It took less than five seconds to figure out that I hadn't lost the card, and I couldn't remember having used any ATM's with misspellings, like "VIZA", "Dinnerz" or "Amreecan Exprezz".
Needless to say, I went online to check my account at the earliest opportune moment, and I was partially relieved when no problems could be detected. Still; what if my online bank hadn't been updated or something? So I called the number left on my answering service.
When I got the message on my machine, the caller just informed me that it was from "The bank", without providing me with the name of the bank. Naturally, I assumed it was my bank. When I called the number, the same person who'd left a message called and presented the name of some local bank way down south. I stated my name and business, and it got real quiet for a couple of seconds - which didn't help me one bit, I might add - before she said that there must have been some mistake, 'cause my name didn't match the person she'd called up. And the fact that I didn't have an account in that bank also didn't track with me having exceeded my limit. So they had screwed up the phone number, and apologized a lot. In retrospect, I should have given them hell for screwing that up and freaking me out, but I was so relieved, it didn't matter at the time.
DAMN! TGI-freakin'-F!
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10 comments:
So you think your Friday has been freaky? Well, let me tell you something, boy. I've had a meeting with the IT Helpdesk people. At the IT department. Alone! adn there were two of them. Nerd-o-rama delux. Didn't understand half of what they were talking about ("Does your software have any specific requirements for the dot net mainframe?" I said No...). Guess I should have worn my Jean Luc Picard Rules t-shirt...
Seriously, I think that the bank does way too little to ensure they have the right person. They are dealing with sensitive information here.
That's a big 10-4, brotha! Technically, I might possibly have gotten a lot of sensitive info out of them if I had neglected to tell them my name and that I was calling back RE the message for phone number whatever.
Why do they call it the Helpdesk anyways? They're either telling you to reboot, or spewing acronyms to things which to you may as well have been Hungarian folk dances.
The only time I can really say that I got the help I needed from the IT department, was when we got some dude to leave the comfort of his cubicle and come over to look at the computer. The second I saw him, I knew I'd hit teh jackpot. First of all, he had the look, posture and build of someone for whom getting into a new relationship probably means switching hands, and "excercise" is something you do to a training set for cross-validation. Second, the mere fact that he had been lured into the real world - to the extent you can refer to academia using that term - meant I had a distinct advantage. If he was gonna be snide, sarcastic and of little help, he would have to do so while facing me, which is a lot more difficult than being Captain Keyboard or just hanging up the phone on me. Not only do I look like I could take his lunch money and give him a wedgie, given my aptience with computer-related things, I probably would have if he'd given me any crap. Anders - you of all people should recognize the mood I'm in when software problems emerge ;-)
Third - and this was the dealbreaker: He shuffled into the lab in a WoW t-shirt, was equipped with Star Trek accessories, and had a Star Wars ringtone on his cell.
and had a Star Wars ringtone on his cell
It sounds familiar to me !!!
I just can't remember from where ...
OK you think that your friday sucked !!! What would you think if a smelly french guy (pleonasme I know) told you that with your hair cut, you look like Jason !!!
Right !! you would go to the hair dresser right away!!!!
...your haircut makes you look like Jason? As in Voorhees from Friday the 13th?
That's brutal, brah. You should consider going Scott Steiner on his ass
Could also be Jason as in "..he's our man". If so, I would keep the hair cut.
But, who's Scott Steiner?
Scott Steiner
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwrcd3UNY_8
WWE/WCW/TNA wrestler Scott Steiner - better known as Big Poppa Pump. Infamous for being somewhat irrational and has been known to pull fans out from the gates and beat the crap out of them if they booed him too much.
Real fans don't boo their hero. Like you ever would have boo'ed YJM off the stage. Even if he choose to do a whole set of Hounddog Taylor songs...
I seriously doubt that YJM would be able to play that slow. 3o seconds in, he'd have exceeded the blues note quota.
Maybe YJM has discovered slide guitar? Lap style? Or maybe not..
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