fandomhigh | Dealing With Stupid People [Tuesday, July 17, 2nd period]

When the students arrived in the Danger Shop, they found the room decorated as an incredibly soulless phone center.

"Welcome to the help desk!" Josh said, grinning proudly. "People are very stupid over the phone, especially when they know you can't see the expression on their faces. This is also why video conferences aren't as popular as regular conference calls--hiding your eyerolling is easier when, well, they can't see your eyes."

He waved his hands out. "Today you will be manning a help desk. I have ~~handwavily~~ put out posters to let people know that it's open during this class time, so the phones should start ringing any minute now. Your job is to answer the person's question in the most polite way possible without letting them know you think they are completely out of their minds."

"Coffee, muffins and bagels are available, answering their questions correctly is completely optional." Josh smirked. "Have fun."

[OOC: Phone lines are open for townies, students, and faculty members to call in. Josh has conveniently forgotten to specify what kind of help the students would offer. Ask for relationship advice, song requests, technical support, people to vote for or against bills in Congress, just to say hi...go nuts.]

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Charlie grabbed a coffee and a muffin, and sat down ready to be pleasant and helpful.

Marco got an idea for another call and dialed the number.

"Help Desk! How can I help you?" Charlie asked, taking a sip of her coffee, and trying to sound bubbly and hopeful.

"Is your refrigerator running?" Yes, he's that mature.

Charlie rolled her eyes, then grinned. "Running and talking, yup. Although it wants more sun."

Hey, that's what Carmela told her.

"Did it say 'Please stock more Chinese food?'" Marco asked innocently.

Charlie started giggling, then tried to remain serious. "Ahem. I don't know, want me to go ask it?"

"Do you speak Refrigerator?"

"No, but my roomie does. I can say 'refrigerator', but that's about it." Charlie grinned, thinking that she might recognize this guy's voice, but she wasn't sure.

"Can you say microwave?" Marco wasn't trying to disguise his voice too much.

"My. Crow. Waaaaaave," Charlie said slowly, still amused. Was she supposed to be telling this guy to get off the phone? She honestly wasn't sure. But hey, as long as Professor Lyman wasn't stopping her from talking, might as well stay on the line.

Marco considered this for a minute. "Can you say microwave in refrigerator?"

"Um." Charlie thought about this a second, then said, "HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!"

"I think that's it?"

"Maybe a little more metallic?"

"HMMmMMMMMmMmMMMmMmM!" Along with a tapping of the pen on the phone. "Are our translation services for appliances meeting with your approval?"

Re: Man the Help Desk!

morpherboy.livejournal.com - 2007-07-17 22:42 (UTC) - Expand

girlzippo.livejournal.com - 2007-07-17 22:45 (UTC) - Expand

"Er, hello?" Steve asked whoever was on the other end of the phone.

"Help Desk! How can I help you today?" Charlie asked, smiling as she said it. You had to sound cheerful, right?

"I think I broke my computer again," Steve said sheepishly. He hadn't. He was just kind of hopeless

"That's what we're here for, sir. What seems to be the problem?" Charlie asked, hoping it was something relatively simple. Or something so difficult she'd have to find him bigger help.

"Well, I was writing my class in Word, and when I came back this morning it was gone," Steve said.

"Hunh. What did you name the document, sir? And is Word still open?" Charlie asked, curious.

"...name the document?" Steve asked.

Charlie paused. "Okay. Um. Let's back up a step. What does the screen look like now? You said the class notes were gone? Is the little bar on the side up at the top, or down at the bottom of the screen?"

Charlie was a decided improvement on Tony, as this was the point at which he'd generally start laughing at Steve and never get around to actually explaining what he'd done wrong. "It's at the top."

"Hmm. Okay." Charlie opened Word just so she'd have some idea of where to start looking for this. "Maybe move that little bar down a little, and see if something comes into view? Anything at all?" She frowned, because she could swear this person's voice sounded familiar, but she wasn't about to guess, because that could be slightly embarrassing, later.