The hell of telephone support

"Have you tried switching it off and then switching it back on again?" the deep cultured voice of the man from technical support rumbled at the other end of the phone.

"Yes, I've tried that already, before calling you" she said, patiently.

"Can I ask you try again now please?" came back the inevitable response from the person at the other end of the phone.  He really did have quite an attractive voice now that she thought about it.

"I'm going to put you on hold while you do that, but I'll be back in just a minute to see if that has sorted out the problem, there will be some music on the line so that you know you have not been cut off."

"Wait ..." but it was too late, the hold music had started up again.  Some sort of tinkly prog rock music.  She had heard it before but wasn't that  familiar with it, she was much more of a classical person and this was not her sort of thing really.  Was it a film sound track?

Through gritted teeth she decided to do as she had been asked, and sure enough, when the mobile phone finally finished rebooting itself some minutes later, it once again failed to get any service just as she had anticipated. She swore loudly and waited for the support guy to come back on the line.

Meanwhile, the music continued to loop away in the background.

"I've done that and its just the same" she eventually managed to say when she was taken off hold, but couldn't resist the small note of triumph creeping in her voice as if to say "I told you so". 

She knew that she ought to try to be polite, but she had been holding on for IT support for more than 60 minutes before getting this far and was struggling to keep her temper.  Having initially been given the wrong number for telephone support by the mobile company's website she had long since started to swear like a trooper.  Only that deep, cultured voice had momentarily stopped her.  There was something arresting and strangely disquieting about it.  It was definitely not the sort of voice one normally expected from telephone support, it was more like a BBC announcer's, or possibly that of a voice over artist.

Her ear was also starting to hurt like mad where she had clamped the headset to the side of her head.  

"Right" said the voice in rich mellifluous tones: "I want you to take the SIM out of the phone, wipe it carefully, and then reinsert it in the phone, let me know when you have done so". 

"I've already tried that before ringing you."  she snarled, unable to maintain the pretence of politeness anymore.

Silence  


She sighed heavily "Alright, I'll do it again, but please don't put me back on hold...."

Too late, the phone clicked and the muzak started up again, but at least it was playing something classical this time.  

For a minute or two she wrestled with the paperclip to get the SIM out of the phone, dropped it, swore briefly, located it on the floor and finally reinserted it in the phone.

Yes, the music had changed, it wasn't that rock music anymore (had it been Tubular Bells?), it was definitely classical now.  Some sort of choral piece. She'd heard it before,and might even have sung it in choir many years ago, when she used to go to church and believe in God.  But that was a long time ago and she struggled to place it here and now.

"How are you getting on?" asked the voice at the other end of the phone, above the music which now seemed to be still playing in the background even though she was no longer on hold.

"I've done that" she said, close to tears now.  "It has made no difference I'm afraid.  Not having my mobile working is driving me mad.  I've been without it for a couple of days now, and I can't cope without it. I'd  sell my soul to get this bloody thing working again."


"OK"  said the voice in its reassuring way "we've narrowed down the problem, I want you to key in the code I give you next, and I think I can say with some confidence that we should then have your phone working again."


"Just key in the code?" she said uncertainly.


"Yes, just key in the following digits and press enter...."
6
6
and
6"


It was only as she pressed enter and her phone came back to life that she remembered what the music was, and realised what she had done.  It was going to be one hell of an expensive phone repair.  

Literally, one hell of an expensive phone repair.


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Thanks go to SkiMe for setting us a real challenge for Mono Monday, to tell a story through the picture.  I don't think I've written a story since leaving school a very long time ago, but its been a fun challenge.  Nothing like seeing a lot of medieval frescos in Florence and Pisa with their references to last judgement to encourage the old imagination!