Can you hear me now?

I hate that guy. You know the one. That "Can you hear me now?" guy. He doesn't have to speak. Just the sight of his face brings up that unbridled rage. The reason he gets on my nerves so bad is the entire premise of asking the same thing over and over and over again. It's one of my pet peeves.

I'm a patient person. You have to be in this line of work. As a matter of fact if you walked a hundred kids into a room one at a time, I could ramble off the same presentation without batting an eye. The key here is the "one at a time" part. Walk the same kid in for the same presentation a hundred times and I will go absolutely insane after the fifth or sixth run.

There is a user out there. He's a fine gentleman. Older and non-technical, but still a perfectly nice human being. I mention this because he has discovered the joys of wireless networking. Unfortunately he has to call me to let me know every single time his wireless connection is not working right and I have to go through exactly the same steps every time. Over. And over. And over.

The last time we had to get him a replacement laptop, with a new type of wireless. However, something is wrong and it will not connect. So I tell him, there is something physically wrong with the wireless, and it won't work. The next time you are in town, stop by and I will personally look at the laptop and try to get it to work. In the meantime, use your network wire and plug into your home network and everything will be fine.

For the last two weeks, every work day I have been getting a phone call from him. EVERY work day. Some days it's in the morning. Some days it's in the afternoon. Once it was even at lunchtime. Some days he will leave a message, but he will keep calling until I pick up the phone and he hears my voice. The call is the same. ALWAYS the same. Each. And. EVERY. TIME. THE SAME.

"Yeah, Hey. I'm trying to get my wireless working, but it's not connecting. I'm gonna stop by the next time I'm in town and let you take a look at it. OK?"

I can quote it. I have it memorized. The voice messages are all exactly the same. As if it was recorded and played back just for my benefit. It has become so bad that even my co-workers know whenever I receive the call. What's really sad is the fact that the user will only be able to stop by some time at the end of the month. So I get to look forward to two more weeks of

"Yeah, Hey. I'm trying to get my wireless working, but it's not connecting. I'm gonna stop by the next time I'm in town and let you take a look at it. OK?"

YEAH. OK. YOU STOP BY. OK? OK. (click)