Elbonio
16th April 2004, 14:29
Okay so ive just come back from my lunch (cheeseburger + chips if you must know) and I find a post-it-note on my screen saying "Mark - call Mr Lewin" and then it gave his number.
Hmm i think. Who's Mr Lewin? So i pick up th post-it note and go and speak to Maura who took the call. She said a woman spoke to her asking if Mark was off his lunch yet and could he give Mr Lewin a call when he gets back.
So im now really puzzled as it means i spoke to this guy before my lunch, and not only that but i told him i was going to lunch.. what the hell?
So I deicde to look on our records to see if we'd had a Mr Lewin referred to us for a visit (i work for the pensions service, home visits section - going out and visting old people). Sure enough there was a Mr Lewin there, but we'd been and seen him a month ago - i was at uni a month ago, i only work during the holidays..
Well i thought - there's only one way to find out
So i called the number and sure enough a woman answered the phone.
Me: "Oh hello. I'm calling regarding a Mr Lewin"
Woman: "Oh yes that's right I'll just get him"
Mr Lewin: "oh hi Mark it's Mr Lewin here. It's about these
computers, i'm having a bit of trouble installing office xp on them, it crashes during the installation"
So at this point im think "okay this obviously isnt to do with work, it must be someone ive either sold a computer to, loaned office xp to or helped out in some way sometime in the past... but who the hell is he?
He had a slight foreign accent and didnt know that much about computers
So i spent the next 10 minutes trying to sort out this office installation problem and whilst i was at it i talked him through stopping a few programs from running at startup via msconfig.
After about 10 minutes of problem solving with Mr Lewin we had established that he'd run the setup program on several other machines and it was fine, that the computer was new on a fresh installation of windows Xp pro so it wasnt likely to be a problem with that...
i'd come to the conclusion that he should try switching the cd-rom drive with one from one of the other machines, since it was crashign during installation i thought that the cd-rom could be faulty somehow...
Me: "right well perhaps you should try switching the cd-rom drives round from another machine.."
Mr Lewin: "How would I do that?"
Me: "well you'd need to open your computer up and unscrew it from the case..."
Mr Lewin: "ok how would i do that?"
Me: "Well you'll need to take the casing off, there should be screws on the back that you need to undo"
Mr Lewin: "There arent any screws on the back from what I can see... are they underneath near the battery?"
Me: "Battery? Is it a laptop?"
Mr Lewin: "Yes it's the laptop i got from you..."
Me: "..."
Mr Lewin: "you do know who I am dont you?"
Me: "Erm... no actually..."
Mr Lewin: "That is Mark from Staples isnt it?"
Me: "erm no... it's Mark from The Pension Service..."
Mr Lewin: ".... ah."
Me: "..."
Mr Lewin: "i think ive called the wrong number"
Me: "I think you have..."
Mr Lewin: "... but you think it's the cd-rom drive, right?"
So all the way through this conversation i had been racking my brains trying to think who on earth this could be. I just went along with it thinking I must know him somehow as he evidently knew me (or thought he did) and was very sure about asking me all these questions!
So i had just spent 10 minutes on the phone talking a complete stranger through his computer problems!
Turns out the Mr Lewin on our system was another Mr Lewin - one coincidence in a series which lead to all this!
This Mark from staples just happend to be on his lunch also, just happend to have a telephone number similar to mine, just happend to know about computers and just happend to have a customer called Mr Lewin, like me!
well it cheered me up no end i can tell you!
:p:
Hmm i think. Who's Mr Lewin? So i pick up th post-it note and go and speak to Maura who took the call. She said a woman spoke to her asking if Mark was off his lunch yet and could he give Mr Lewin a call when he gets back.
So im now really puzzled as it means i spoke to this guy before my lunch, and not only that but i told him i was going to lunch.. what the hell?
So I deicde to look on our records to see if we'd had a Mr Lewin referred to us for a visit (i work for the pensions service, home visits section - going out and visting old people). Sure enough there was a Mr Lewin there, but we'd been and seen him a month ago - i was at uni a month ago, i only work during the holidays..
Well i thought - there's only one way to find out
So i called the number and sure enough a woman answered the phone.
Me: "Oh hello. I'm calling regarding a Mr Lewin"
Woman: "Oh yes that's right I'll just get him"
Mr Lewin: "oh hi Mark it's Mr Lewin here. It's about these
computers, i'm having a bit of trouble installing office xp on them, it crashes during the installation"
So at this point im think "okay this obviously isnt to do with work, it must be someone ive either sold a computer to, loaned office xp to or helped out in some way sometime in the past... but who the hell is he?
He had a slight foreign accent and didnt know that much about computers
So i spent the next 10 minutes trying to sort out this office installation problem and whilst i was at it i talked him through stopping a few programs from running at startup via msconfig.
After about 10 minutes of problem solving with Mr Lewin we had established that he'd run the setup program on several other machines and it was fine, that the computer was new on a fresh installation of windows Xp pro so it wasnt likely to be a problem with that...
i'd come to the conclusion that he should try switching the cd-rom drive with one from one of the other machines, since it was crashign during installation i thought that the cd-rom could be faulty somehow...
Me: "right well perhaps you should try switching the cd-rom drives round from another machine.."
Mr Lewin: "How would I do that?"
Me: "well you'd need to open your computer up and unscrew it from the case..."
Mr Lewin: "ok how would i do that?"
Me: "Well you'll need to take the casing off, there should be screws on the back that you need to undo"
Mr Lewin: "There arent any screws on the back from what I can see... are they underneath near the battery?"
Me: "Battery? Is it a laptop?"
Mr Lewin: "Yes it's the laptop i got from you..."
Me: "..."
Mr Lewin: "you do know who I am dont you?"
Me: "Erm... no actually..."
Mr Lewin: "That is Mark from Staples isnt it?"
Me: "erm no... it's Mark from The Pension Service..."
Mr Lewin: ".... ah."
Me: "..."
Mr Lewin: "i think ive called the wrong number"
Me: "I think you have..."
Mr Lewin: "... but you think it's the cd-rom drive, right?"
So all the way through this conversation i had been racking my brains trying to think who on earth this could be. I just went along with it thinking I must know him somehow as he evidently knew me (or thought he did) and was very sure about asking me all these questions!
So i had just spent 10 minutes on the phone talking a complete stranger through his computer problems!
Turns out the Mr Lewin on our system was another Mr Lewin - one coincidence in a series which lead to all this!
This Mark from staples just happend to be on his lunch also, just happend to have a telephone number similar to mine, just happend to know about computers and just happend to have a customer called Mr Lewin, like me!
well it cheered me up no end i can tell you!
:p: