Jim Biancolo is an old teammate from my Washington, DC days. These days, he’s living up in the Northeast, working doing techie stuff, and he blogs from time to time. (Who am I kidding, he has a half-dozen online projects going on.)

Today, he posted the transcript of an online chat he had with Road Runner Tech Support. If this isn’t some Beckett-driven version of tech support hell, I don’t know what is. Here’s my favorite exchange (Chris H is Tech Support):

Chris H: Computer’s "magically" work and not work all of the time. It’s how they function.

Jim: No, they are deterministic.

But the whole thing is worth a read as Jim just is dealing with a tech support person who doesn’t understand that the customer on the other end knows something. I’ve had similar moments when I’ve dealt with some tech support folks who refused to admit that this was a shared problem solving experience, and that maybe the customer could help. (I’ve had other experiences with amazing tech support… but hey, that’s less funny.)

Anyway… enjoy.