What Time Is It?

Here's a fun thought. Try calling a help desk somewhere, and ask as the first question "What time is it?" If you've ever experienced this, you'll know what I mean. Getting nowhere with a help desk person, you'd wonder if they'd be able to give you the time of day.

Late Sunday night call to Salt Lake City. Perhaps you've heard of it. Not a classy locale like Caldwell or Boise, or even Kanab, but close enough that if I really had to, I could actually drive there. AND sleep in my own bed afterwards.

Caller said the building was on Chiptal Way. Even spelled it for me. Chiptal. Left the house at 10:15pm. Called the supposed on-site end user whose name was Amish. No, he wasn't Amish, his name was Amish. Asked him to spell the name of the street for me.

Rustling of paper. Tapping of keyboard. And otherwise dead silence.

I prodded a bit more. "I just want to know if it's Chiptal or Chipeta, as there's no Chiptal in Salt Lake City."

More rustling, tapping, and silence.

I started to wonder if maybe he had been brought in for a special project, picked up at the airport, and truly did not know where he was. But surely...

"Are you up by the University of Utah?"

"No. Actually, sir, I'm in India."

Dead silence