It happens about 10% of the time

Our tech support guys is out pretty often, so when the engineers are in a meeting and customer service department can't (or won't) help, calls will get transferred to me. I don't really have a pulse on the common problems since I don't usually answer calls, but here are two calls that stand out to me:


"Good afternoon, this is Pifin, how may I help you?"

"Hey, I need to speak to an engineer. I need some help pretty urgently. Are you an engineer?"

"No, but if you tell me your problem I may be able to help you. Otherwise, I'll have one of our engineers call you back within the hour."

"I have a party in a few hours and I need to know how to change the light bulb."

After vetting this guy to make sure it wasn't a prank call, I proceeded.

"Okay, what's the model number?"

"ABC-123."

I look up the instructions for that model in case the fixture needed to be disassembled to access the bulb. That model had a basic incandesent bulb that was readily accessible.

"Twist it counterclock-wise until it's released."

"Oh. That worked. Thank you!" He mutteres back to someone, "I told you, fool."

"No problem."

I don't know if I encountered the real-life 10 guy or if the guy had started the party a little too early.


"Good afternoon, this is Pifin, how may I help you?"

"Hey I've installed a few of your recessed lights in my living room, but when I turn the light switch off, they start blinking. I've checked and rechecked the connections and I'm using one of the recommended dimmers. There's nothing wrong. It has to be the lights that are bad."

"Hrmm. Do you happen to have a lighted wall switch?"

"Yes! How do you know?"

"LED fixtures do not require much power to operate. Your wall switch allows some wattage to leak though on the off position to light itself and that's sufficient also sufficient to make the LEDs flicker."

The guy made me feel like a freaking wizard.

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