Audio: "You help me now, or it's war, buddy!"

March 12, 2010 11:11 AM

A friend of mine asked: "Back when I did tech support, there was an audio file that made its way around the office and the (somewhat nascent) internet. A woman was shrieking about having been on hold for over an hour, and she says the phrase, "... you help me now, or it's war, buddy!" Can anyone help me hunt this down? It has to be out there somewhere! Thanks!"
posted by matt_arnold to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

I don't know where to find it, but I remember the audio clip well (if it's the one I am thinking of). She is so upset about the previous tech she spoke to, she keeps shouting "I want him dead!"

Assuming that is the same clip, if this helps anyone find it: That incident happened in the spring or summer of 1995, I am almost certain it was for Adobe tech support, being provided by the Keane support center in Seattle. How do I know that? Because I was there, man. I was there. The tech recorded the call and sent it around to his co-workers (of which I was one, downstairs on the Windows 95 floor), which is how it escaped into the wild.
posted by Lokheed at 11:26 AM on March 12, 2010 [4 favorites]

Best answer: Lokheed's hint was enough to find it, courtesy of archive.org. That woman sure does sound upset.
posted by serathen at 4:25 PM on March 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: That's it! Thank you!
posted by matt_arnold at 5:20 PM on March 12, 2010

How do I know that? Because I was there, man. I was there. The tech recorded the call and sent it around to his co-workers (of which I was one, downstairs on the Windows 95 floor)

. . .I was there too!!! During that exact same time! Wait, do we know each other?
posted by KathrynT at 5:22 PM on March 12, 2010

Wow, I haven't heard that in fifteen years. I remember being very impressed with the tech at remaining so calm during the entire exchange. Me, I would have just hung up on her.

Kathryn, I worked Win95 support from the summer of '95 through December of '96. For the latter half of that I was the lead for one of the teams that did the overnight support, working from 10pm to 8am Monday through Thursday. That was a real trip, because there was no escalation queue to go through at night. It was pretty much get it fixed, or tell them to call back.

The mefite that I know from that job is Webmutant, who was working Adobe support during the same time period. That's actually the reason I was up on the 11th floor the day that call came in (obviously it was a pretty memorable day). So if you happen to know Webmutant or his friend dj_retcon, then you know me by association.

Matt, Glad I could help find that for you.
posted by Lokheed at 5:39 PM on March 12, 2010

I worked Win95 support from the spring of '95 through December of '96. I was in the Setup escalation queue, the only woman there. We probably didn't know each other, because I worked 7AM-6PM Tue-Fri. But I have a friend who worked Adobe support as well, a guy named Tracy; the Adobe team was was small enough that they MUST know each other.

Damn, small world.
posted by KathrynT at 6:31 PM on March 12, 2010