Like a bad Abbott & Costello Routine
Or
Phil's Help Desk Adventure, Part IV

After my last relatively good experience with the Help Desk, I again gave them the benefit of the doubt and didn't call them the next day. Again, I waited for a phone call or someone to stop by to give me my new machine.

And again, I was disappointed.

The next day, I called the Help Desk a third time for the same problem. Unlike last time, my ticket hadn't been closed, but it seemed that people had called me and left messages that I never got. This time, the Help Desk guy helped me track down who exactly I had to contact to get my new laptop.

I called the number I was given and a familiar voice on the other end said, "Hello?"

"My name is Phillip Chan, I wanted to check on the status of my new laptop?"

"Hmph, you're lucky. I was just about to leave. I'll be right over." Click.

Lucky? I was lucky? I had a nagging feeling that something bad was going to happen. The voice sounded very familiar, but I didn't know where I had heard it before. But I didn't have to think about it long. A few minutes later someone stopped by my cubicle...

...and it was the first guy from Level 2. The same guy that took my broken laptop and returned it the same day without doing anything to it. But this time he had a laptop with him.

He plugged it in and booted it up. So far so good. Once the computer got up to the login screen he started to leave, "Ok, you're all set."

Against my better judgement, I stopped him. "What about my files on this machine?" I said as I pointed to my still broken laptop.

"What about them?"

"I'd like to get them transferred to the new laptop."

"Ohhh... kaay," I could tell the wheels in what would be considered his brain were turning, "Do you have a zip drive?"

"I have a personal zip drive, yeah."

"The easiest thing to do is to use that to transfer the files."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"The machine won't boot up."

"why won't the machine boot up?"

"It's broken."

"This one's broken too!?!"

"No, this is the original one that was broken!" (You should know, you're the one who took it and brought it back still broken...)

"Umm... ok, I'll take the laptop and try to get your files off of this one. But I'm not promising anything."

Yet again, I disregarded my gut reaction and let him have the laptop. But before he left, I asked, "You'll let me know either way, right?"

"Yeah, sure. Later today."

As of this writing, I'm still waiting to hear back from the guy.

To Be concluded...