Some People Have Marbles for Brains :-(

I was having computer issues this morning - my e-mail wonked out on me. I kept getting the Outlook popup that my password wasn't right. I tried ignoring it but it kept popping up every 5 seconds. I rebooted. It popped up. Finally I gave in and deleted my e-mail account and reloaded it. I closed Outlook and opened it again. The thing was still popping up to say it was not right. I logged into my web mail and checked my password - goodness knows, I might have changed it. I didn't - my password worked fine with webmail. SO, back to Outlook - yes it is still popping up.

I called AT&T who I have my e-mail account with and spoke with Bonnie. Now this account has worked here in Singapore for 16 months. Bonnie told me since I was in Singapore it would not work. Huh? It has been working fine until this morning. I just needed to change my outgoing server. I said m'am? It is just something on your server that you need to fix - if you reset my password on it, that fixes it. I have had it happen three times before. Nope, it won't work, you need to get a client over there. We appreciate your business, have a good day. Goodbye.

Soooo, I called back. This time I got Adelle. I explain everything that I have already done and that I have had it happen before and when they reset my password it works right again. Can she reset my password? She tells me that it is no problem, we just need to shut outlook and restart it. Huh? Did you hear everything I just told you - I have done that. Well, just do it for me, ok? I did. That nice little pop up? It popped up again. Ok, so let's just reboot your computer. Ok... I have done this, but I am doing it now for her she says. Of course that fancy little pop up box pops right up when I open Outlook. Over and over. Well, lets go in and change your account and be sure it is set up right.

We go and change it all - but she has me put my outgoing server as my home one from AT&T even though I explain I am in Singapore and it won't work. She says just to do it for her. I do. She changes everything - even my incoming. I tell her again I am with the old Bellsouth. We still need to change it. So, I change it. Then she has me save it all, close it out and reopen it. That fancy little pop up? Yeah, it popped up. Over and over. So then she has me try to do remote access. I am not certain I want her on my computer, but figure I am right there watching her... so she tries. Five times she tries - and fails. Maybe this is a good thing.

Total time I have been on the phone by now is 1 hour and 40 minutes.

The pop up box keeps popping up still. She tells me to click save password on the pop up and check my e-mail. I click. And click. And click. And click. And she tells me to be sure and click SAVE on it. I explain I have done that about a thousand times by this time today and it does not work. My password needs to be reset on the server.

She says will let's go back and be sure it is all right. We do. It is. We close Outlook and restart it. We try again. That fancy little pop up? Yeah, it popped up. She decides we need to restart the computer. We do, yeah, it pops up again. She gets off and comes back. We do it all over again - ALL of it. That fancy little pop up? Yeah, it popped up.

Ms Einstein... errr, Adelle tells me to just hit cancel real quick on the password pop up and try to send myself and e-mail. I explain to her (at least the third time) that I am 10,000 miles away from my home network and the outgoing will not work for me. She says do it for her. I did. Guess what? I didn't get an e-mail back. Annnnnd? That fancy little pop up? Yeah, it popped up.

Ms Einstein... errr, Adelle starts to suggest to me that we go through it all again. By this time I have finally realized she is not the brightest crayon in the box and ask to speak to a supervisor. She comes back and says that she has spoken with the Supervisor and they have determined it is my Outlook. M'am, did you hear that I have had this problem 3 times before and they just reset my password on the server? Yes m'am but that does not appear to be the problem. Outlook is a client and you have something wrong with your Outlook as it is not accepting the password. May I suggest you reload it and give us a call if it is not working still?

Sooo, I get another have a good day and good bye. Again, I wait a few minutes until I cool down... I WANT my e-mail working darn it! Then I call the third person, Ms Jamie. I first ask her if she is new at this tech support stuff or not. She assures me she is not new - and is very familiar with computers. I tell her my problem - by now a multitude of them. Then I tell her what Ms Bonnie did, and then Ms Einstein's changes and all I want is for my e-mail to find its way to me, but now that Ms Einstein has changed it all, it will be lost in cyberspace forever. She says, no m'am I assure you we will find it.

She has me open Outlook and my account settings. She asked what I have on each page. I tell her. That damned fancy little pop up? Yeah, it is still popping up. She assures me to cancel it each time until we fix it. It won't matter if you click save because it is not going to work. I do. She is already my hero. As we go through each page, she is eerily quiet after I read off what I have. She asked me how I got those answers to which I say Ms Einstein told me that was the right answers. She says well please change them back to your original settings (she made sure I knew what I was doing) and I did. She made sure I had my Singapore outgoing right, then she said save it all and close it. I did.

Then we closed Outlook (haven't I done this already) and she says but DON'T OPEN IT! I don't. She says now go to this site and type in these numbers... now what does it say? I tell her. She says ok, this is what I am going to do. I am going to reset your password and we will see what happens then. Don't worry - we are going to fix this!

She reset the password and asked me to open Outlook. I did. That fancy little pop up? IT DIDN'T POP UP! My e-mail starts tumbling in! WHOOO HOOO! 2 hours and 35 minutes later - I have e-mail!

I was on the phone with Jamie for only 5 minutes and damn if she didn't do what I told her always worked - AFTER she fixed the mess the last girl did, and assured me my Outlook was fine, not to worry about that unless it was a last resort. Jamie is my hero! I hope Adelle finds her way in Tech Support, but I don't think she can even find her way out of a phone booth. Oh, wait. Do they even make those any more?