Jeff Chausse
Digital Strategy + Design
"I Got the Drums Because they Looked Cute"
My office is about 20 feet from the Harmonix reception area, where a cheerful fellow named Phillip answers calls from anyone who happens to find our office number. Due to my proximity, I get to overhear most of these calls.
Despite the fact that we clearly instruct people they need to contact EA for technical support, and that we have absolutely no staff or process for that sort of thing, we inevitably get support calls, and Philip does his best to politely help them as best he can. Today, he received the call of the century, which he transcribed as follows (I can personally vouch for the fact that he was actually far more polite, and this has been drastically simplified for editorial purposes):
Caller: Hello, i tried plug my drums into the wall and it didn’t work.
Phillip: You need to plug the drums into your console system.
Caller: Oh, what is a console?
Phillip: A game system, like an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3.
Caller: Oh, i don’t know what one of those is. So, you’re telling me i need to buy something else? I got the drums because they looked cute.
Phillip: Yes, ma’am. You need to buy a console and the Rock Band game and you play it through your television.
Madame: How does the console get from the drums to your television? We don’t have a television. I see 4 buttons and one for your foot. Does the foot one plug into the wall? it doesn’t seem to fit.
Phillip: You should return the drum kit and ask a sales representative what it is that you need to play.
Who knows, it might have been a prank, but it was still damned funny.
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