This is a great point: > You have to have a very strong ability to route around the person on the other end of the phones preconceptions of the world and get t

This is a great point: > You have to have a very strong ability to route around the person on the other end of the phones preconceptions of the world and get the right answers anyway. Back in the day, I would get called in to support a SCSI-connected external device. If you asked "Is the cable connected?" the answer was always "Yes", and sometimes "Do you think I'm a moron? Of course it's connected!". So we started asking them reach around the back of the device and unplug the cable, wait 10s, then plug it in again. This was usually followed by a sound of surprise as they realized that, wotta ya know, the cable wasn't connected.