Jim

Call the U-verse service line to cancel the service call.

Voice menu. U-verse service selected. The call routes. The same, vaguely south-Asian voice comes on to repeat the same message as Sunday: Attention U-verse customers we are experiencing higher than normal service requests ...

Dreary hold music, 1 minute at most.

Hello this is Jim. How can I (pause) how can I provide you with excellent service tonight?

Jim confesses to being a "newbie". Nice guy. Clearly working from somewhere in the U S of A.

Regarding service request for U-verse, opened with "Kristal", operator #KW308G midday Sunday August 3, please cancel the call. The problem is fixed.

Wow, you really have your information down.

Jim needs his supervisor's help as he's never canceled a service request before. He'll be back in two minutes.

Take your time, Jim.

Smooth, jazzy, upbeat hold music. How much do hold tunes cost to engineer? Does iTunes sell hold music? Does anyone podcast hold music? Would an iPod of hold music ever turn up on eBay?

Four minutes later, Jim returns. The service call is canceled, and he explains the cancellation went to the local service group who will pick it up in the morning. Apparently the good news is left by voice message.

Did you feel the earthquake last week? What was it like?

No problem Jim. Just a small one just east of here.

So you're ready for the big one when California cracks and half falls into the ocean, you'll swim.

Yup. Do you want any information about why the call was canceled?

No (evidently AT&T U-verse never tracks why service calls are abandoned).

Okay thank you and have a great evening.