Categories
Endured

KO-Boom

KO-Boom!

The sad truth: I have been caught up in the Momofuku Ko reservation madness. Madness isn’t the right word – it is closer to *fucking anarchy*. It’s akin to waiting to bum-rush a store on Black Friday, condensed to five minutes, and repeated every day *for the rest of your life*.

But I will keep trying. I will set my goofy little iPhone alarm so that I don’t look at the clock at 10:01:30 and curse that I missed the witching hour. I will autofill my login and try clicking on reservation times that other people may not try. I will sigh, day after day, as I fail to get a two-top – but I will not give up.

First world problems, indeed.

Categories
Best Of Created Endured

Xbox Support: The Text Adventure

You enter your apartment.
Buttons the cat greets you with a warm purr.

> EXAMINE ANSWERING MACHINE

The answering machine is black, with silver trim. The phone rests in the cradle. The red LED displays a solid "1", indicating you have one message you have already heard.

> TURN ON XBOX 360

You boot your Xbox 360. You reach the dashboard.

> LOG IN TO XBOX LIVE WITH RECOVERY ACCOUNT

You attempt to sign on with your recovery account, but you receive a network error.

> LOG IN TO XBOX LIVE WITH RECOVERY ACCOUNT

You sign on with your recovery account.

> CHECK POINTS ON XBOX 360

Achievement points or Microsoft points?

> CHECK MICROSOFT POINTS ON XBOX 360

You have 0 Microsoft points.

> FUCKITY FUCK FUCK

You kiss your mother with that mouth?

> PRESS BUTTON ON ANSWERING MACHINE

Which button?

> PRESS PLAY BUTTON ON ANSWERING MACHINE

A message from someone who sounds like "Suzette" plays. Your request to be refunded your points has been either put in or is being processed.

Suzette says she'll give you a call back within 24 to 48 hours, or you can call her at the phone number she mentions and give the case number.

This message was left Monday afternoon.

> CHECK DAY OF WEEK ON CALENDAR

Today is Wednesday.

> CHECK WATCH

It is 8:30 PM.

> DO COMPLICATED TIME MATH

Through a series of difficult equations, you deduce that it has been over 48 hours since Suzette has called.

The stress of the math makes you realize that you have been awake for 16 hours straight. You should think about going to bed.

> PICK UP PHONE

You pick up the phone.

> TAKE NOTEPAD

You pick up the notepad.

> TAKE PEN

You pick up a pen.

> TRANSCRIBE MESSAGE ON ANSWERING MACHINE

You get part of the phone number written down before the message ends.

> TRANSCRIBE MESSAGE ON ANSWERING MACHINE

You get ten digits, but they may not be right.

> TRANSCRIBE MESSAGE ON ANSWERING MACHINE

You get all ten digits right and the first four of the case number.

You are tired. You should think about going to bed.

> TRANSCRIBE MESSAGE ON ANSWERING MACHINE

You now have all of the relevant information.

> CALL 1-800-469-9269 ON PHONE

You dial 1-800-4MY-XBOX.

> OH CHRIST IT'S A TRAP

General Akbar would be proud.

The Xbox tone plays. Max, the automated menu, answers the phone in a chipper voice. He begins: "Hey, thanks for calling Xbox Customer support."

> SAY "OPERATOR"

Max doesn't respond.

Max says "Your call may be monitored or recorded for quality assurance. My name is Max, and I can help you find what you're looking for. Do you need help with: Xbox Console, Xbox Live, Xbox Games, or Accounts and Billing?"

> SAY "XBOX LIVE"

Max continues: "Which console are you calling about? The original Xbox, or the Xbox 360?"

You are very tired. You should go to bed.

> SAY "XBOX 360"

"Xbox 360, gotcha. Here's a tip. You can visit xbox.com/marketplace to get the latest information about downloads and other information about Xbox Live."

> SIGH

You sigh.

"So what are you trying to find out about?," Max continues.

> SAY "OPERATOR"

Max responds, "I'll see if I can find someone else who can help you out. The representative will be able to help you faster if you have your gamer tag ready."

You are extremely tired. Go to bed.

> WAIT

A female voice says "PLEASE WAIT!", followed by two tones.

> PREPARE TO ROCK OUT TO HOLD MUSIC

You get in a comfortable position to chair dance.

You are about to pass out from exhaustion.

An automated female voice answers the phone.

> QUIRK BROW

"Thank you for contacting Xbox. We are unable to answer your call at this time. Please try calling again later, or visit the Xbox web site at www.xbox.com. Thank you for calling. Goodbye."

The phone disconnects.

You pass out.

GAME OVER

Your final score is 0 out of 17,000 Microsoft Points.

RESTORE, RESTART, QUIT?
Categories
Disliked Endured Narrated

As The Casket Turns

(When we last left our intrepid hero, he spent [over half an hour on the phone with Microsoft support](https://vjarmy.com/archives/2007/05/a_call_to_18004myxbox.php).)

Coming home tonight, I noticed a small white box sitting in front of our door. It was obviously damaged.

“That’s odd,” I thought to myself, “I don’t remember ordering any pa…*oh, don’t tell me that’s…*”

Sure enough, it was my Xbox 360 return box – or as it has affectionately been termed (and reviewed), [the 360 casket](http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/760/760269p1.html). And it was in bad shape.

The Coffin Arrives

Multiple edges torn, corners bashed in. Why? Because the box was single-ply, with no re-enforcements. The protection the 360 gets is limited to a plastic bag with multi-lingual statements of “WELCOME” all over it and two pieces of fairly squishy foam core.

In The Coffin

Arne, “Xbox Community Manager”, decided to accuse me of scapegoating Microsoft for the box damage, so [while I was taking him to task](http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=6514423&postcount=3153), I conducted the true method of discerning which of two boxes was better: I let Buttons decide.

Buttons Chooses The Better Box

The casket – which has been re-enforced with about 8 pieces of weatherproofing tape – will make its way to a UPS store over the next few days.

But I’m not too sad – as I found out today that I’m in the Warhawk beta.