Specifically for Emily, Ray, and Aimee, this article epitomizes the reality of tech support. Read a day in the life of a PacBell Internet teir 2 tech support worker.

When I was a freshman at Cal, I had the opportunity to take a year off school to intern at Apple's Customer Assistance Center. The idea of $28K a year amazed my green self and I almost took it, but deep down a little voice that I don't listen to enough told me that I was more attracted by winning the competition (getting selected from the interview process), than by the actual opportunity. I still listen to, and sometimes battle, that little voice. Sometimes I simply can't understand it. Is it telling me that I shouldn't go to grad school, that the attraction is simply in trying to be accepted by Carnegie Mellon, or is it all about seeing what kind of position I could get at Quidnunc immediately after graduation? At least I get to listen to it ramble for a few more months as I compete for both.

Anyhow, I was going to write this one up yesterday, right after I read it in this week's East Bay Express, but I got sidetracked by classwork and before I got to it, I found someone else posted it on Slashdot, so forgive me if the link is a little slow. I'll try harder to bring you the cutting-edge stories before they hit the mainstream netpress.