And another thing...

It is what you think!

My last call of a gruelling Monday in the PPA. I was really having a bad one. I was so pissed at the support professionals, that at the end of it I was just saying, "Whatever, just transfer them to me and I will take care of it." I was just so tired of arguing with them about doing their own job. And there was only a 10% chance that they could work the phone enough to actually perform the transfer so it worked out for me. Anyway, this is the last call I took last night.

"Thank you for calling the Undisclosed Customer Service Center? my name is blah blah blah..."

"I am getting something really weird, there is this little box in the middle of my screen that says ACTIVE WINDOW and inside that it says WINDOWS TEXT. No matter what settings I change its still there, and I don't want it there."

I wasn't catching on right away with what he was saying, "You mean on your desktop you have this box, is it an error message? Have you tried just X'ing it out?"

He is speaking to me in a tone of voice that would suggest that he is trying to solve a crime, sort of Sherlock Holmes'ish. Wish I could describe it better, but he was dead fucking serious.

"No, that's the thing, it isn't really on my desktop, but it shows a picture of my desktop in the background."

NO FUCKING WAY. "Can you read to me everything else that surrounds that little box?" I turn to my co-workers with a look on my face that says, you are not going to believe this one.

"Yes, its very strange, and its freaking me out. There is an ok and a cancel button, and in one box it says Windows Theme, then there is ..."

"Hold it Mark, are you in the Display Properties?"



"YES! That is where I found this, and no matter what I change it always has that little box in the center that says ACTIVE WINDOW and Window Text. It is really freaking me out."

I put my head down on my desk. This can't be happening to me. First I have to explain this to a person who A: believes that this is something that is not right with his computer, and B: thought it was worth investigating and calling me.

How do I do this without making this person feel like a complete idiot. "Ok, Mark, I see where you are now." OK poor choice of words.

"You can see my screen?!"

"No, I mean I realize what it is you are looking at. The display properties window is where you can customize the look of your computer. The screen you are describing is where you would change the themes, if you notice, where it says Windows XP(Modified) you can change the different themes, but inside that box you will see Active Windows and window text. That is a sample of how the fonts will show in the Active window and how the fonts will appear inside that window. It is just a sample so you can see how it will look before you apply it. It does not mean that there will be a window superimposed on your desktop that looks like that."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am sure."

"OK, so if I hit apply this box is not going to appear on my desktop? I am getting this straight from the horses mouth? Cuz this is really freaking me out."

"I swear to God, Mark, it is just there to show you how with each theme the active window and windows text might appear different, depending on the settings."

I swear sometimes I am on Candid Camera. Of course they couldn't do it on Candid camera, cuz this shit really does happen.