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My favorite technical manual page.

— P. Lutus — Message Page --

My theory, in a nutshell, is that some companies would rather walk through fire than talk to their customers. Here's my favorite example of how far technical manual writers will go to avoid that terrifying prospect.

This is page 302 of the Toshiba Satellite 220/225CDS portable computer manual. Your mission, if you are willing to accept it, is to find the promised support phone number, the one you use to talk to a human. If you are in a hurry, just read the last line on the page.

Wait ... isn't 302 the page I'm on? Where's the phone number? Maybe I should start at the top and read it all again. Or maybe not. If this manual page were a computer program, it would loop endlessly and the system would crash. Good thing people are not computers. Don't get me wrong — I like Toshiba's products and I own quite a few, including the above-mentioned computer. I just think this is a perfect example of what's wrong with customer support these days — often there isn't any.