AND IT'S NAME IS T-FREAKIN'-MOBILE PRE-FREAKIN-PAID!!!!!! But more of that later.
I took the train from Darmstadt Südbahnhof to Herrenberg today. Purpose of the visit was to pick up my new pool car, and start the "configuration" of the car that I want to get in a few months, that Agilent pays the lease on.
The two cars that I am looking at are the VW Golf Sportline (6 speed, 103kw, Turbo diesel), and the Audi A3 Ambition (6 speed, 103kw, Turbo diesel). Both of them are the sporty model, though the A3 is a bit sportier, with 17" rims, etc. The VW comes in at about €27k, and the Audi at about €30k.
While I was there I also picked up my new pool car. This one is a BMW 320d (Turbo diesel). I think it is a 77kw Turbo diesel, and all I can say is that if this is 77kw, then the 103kw in a smaller car is just going to be dangerous! (Read as sooooooooo much fun!).
When I got home from picking up the BMW, Bel and I headed up to the Frankfurt airport to return the piece-of-crap Mercedes. I say "piece-of-crap" because it has a top speed of around 170kmph, whereas the BMW does at least 200-220kmph. :)
Apparently, a "colleague" (the Germans love that word) of Bel's was telling her today that they most important keyword to listen to in the German traffic updates is not stau (meaning traffic jam), but Geistfahrer (Ghost/Spirit Driver) or Fahrfalsch (Driving Wrongly). These apparently mean that someone is driving the wrong way down the Autobahn.
Now, you might think "What has this got to do with the price of fish in China?" Well...as we were approaching the rental car return at the airport we noticed a car coming towards us. I didn't think too much of it - I thought that we were on a two-lane road...and then I remembered that we were on the Autobahn, and that they shouldn't be where they currently are!
The car in front of me managed to get out of their way, and so did I, and so did Belinda (in the Merc behind me). Funny thing was that the dude just kept on going down the exit ramp, and onto the Autobahn, IN THE WRONG FREAKIN' DIRECTION! Hope they made it home alive....stoopid heads.
And back to T-Mobile.
Bel has purchased a pre-paid card from T-Mobile, and also purchased an XtraCash card to add another €30 to her account. We weren't quite sure how to go about this, and we were going to ask our German teacher to help us out, but we forgot. It surely can't be that hard, so we decided to give it a shot ourselves.
On the back of the card there is a 13 digit number, a value amount, a use-by date, a bar code, and what looks like a hologramatic security strip. There are also instructions, in German, on how to load the cash onto your account.
So Bel gives it a shot by entering *101* 13-digit number # and then dialing. It comes back and tells her that the card number isn't valid. After a few more shots - all unsuccessful - we decide that it's my turn.
It also mentioned on the back of the card that you can call 2000 for KontoService...so I thought I would give that a go. GOOD IDEA, DIP-SHIT!
I managed to work my way through the options in the menu (in German), and pressed 2 to load the credit. Something was babbled at me, and I was transferred to an operator.
ME: Hier ist Brett White. Entschuldigung. Ich spreche wenig Deutsch. Sprechen Sie English, bitte?
T-MOBILE: Nein.
MY BRAIN: SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!
ME: Haben Sie ein Kollege...?
T-MOBILE: Nein.
MY BRAIN: SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!
So we start working in some broken English and some SEVERELY broken German. He asks if I want to load the card, I say yes, and he asks for the number. I give him the 13 digit number off the back of the card (using the German numbers, of course!). A few seconds later I get:
T-MOBILE: Nein. This is not right.
MY BRAIN: SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!
More broken English, and more decimated German, and we work out that it's not the use-by date, or the 13 digit number. Process of elimination, people!
T-MOBILE dude tells me that it's under the 13 digit number, but the only thing here is the bar code. I ask if it is the bar code "bar code?", but he doesn't know that English word. Lots of silence on both ends as I flick through the dictionary to find Registrierkode, and he says yes, so I read it out...but that ain't it either!
MY BRAIN: SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!
Lots of confusion...Lots of silence...Lots of nothing really going on...
I look again at the card, and the hologram strip is staring back at me... Surely that couldn't be it! I remember that when I got my T-Mobile information for my work phone that I had to scratch something off to find the PIN and PUK codes...so I start to scratch at it...and it starts to come off!
T-MOBILE: Ja.
Apparently he can hear the scratching, and either I am on the right track, or scratching really excites him and we are into some wierd phone-sex thing...
T-MOBILE: What are you wearing?
Nah...just kidding...
So finally the code is revealed, read out, and the credit is loaded. All three of us are laughing, and now alles gut. Next time it's Bel's turn. :)
Tschüß,
'Brush.
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12 years ago
2 comments:
My God...that was hilarious! You guys should put this into a book, you would make millions!!! S xx BTW - I really don't understand the point of me rewriting this wierd group of letters before I submit this - what is the point?
Hi Soph!
Firstly, thanks for the messages. It is great to hear from people and know that somebody out there is reading the blog and enjoying our pain. :)
As for the random group of letters, they are there to stop automatic commenting programs from spamming our comments. It means that we avoid automated comments like:
"Hi. I totally agree with what you said! By the way, would you like to grown your pen1s by up to 12 inches? If so, click here!"
Tschüß,
'Brush
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