Tech Support Phone Call Tragedies

Imagine. Your computer isn't working properly. You've exhausted your somewhat limited personal knowledge, and you call tech support. Big mistake. Two hours. Two hours were spent on the phone with the Time Warner Cable Tech Support People. I also, out of frustration, phoned Gateway. Gateway told me that I would need to back up my files so that I could "restore" my system. For those of you who, like me, apply an automatically positive connotation to the word "restore", let me explain what it means in the digital world. They want to wipe my hard drive. Clean. Well, I have several novels, and many songs, all of which would take forever to reinstall. The tech support dude, which by the way, none of them speak normal English, said that he would make a note for the next guy so that when I called back, they could walk me through the restoration process. I have bad news. I'm not calling them back. :(