Hello Readers!

Well, I thought I had done it all, until of course I had to 缴费 (pay the bills) for my internet connection at a local 营业厅 (service hall/center).  They could take cash to 办理 (conduct, carry out) the payment 业务 (service), but when I returned home I found that my connection still had 故障 (difficulties).  It wasn’t until I called tech support, 拨 (pressed) this and that number to 转机 (transfer) until I found someone who could 诊断 (diagnose) the problem effectively.  Even after 重启 (restarting) and several cycles of 拔掉 (pulling out) the cable nothing worked.  Later it turned out to be a connection issue on my computer, not 杀毒软件 (anti-virus) as suggested by the technician.  Knowing how tech support works back in the US helped me make sense of the call, knowing “is there anything else we can help you with today?” and “your call may be monitored for quality purposes” invoked a bizarre nostalgia.

缴费 jiao1fei4 – pay bills
营业厅 ying2ye4ting1 – service hall
办理 ban4li3 – conduct, carry out, handle (depends on usage)
业务 ye4wu4 – service
故障 gu4zhang4 – difficulty
拨 bo1 – dial (of a number)
转机 – zhuan3ji1 – transfer (of phones)
诊断 zhen3duan4 – diagnose
拔掉 ba1diao4 – pull out
杀毒软件 sha1du2ruan3jian4 – anti-virus software