Excuse me, Is there an airline flying to New York this afternoon?
Sorry, sir. I can't sell you a ticket. Our computer is down.
If your computer is down, just write me a ticket.
Sorry, I can't. The computer is the only one allowed doing so.
Hmm... Then what do all you people do?
We give the computer the information about your trip, and then it tells us whether you can fly with us or not.
So when it goes down, you go down with it.
I am truly sorry, sir. But there is nothing I can do.
How long will the computer be down?
Sorry, I've got no idea. Sometimes it's down for 10 minutes; sometimes for two hours. There's no way we can find out without asking the computer, and since it's down, it won't answer us.
Well, let's forget the computer. Is there any other airline flying to New York within the next few hours?
I wouldn't know. Only the computer knows. It just can't tell me.