England

Cockney waitress to customer: We haven't got any chicken sandwiches, but I can do an impersonation!

Rye
England

Dell Support operator: OK, sir, now I’m going to need you to insert your System CD. Do you have that handy?
Irish customer: Is dat dis Pentanium ting?

The other listeners on conference laugh.

Dell Support operator: Excuse me, sir, there’s a lot of background noise. I’m just going to turn off the other microphones.

–As a novel approach to caller boredom while waiting for a techSupp droid to become free, Dell have instituted a situation where callers get to listen in while said droid deals with the calls ahead of one in the queue.

So the overhearing was actually pretty widely geographically
distributed, between:

The charmin’ Irish Callcentre colleen, who was wherever in Ireland Dell have their support centre;
Her interlocutor, who by his accent was also in that country;
The various other listeners-in, who might have been anywhere in
Europe;
Me, at Long Lane, Newbury, England.

Overheard by: CDWriter

Guy #1: Have you spoken with [Jon]?
Guy #2: No, it’s like trying to get hold of God.

1000 Great West Road
Brentwood, Middlesex
UK

Overheard by: saffainlondon

Manager: Will you guys stop talking during my presentation?
Underling: I wasn’t talking, I was asleep…

Abingdon Science Park
Abingdon, Oxfordshire
UK

Project Manager: He said this, and we thought he meant that, and he thought we were doing this, and they thought we were doing that, and they didn’t tell us they wanted that so we did this…and it all got lost in the…in the…in the big washing machine of communication.
Developer: Or possibly the tumble drier of tautology.

1-4 Warple Way
Acton, London

Agent: [Kevin], there’s a call for you.
[Kevin]: Who would it be?
Agent: Duh, it’d be the person on the other end of the phone!

15-17 St Johns
Worcester, Worcestershire
UK

Overheard by: mark nice

Engineer: Ew! Megan Fox's thumbs look like toes!
Technician: Yeah, but I bet they don't taste like toes!

Warrington
England

Overheard by: jon drake

Student to friends: Ginger people are just… weird.

Ludlow
England

Overheard by: jonty bonty

Estimator to engineer: Yeah, but if I put that in the system it'll laugh its tits off at me.

Warrington
England

Overheard by: jon

Historian: Why are we in academia?
Bio-chemist: Because we weren't good enough to join the circus.

Oxford
England