vague

on the phone with my mom's DSL provider...

tech support:  'just leave your modem on, ma'am...'

me:  'for 24 hours again?'

tech support:  'just this day, ma'am...'

me:  'ah...  so up to midnight?'

tech support:  'this day, ma'am...'

me:  'this day...  what is 'this day'?  midnight is this day...  10 pm, 9 pm, 8 pm is this day...  if you tell me midnight, we'll just turn the modem off tomorrow...  if you say 10 pm, we'll turn it off before we go to bed...  can we turn it off 10 pm?'

tech support:  'you could, ma'am...'

me:  'so not necessarily midnight?  it won't affect whatever you're doing if we turn if off 10 pm?'

tech support:  'you can turn it off after the line testing, ma'am...'

me:  'how do we know when the line testing is done?  how long will that take?'

tech support:  'this day, ma'am...'

me:  'this day?  you know, you should be more specific than that...  you should give a time instead of just saying 'this day'...  say midnight, 10 pm, 6 pm...  next time be more specific, ok...'

tech support:  'ok, ma'am...'

you are welcome...