#Person1#: Excuse me, Is there an airline flying to New York this afternoon?
#Person2#: Sorry, sir. I can't sell you a ticket. Our computer is down.
#Person1#: If your computer is down, just write me a ticket.
#Person2#: Sorry, I can't. The computer is the only one allowed doing so.
#Person1#: Hmm... Then what do all you people do?
#Person2#: We give the computer the information about your trip, and then it tells us whether you can fly with us or not.
#Person1#: So when it goes down, you go down with it.
#Person2#: I am truly sorry, sir. But there is nothing I can do.
#Person1#: How long will the computer be down?
#Person2#: 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.
#Person1#: Well, let's forget the computer. Is there any other airline flying to New York within the next few hours?
#Person2#: I wouldn't know. Only the computer knows. It just can't tell me.
#Person1# wants an airline ticket to New York this afternoon, but the computer is down and #Person2# can do nothing without it. #Person1#'s being unreasonable.
buy plane tickets