Then he called the store where his father had an account. He pulled the old impersonate-the-manager trick, using the manager's name as his own and giving the store number he had just obtained. Then he used the same ruse: "Are your computers working okay? Ours have been up and down." He listened to her reply and then said, "Well, look, I've got one of your customers here who wants to rent a video, but our computers are down right now. I need you to look up the customer account and make sure he's a customer at your branch."