A strange and terrible weekend

Undertoad · 12-23-2003, 08:28 PM

I worked in high-level Unix tech support for a while and even (especially?) in big-time IT departments, there were always both decent callers and terrible assholes.

From me, the decent people got all the good support. If they worked with me and not against me, I would work their problem as hard as possible. If they said something like "take your time, I don't need the answer right away," they got a fully-researched pro answer with every possible consideration of their problem faxed to them (this WAS 1992) by the end of the day.

If they snapped at me without knowing who I was, they got the minimum necessary to complete the call. "Your problem is answered on page 56 of the administrative guide. If you need to know exactly which options to use, you should contact our consulting department for their hourly rates."

It was rare to get someone actually swearing at you, but a cow-orker of mine had a good response if they did: just hang up. Management respected the idea that someone would simply not tolerate that level of unprofessional behavior. Well, this WAS 1992.

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12-23-2003, 08:28 PM	#11
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	I worked in high-level Unix tech support for a while and even (especially?) in big-time IT departments, there were always both decent callers and terrible assholes. From me, the decent people got all the good support. If they worked with me and not against me, I would work their problem as hard as possible. If they said something like "take your time, I don't need the answer right away," they got a fully-researched pro answer with every possible consideration of their problem faxed to them (this WAS 1992) by the end of the day. If they snapped at me without knowing who I was, they got the minimum necessary to complete the call. "Your problem is answered on page 56 of the administrative guide. If you need to know exactly which options to use, you should contact our consulting department for their hourly rates." It was rare to get someone actually swearing at you, but a cow-orker of mine had a good response if they did: just hang up. Management respected the idea that someone would simply not tolerate that level of unprofessional behavior. Well, this WAS 1992.

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