Tilting Towards Windmills!

"The Quixotes of this Age fight with the Wind-mills of their owne Heads."
John Cleveland

Just then they came in sight of thirty or forty windmills that rise from that plain. And no sooner did Don Quixote see them that he said to his squire, "Fortune is guiding our affairs better than we ourselves could have wished. Do you see over yonder, friend Sancho, and thirty or forty hulking giants? I intend to do battle with them and slay them. With their spoils we shall begin to be rich for this is a righteous war and the removal of so foul a brood from off the face of the earth is a service God will bless."

"What giants?" asked Sancho Panza.

"Those you see over there," replied his master, "with their long arms. Some of them have arms well nigh two leagues in length."

"Take care, sir," cried Sancho. "Those over there are not giants but windmills. Those things that seem to be their arms are sails which, when they are whirled around by the wind, turn the millstone."
Cervantes' Don Quixote

In this “automated world” There are some things that have to be done by hand. I like things that are hand crafted not matter if it is new or old as I know it has that Human touch. With all of its beauty and “Craftsmanship” there are things, flaws and imperfections that make it that way.
Take a task I must run each day. I understand that it is supposed to be scheduled and run automatically but things being what they are, I must do this one myself.
If I can I run it from home (on my way out the door) and off to work I go! Some times this cannot be done and is the first thing I do each day.
The Customer, Jorge (not his name) sends an e-mail upset that the “temporary fix just does not work and we are not doing anything about it!” HAHAHA! I am the fix for now (can I go home since I do not work?)
I work! I am getting e-mails now after I run the task, saying it doesn’t work and I send Jorge the e-mail telling him to check the process.
Oh how I want to send this instead.
Hey how is it you , you missed me running this thing? Go look it is there! So calls us and be rude again, I really like it when you attempt to have each of us feel small and cheap. But being a professional I don’t
Dealing with rudeness is difficult at best. But once something goes wrong or not done right on time (Stuff happens) This, they do not want to hear.
I had a Death in my family not too long ago. I missed some time from work and a project I was working on was left to sit for 3 days. I was the owner of the ticket and management would not allow the job to someone else.
I got back to work and contacted my customer (a man much like Jorge) and explained the situation. He did not acknowledge why I was not right on the task, just that the task was not completed. This taught me not to go fishing for empathy and makes for akwardness when haveing to dispence some when needed.
We get calls from clients that have the same situation and Empathy flows like water. We train on it we practice it. We do our level best to identify with our customer so they feel better about the product and us as technicians ( note that I did not say individuals).
We do it because it is the Human thing to do! It helps to alleviate stress on the caller’s part. Helps them learn to look at a situation before calling it a problem. We feel better in the process.
Then there is Jorge! We all have one. That one customer devoid of empathy, or any concept of understanding.
The problem is "The Quixotes of this Age fight with the Wind-mills of their owne Heads." By Hollering at technology Created by Humans yelling at machines doing things for Humans that get yelled at by humans for being Humans.
I love irony!

Nice to see you come again and stay for awhile…PLEASE!!!

There is a funny thing about progress, you get to say “I’ve seen them come and I’ve seen them go” The good ones never stay long. As to say they find something better to do.
I am not a help desk manager I am a help desk mentor, The old guy that has done this forever and doesn’t want to do anything else! I get to watch others advance in the company and that is a good thing. I started here on the desk pretty much by my self and when I got some assistance they quickly moved to another department. Some to MIS some to Implementation others just out the door and now one to client services.
Proud of them, all. I still take the calls and train more people to take calls so maybe that is job security or prep work to have them go away.
I soon will have others to send down the road and a whole new room to do it with. Next year I get a whole new building to send them off in and maybe me off the 5th floor if I can’t keep a few with me. I have had one for over a year she likes what she does and that can be dangerous because that is how I feel about my job. Ms. L please don’t go away I beg of you I need routine I need the company to understand this is a most thankless position and can be a very lonely one (Look at the Maytag Repair Man or the Shell Answer man), They worked them selves out of a job)!
Congratulations to all who have slipped out of my grasp

Ya know it's funnier when it's true!

Abe said it…First I’ll say it again
A customer who doesn’t like you will not like you for a long time. Case in point once I had a customer who I was trying to appease and thought I knew best… well I didn’t I got called some very unsavory names and blood was spilled. That said; she wouldn’t speak to me again… or so she thinks.
I have a dynamite team here and that customer gives them kudos that too is great!
I on the other hand taught them. Hehehe. I like to hear when they do good and pleasing this one is no small task!
Irony is delicious when served with milk and cookies!
The supervisor I had when I first started has the same issue with the same person. You cannot please them all but when you do you are the greatest thing since oh well you know.
Now looking at things the way they are will let you know that once you earn this persons displeasure they too will be in the outs and that is oh soOKAY!!!
There will be more of these customers I am sure we all will get them, We all must remember folks, "you cannot please all of the people all of the time or some of the people some of the time" but once in a while… that’s alright in my book
Remembering the being, becoming or belonging to, is not as important doing your best even when it doesn’t please everyone you encounter. I tried to please and failed in this case and that is ok.
This experience has taught me that no matter what you do, well Lincoln said it First