From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jun 5 13:50:40 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 93840106566C for ; Fri, 5 Jun 2009 13:50:40 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from wmoran@potentialtech.com) Received: from mail.potentialtech.com (internet.potentialtech.com [66.167.251.6]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 645378FC0A for ; Fri, 5 Jun 2009 13:50:40 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from wmoran@potentialtech.com) Received: from vanquish.ws.pitbpa0.priv.collaborativefusion.com (pr40.pitbpa0.pub.collaborativefusion.com [206.210.89.202]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mail.potentialtech.com (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id A3DDDEBC0A; Fri, 5 Jun 2009 09:50:39 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 5 Jun 2009 09:50:38 -0400 From: Bill Moran To: Steve Bertrand Message-Id: <20090605095038.7ab14b7b.wmoran@potentialtech.com> In-Reply-To: <4A2920F5.7040504@ibctech.ca> References: <4096aedd0906040923p6288e319ia083f47c7ccc29e1@mail.gmail.com> <64c038660906042034v43b340c6jf1e001ac9941f1f6@mail.gmail.com> <4A2920F5.7040504@ibctech.ca> X-Mailer: Sylpheed 2.6.0 (GTK+ 2.14.7; i386-portbld-freebsd7.1) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: Mark Hartkemeyer , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org, Modulok Subject: Re: ISP questions X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:50:40 -0000 In response to Steve Bertrand : [snip] > Disclaimer: I work as a network engineer at a small ISP. From time to > time, I still have to answer the phone every once in a while > (unfortunately). > > I do not like dealing directly with users. Most of them complain, bitch > and snivel and have no respect. It's not my fault you can't connect if > your dog ate your keyboard, why are you bothering me? > > I thoroughly enjoy a good conversation with a user if they can ask a > decent and sincere question, and I can tell they are willing to learn. I think there's a serious lesson to be learned here ... many years ago I realized just the kind of crap these people have to deal with on a daily basis, and I make it a point to be polite and friendly _any_ time I call tech support. The upshot of this is that I've noticed that I'll get answers and help where other people won't ... the tech support folks _want_ to stay on the phone with me. The downside to this is when I make a call and either I or the the tech support person knows that they can't fix my problem -- being polite doesn't help much. When the both of us know that management or the higher level tech screwed something up and the tech support folks are supposed to be covering it up, there's not much you can really say or do, and that's _really_ frustrating. -- Bill Moran http://www.potentialtech.com http://people.collaborativefusion.com/~wmoran/