My goodness, has it really been this long since I posted? Well, today I had one of those experiences that I felt required a full-blown rant, so here I am again.

It’s been an amazingly hectic last few months, both personally and for Diamond Computer. We’ve been running non-stop at the office, and more just keeps on coming in (A nice problem to have, but tiring all the same!). In fact, we’re back in a hiring mode, so if anyone knows a good technician out there who’s looking for work please, please, please have them submit a resume to hiring@diamondcomputer.com. (We’re actually looking for two, one entry level and one more advanced network tech) Either way, it’s a positive direction and from all indications, 2007 is going to be an exciting year.

But that’s not really what got me writing tonight…

I’d been out on a job for the morning, and it had gone quite well so I was feeling the satisfaction of “solving the puzzle” once again. I got back to the office and among the myriad of messages I had waiting was a voice mail request from an employee of another branch of the client I just left for me to return her call as soon as possible. I called her back, and was greeting with a stern voice indicating that she had a “serious problem” to discuss with me.

To summarize the next 20 minute diatribe, one of my techs had been at their site last week, and at some point he had picked up a plastic mechanical pencil from her desk for some reason. Obviously, his mind was on other things and he accidentally ended up leaving the site with the pencil.

This woman was LIVID that he had “stolen” her pencil and was sure this was only the “tip of the iceberg” as she phrased it. No, livid doesn’t even describe it;  She was “creeped out” (her words folks, repeated several times) and insisted that I investigate this matter thoroughly. I of course, apologized for the incident, insisted that I was sure it was accidental and offered to see if we could find it and bring it back to her or if not, replace it.

That wasn’t acceptable.

After continuing to rant for a few more minutes in which she indicated this episode had left her to feel “violated” (no really, we’re still talking about accidentally taking a pencil…) I finally asked her what I could do to correct it in her eyes. At that point she then told me she not only wanted that pencil returned, but wanted $3.00 to buy a new one as well. (I’m still not sure how the three bucks plays into this one) When I made the mistake of questioning that, we moved on to the “You must not care about your clients…” bit.  I, for once, was at a loss for words (nice ones anyways).

Arguments were obviously pointless at that stage, so I calmly told her I’d see about finding her pencil and that I’d be up that way the next day, and would be happy to sit and discuss this with her further at that time. That ended the conversation, and she finally hung up on me.

It’s sad, but folks they’re out there. She was so upset, I truly thought she was going to have a coronary on the phone discussing this. God help her if anything serious ever happens to her.

Either way, the tech found the pencil in question, and it’s going home to it’s Mama tomorrow. I hope they’ll be very happy together.

And the beat goes on…

Phil Malmstrom
philm@mycoffeecuphasfeet.com