Re: [SAGE] A Nightmare in Dedicated Server Land

[Glenn Sieb <ges@wingfoot.org>]

Elizabeth Zwicky said the following on 9/15/2004 3:44 PM:

> On Sep 15, 2004, at 12:23 PM, Glenn Sieb wrote:
>
>>
>> He wouldn't *let* you talk to the manager??
>>
>> That boggles my mind. Basically that says to me "I'm wrong. I know I'm
>> wrong. So to prove that I have power over you I won't let you talk to
>> the guy who signs my timesheet."
>
>
> To me it says "I know I'm right". Note that the tech support guy is, 
> technically, right; they have an email support contract, they're 
> supposed to send email. And he's a tech support guy, so he believes 
> following the rules is the important part. So if he's right, and the 
> customer's wrong, why should he let the customer break the rules even 
> more? This is the sort of thing that causes people to put up "The 
> customer is always right" signs. Not that the customer is always 
> right, but that some employees need a lot of help with the idea that 
> sometimes the customer is more important than the rules. The thing to 
> do in this situation is to hang up and call your salesman, who will 
> have no problem at all with this concept. Quite the contrary.

So then what's the harm in letting him talk to to the manager to hear 
the same "No, we wont' support this. Send email, like Ryan told you 
to."--it's a confirmation, and would back Ryan's point up.

And no, the customer isn't always right--however, they're still the 
customer--and as you said, sometimes you have to realize the customer 
paying your salary is more important than a rule designed to frustrated 
said customer :-/

> Help desks with non-escalation policies are not uncommon, mostly 
> because people abuse escalation. Although larger, cleverer ones have 
> fake escalation (if you ask for a manager in round one you just get a 
> different operator).

Yes--when I worked for PaperDirect (years and years and years ago) this 
was the case--only it was:

"If they ask for a supervisor--you're all supervisors. If they ask for a 
manager, then give them to me (the manager)."

However, I always find I get better results if I ask "to speak to 
someone a level or so higher"--it doesn't have the stigma of "I'm going 
to get you in trouble" it's more "I need to speak to someone who isn't 
reading from scripts, and knows the difference between an end user and a 
power user."

Best,
Glenn

-- 
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary 
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.  
          ~Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759