Good and Bad Technical Support Calls

At one time, I fully intended to write a book about my experiences as a support technician and technical engineer. Some calls that I had back then still are enough to get me laughing. I never did get around to writing the book, but I do remember three calls in a row that were among the worst and best tech support calls I ever received. It was at the end of a Friday, after a tiring week, too.

The first was one of the worst. The man started out by telling me that he was Bruce Willis…THE Bruce Willis. Then he went silent. When I asked how I could help him, he repeated himself. “Didn’t you hear what I said? I’m Bruce Willis.”

Of course, I knew who Bruce Willis was, but my job wasn’t to be starry-eyed. He was nasty, annoyed, obnoxious, and at times incoherent. It took me five full minutes to find out why he was calling in the first place. The issue was a simple one and the fix was equally simple. In fact, it was something most computer novices would have thought of; restart the computer (in Bruce’s case, the least expensive Apple computer on the market). It was after all the verbal abuse and finally talking him into the enormous task of restarting the computer that the issue was fixed and the call ended. Only then did I realize, on reflection, that his anger had nothing to do with his computer problem. He was upset because I treated him like any other customer rather than as a movie superstar. (Thankfully, Mr. Willis has apparently matured since this call.)

I got a call almost immediately after that, which turned my cloudy mood bright. The man who called identified himself by first and last name then proceeded to explain the issue, in detail, but without giving me superfluous information that was unasked for. That impressed me. What impressed me more was that every time I asked a question, he would answer exactly and would call me “sir”. It was “Yes, sir”, “No, sir”, “This began at 0600 this morning, sir”. The gentleman, and he really was a gentleman in sharp contrast to my previous call, wasn’t done impressing me, though. 

You see, he had done all the preliminary troubleshooting for me. I quickly figured out that he had a faulty power supply. When I asked him for his address so we could send him a new power supply, he said, “Colonel…” followed by the name he’d originally given me and the address was at the Pentagon. I was extremely impressed and I told him so. I pointed out that I was surprised that he had called and taken the time, instead of having a subordinate do it. He simply explained that he was the one who used the scanner, so if it was a problem of his own making, he wanted to know how to fix it. That was flawless logic.

He gave me the information I asked for, nothing more and nothing less, he was respectful at all times, he never raised his voice, yet did whatever I asked him to do, and he called me “sir” throughout the call. This was a full-bird Colonel!

I didn’t think it could get better or even close. The next call was in the “close” category.

The man called in, also very respectful. He explained the issue, and as the Colonel had done, he gave me the information I asked for rather than embellishing. If he didn’t know the answer, he asked how to find it. I sent a software update and told him how to install it, then stayed on the line while he did so. Then I asked him to restart his computer so the software could take effect. He didn’t hesitate. He told me that he was restarting. A minute later, I heard him say something muffled, then he came back chuckling. I asked what was funny. He explained that the software was on a company server and that since he’d just restarted the server, the computers had just gone down for the 150 people in the company.

Before I could even say I was sorry, he said, “But don’t worry about it. I’m the owner and CEO, it is only a little more than a half-hour before quitting time, and the staff deserves a head start on their weekend.”

Again, it was the head honcho who called in rather than having a flunky do it and he was pleasant through the whole thing, never getting upset, even though I’d inadvertently cost him 75-manhours. At the end of the call, he thanked me and later expressed his pleasure in what I’d shown to get the issue resolved. He expressed that in a hard-copy mail on company letterhead, sent directly to the president of the scanner company I was working for. He wasn’t just saying ‘thank you’, he meant it.

At the end of that day, I’d all but forgotten my encounter with Mr. Willis and knew that I’d had a wonderful day. So what did I do? When I got home, I took the family out to dinner. What goes around comes around, and that can be a very positive thing.