Originally Posted by
Jim Koepke
Some of my employers have given me lectures against having "gone above and beyond my duty" because customers then expect it from all the employees.
Originally Posted by
Frank Drackman
What kind of companies did you work for?
Originally Posted by
Edwin Santos
I find myself wondering if those employers are still in business.
Imagine the logic; lower the service bar as a way of keeping customer expectations down!
Frank, one was in sales in a camera and photographic supply store. That job didn't last very long.
The other job was as a field service tech. One time another tech was on vacation and a customer had a problem. My boss had me cover for him. The customer came in while the machine was apart. It was pretty dirty inside and needed cleaning. She freaked out and asked what the heck was going on. In my panic my reply was kind of mumbling the machine needed cleaning. My eye caught a corner of drawing inside the machine and said, "besides sometime you find something like this inside" and held up the drawing. She looked at it and grabbed it from me and walked off. Turned out they had been looking for that drawing for a couple of months. It was in record time that the machine was put back together and my behind was out of there.
Unbeknownst to me, the customer called in and complained about the other tech. My boss was upset at me and wanted to know what the heck was said to the customer. Nothing was said my error was doing a good job. Shortly before leaving that job it occurred to me most of the other techs took care of their monthly "Preventative Maintenance" tickets over the phone.
One of the funniest, to me, client visits was at an architect's office. After working on their blue print machine my usual routine was to run a check print. There was an old drawing in the bottom drawer of a cabinet. It was used and put back. Most of the time the print would be checked on the counter and then my ticket would be filled out for the job. The drawing would them be balled up and thrown in the waste bin. One time there was a distraction and the print was left on counter. About an hour later my pager went off and my dispatcher told me the client sounded frantic and wanted me to call them back as soon as possible. Turns out the original was one they had been trying to find for a few years. It was kind of an interesting drawing but it was never in that drawer again on my future visits.
Edwin, to the best of my knowledge neither of those companies exist anymore. One did linger on for quite a while. They did have a chain of stores at one time. They likely are not remembered fondly by anyone.
jtk
Last edited by Jim Koepke; 01-13-2020 at 2:58 AM.
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)