A Surge Of Abuse

(We get a call about one of our customer’s network not working on one floor of their place. I am quickly sent over to check on the problem and when I arrive, I find the owner of the company standing there looking quite displeased.)

Me: “Good afternoon! My name is [My Name] from [Company]; I hear you have a bit of a network problem?”

Owner: “Yes. You people installed my network two months ago and it’s broken.”

Me: “Uh oh, let’s see what’s going on!”

(He leads me downstairs to the main network router and modem. Sure enough everything on the main floor is working just fine, but the one running upstairs is showing no connection.)

Owner: “You charge me an arm and a leg, and everything is broken. I knew I should have gone with one of the dozen other companies around. You people just gave me s***ty equipment! You don’t know what you’re doing, do you?”

(I’ve all but tuned him out at this point, but I want to go have a look at the setup upstairs. I wait for a break in his rambling.)

Me: “Sir, can I have a look upstairs?”

Owner: “May as well…”

(He brings me upstairs and within a minute, I see the problem. He begins rambling again about how horrible we are at our jobs, how we just sold him broken equipment, and I stop him.)

Me: “Excuse me, [Owner]?”

Owner: “What?”

Me: “I understand being frustrated at equipment not working and paying a professional to fix your equipment, only to have it break, but please, I don’t appreciate the badmouthing right to my face. I was not employed with the company when your network was set up. Also—” *I flip the switch on the surge protector connected to his network switch to ON* “—you should be all set.”

(We check the computer and, sure enough, his network is working perfectly.)

Me: “Is there anything else I can help you with, [Owner]?”

(He is silent with this face of, “Oh…” and just turns and walks away to his office, closing the door behind him. His business partner peeks his head around the corner.)

Partner: “Really? That was it?”

Me: “Yes, it was.”

Partner: “Well, I’m very sorry to have to apologize for him, but I’m so sorry that he treated you that way. I promise, we’re not all like that here!”

(We shared a laugh and he showed me out. He was an incredibly friendly person. I headed back to my company, and apparently on my drive back, the partner had put a call in telling the owner how good of a job I did. I got a nice bonus for that one.)