So, for all the shit that goes on in the world, there is, occasionally, a ray of light that shines pure goodness....heres a little feel-good story: Ive known Joe for about 8 or 9 years now. Back when I started my company, Id happily take residential customers, as well as business customers. At the time, I made the decision to charge residential customers less than my business customers because it was usually just a stand-alone PC rather than an entire network. Joe was one of those residential customers who, if I remember rightly, found me in the old fashioned Yellow Pages. I distinctly remember that first phone call that Joe made to me. His voice was so powerful, with a bit of a Southern twang to it that I immediately assumed he was a singer or country radio DJ or someone along those lines. When I met him in person, he also had a very familiar, chiseled good-looking face of an old cowboy so I was certain that I had seen him before in the movies or on TV yet, he assured me that he hasnt done either. I fondly remember our conversation during the couple hours that I was in his home fixing his PC. He was so engaging, unbelievably funny and prone to bust out an old cowboy song at the drop of a hat. Truly a great guy! Fast forward to early last year and, on my visit, he told me that he was selling the house and moving out to a small town about 70 miles NW of the San Fernando Valley so he could be closer to where he trains his Australian Sheep Dogs. Oh, did I forget to mention that he was a world-class dog handler with an entire room filled with trophies and blue ribbons? Yet another of Joes amazing accomplishments. Needless to say, I was a little disappointed that he was moving but, of course, happy for him to be so close to where he trains his dogs. I hadnt heard from Joe for over a year and kinda thought that we would lose touch until I got a call a couple days ago. My phone showed his name as the call came in but the voice was only vaguely reminiscent of the strong cowboy I once knew. It seems that, about a year ago, Joe and his wife were in a pretty serious car accident as they were making the drive out to their new home and Joe ended up with a neck injury that has gotten progressively worse. Hes going in for major surgery on Tuesday to have this repaired and - as bad luck would have it - his PC completely died right as he was tying up loose ends before his surgery. Well, Joe knew that I was busy and called Geek Squad out to see if they could do anything and, of course, they couldnt. Joe was devastated and concerned that hed lost everything and his voice on that phone call told me that its time to drive out to the boonies. When I offered to drive all the way out there, he was so unbelievably grateful that it just made me feel like I was doing the right thing. The caveat was that I hadnt told Joe that I had significantly increased my rates since the last time I saw him. I resolved myself to the fact that this was going to be a good Karma visit and Id probably end up with my old, much lower rate. I make the 70 minutes drive way out there and was greeted by this little old man in a neck brace. Where was the rugged cowboy I once knew? Obviously, the crash had taken its toll. I put out my hand to shake his and he pushed it aside as he gave me a big hug and said, boy am I happy to see you! How often does that happen? At that point, my day was made!! It turns out that the Geek Squad guy had told Joe that he doubted any data could be extracted off his hard drive. I asked the inevitable question; Joe, when was your last backup? We all know what the answer was so it was imperative that I make every effort I could to get that data off the hard drive. Luckily, about 10 tries later, I was *finally* able to get the hard drive to be recognized so I could extract the data off onto the loaner PC I brought him. Seriously, I think Joe almost started crying. As I was copying the data, I was thinking to myself how I was going to address the subject of my fees because, even though it was a good Karma, feel-good kind of day, at the end, I still need to make my living. I thought, what the hell, Ill just come right out and say it I said to him, Joe, since the last time I saw you Ive raised my rates and..... He interrupted me and said, and its a problem?!? You name your price and Ill pay it! You are the *only* person I trust to work on my computer and I knew, if anyone could get my data off my hard drive, you could and you proved me right! And I want to take you out to lunch too!! Are you hungry? That, my friends, is what its all about!!! Not only did I get paid well, Joe bought me a lunch and, while we were eating he introduced me to a bunch of his friends who just happened to stroll into the local diner while we were there. Joe is an amazing customer and, it appears, he seems to think Im an amazing computer guy because he introduced me to his friends as the computer guy I was telling you about How cool is that? Theres a little bit of a moral here; appreciate those in the service industry who do a good job and, in turn, theyll appreciate and take care of you. Joe will ALWAYS get my top priority!!! Lets all wish Joe a speedy recovery from his surgery, shall we? Have a great day and....be a good human like Joe! The world needs more like him.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 20:48:13 +0000
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