Death to Good Service by One's Own Hand
A Rant by Zube (zube@stat.colostate.edu)
Created:  Jan 22, 2004
Updated:  Jan 22, 2004
http://www.stat.colostate.edu/~zube/deathtogoodservice.txt

This isn't a rant about poor service.  Everyone can complain about some
time in their life when a doorstop would have provided better service
than some person or department.  No, I'm talking about people and
actions who directly cause people who actually *do* care to say, "Why The
Hell Should I Even Bother?"

I'm a systems person.  I answer questions and help people for my bread
and cheese.  I answer my share of questions from people who can't or don't
or won't read simple instructions and while they are a bother, they don't
slice the soul.  There are also people who wouldn't say thank you if you 
saved them for sudden and/or certain death or the computer equivalent.  
It's ok.  I'm used to it.

No, what makes me question my approach to good service is the request that
is instantly transformed into time wasted.   Here's a recent example:

Prof really needs files that have been long gone.  Can I get them back?
Spend time looking for tapes.  Spend time looking on tapes for directory.
Spend time restoring directory and setting permissions.  Mail prof to
tell him that I got back what he requested.

Reply?

"Oh, I found those files."

or

"I got them from someone else."

<Sigh>

The moral here is that, in some cases, poor service received may be
a direct result of continually treating good service people's time as if 
it was valueless.  If you don't think that someone else's time is valuable,
why should others value your time any differently?