Life in the Service Industry

I just received this email.

I’m having increasing difficulties with this laptop—-Adobe doesn’t work, slow responses on Word, freezes if I try to download software updates, etc. I want a new lap top NOW!

Of course this is the first I heard of any of this clients problems. About a million things went through my mind, first was to tell him to go jump in a lake, second was explaining that caps lock is rude and unnecessary, and the third was to just delete the email and forget about it.

However, none of those responses solve the problem, and isn’t that what the service industry is about? My sole goal at work is to solve problems. Whether the network is down, Microsoft Word doesn’t work, or Adobe Acrobat is horrible software, my goal is still to solve problems.

What is your first reaction when someone yells at you about something that isn’t your fault?