Robert’s Rants & Rationalizations

I don’t work the normal business/offices hours, but sometimes I go home during peak commute hours (3pm - 7pm). When I ride my motorcycle, it is just a joy to whiz past all the other traffic, usually above the ‘Maximum Allowed’ speed. And, the only real danger is when someone doesn’t calculate the speed of the lane’s users. But, most of the time, traffic flows so well, I try to leave when the car pool lane (aka “HOV lane”) use is enforced. I hate driving my car and driving home during that period (duh!).

I plan to shoot a video focusing on the traffic I’m passing (rear looking shot). That should be interesting.

BTW, I was doing about 70 MPH in the HOV lane until I caught up to a Prius driver that just ‘cruised’ the lane while traffic ahead left us behind. I could have split lanes, but at that speed (compare 70 MPH and ZERO!) it could be my death.

“SIDE EFFECTS: Drowsiness, dizziness, dry mouth, numbness/tingling/prickling sensations, redness (flushing), tiredness/weakness may occur. If these effects persist or worsen, notify your doctor promptly. Remember that your doctor has prescribed this medication because the benefit to you is greater than the risk of side effects. Many people using this medication do not have serious side effects. Chest/jaw/neck tightness can commonly occur shortly after using rizatriptan. Only rarely are these signs of a serious condition. However, you may not be able to tell this apart from a serious reaction related to a lack of blood flow to the heart, brain or other parts of the body. Seek immediate medical attention if any of these unlikely but very serious (rarely fatal) side effects occur: chest pain, jaw/left arm pain, fainting, fast/irregular/pounding heartbeat, vision changes, severe dizziness, severe nausea, weakness on one side of the body, confusion, slurred speech, sudden or severe stomach/abdominal pain, blood diarrhea. Tell your doctor immediately if any of these unlikely but serious side effects occur: blue fingers/toes/nails, cold sensation of hands/feet, hearing changes, mental/mood changes. In the unlikely event you have a serious allergic reaction to this drug, seek immediate medical attention. Symptoms of a serious allergic reaction include: rash, itching, swelling, severe dizziness, trouble breathing. If you notice other effects not listed above, contact your doctor or pharmacist.”

While tracking down a lawyer to provide some consulting regarding copyright infrigement of an uploaded video to YouTube.com (YouTube, Inc [http://www.youtube.com], San Mateo, California), I sent, via a web form, a message stating the the video on their server is in violation of copyrights owned by a local government, and that I am in the process of complying with their “Copyright Infringement Notification” process as stated on their website.

Well, I submitted that message through their customer support section of their website on Friday, May 12, 2006. Today, May 24, Wednesday, I received an email from “YouTube - Support” which looks almost like an automated response. I say “almost” because it is signed…

“Enjoy the site!!!

Christy

The YouTube Team”

…and, most, if not all automated responses have a generic support identity like “Your Support Team”, “ Customer Support”.

Back in my day of working in the Help Desk (internal technical support which we called the “Response Center”), it was a policy to close any e-mails with the actual agent’s name!

What the real issue is the time between the message was sent and a response was received. Slow response times are a ’90’s thing because it’s been over 10 years since the internet hit the mainstream (I was there goofing with dial-up, graphical user interface, online community hosting and then web development prior to 1995!). There is no real excuse for not receiving a reply, automated or real, within one business day.

Today, when you use a site’s comment or technical help form, the form’s content, along with some hidden info about your connection, browser, where you came from, etc., is sent to a issue tracking system (database) which the support personnel uses to review and either respond to or redirect to another person or department to follow-through with. At the very least, that web form, upon the user clicking on the “submit” button, the form content (and any additional info they want which is part of the many variables in your web or “http” session”) is sent to an e-mail address for someone to read and respond to, or redirect/forward to the appropriate person. It is rare for companies which provide any type of support with customers to NOT have an issue tracker. This issue tracker (large corps may use ‘Heat’, ‘Remedy’, ‘HelpQ’, ‘CustomerQ’, etc., and small companies may use Filemaker(!) to any number of Open Source options depending on whether IT or whoever can support the app within the required platform/OS.

Just to finish this tangent, issue trackers are valuable for managers and higher-ups to monitor the support activity. Since issue trackers are database-based, reports are real-time from just basic items like ‘how many tickets opened per day’, ‘how many tickets opened to which department’, ‘how many ticked closed within X minutes, hours, days’, and ‘what are the most common issues’ for finding patterns. And, I’m not going into stats from the ACD IVR system!

But, back on track, other recent annoyances are from UPS where their driver to my apt. complex failed to attempt, repeat “Attempt” to deliver to my door two days consecutively. On Monday, I received an overnight package in the AM. Success. On Tuesday, another package, a 2-day air, never made it to my door…not even a note on the door stating an attempt (I was home!). After 7pm, I got curious and went to the sales office, which was now closed, so I had to go there the next morning. The package was there!

I wrote UPS Customer Support, and I received a call that evening. The UPS lady said she’ll contact the local supervisor. That local supervisor(?) called me within five minutes of the last call. She said she’ll discuss the situation with the driver’s supervisor so the driver can be talked to the next day.

Wednesday, I, again, was expecting another 2-day air delivery by UPS, so I waited, and by late afternoon, I checked the UPS online tracking site. To my amazement, the package was delivered, but to the sales office, AGAIN!

My apt. sales office saleswoman said the driver did have a lot of packages, but that’s no excuse…there is a certain “expectation of the level of service”.

I called to UPS support and cited the two tickets, and issues. Per policy, the support person said they’d have the supervisor talk to the driver and get back to me. I said, forget contacting me back. If I have option, I will use FedEx which actually arrives at my complex earlier than UPS.

One of these days, I’ll be outside the sales office of the apt. complex around 4:20 PM (that’s the time he dropped both day’s deliveries off…he’s consistent…do you think his supervisors every noticed that he deliver’s a dozen or two packages all within minutes of each other, consistently?) and ask him if he attempted delivery of the packages he is dropping off at the sales office.

Moral: If you pay for a service, you are entitled to a certain level of expected service. If you don’t get it, let them know!