I want to start the New Year with a story about customer service (which, in case you’ve been in a cave on Mars for the last ten years with your fingers in your ears, is kind of a big deal around here).

I’ve had a long line of strange jobs leading up to my current position with Rackspace – Concept Artist, Waiter at a Lebanese Bistro, Cheese Monger – but the experience I want to focus on today is Bookseller.

I worked for a large chain of bookstores that you have definitely heard of, but which I will leave nameless (seriously though – you know the one I’m talking about).

My job was working the CUSTOMER SERVICE desk at this bookstore.  My job, I was told, was to direct the customer to the book he or she was looking for, even walking them to the section and making sure they got the right edition (read: most expensive) if that was necessary.  If we didn’t have the book, we were to send them to website where they could order it.  Got it?

OK. So one day I’m standing there and these guys are hanging up a big poster of the cover of the Odyssey.  I notice that the particular edition that the bookstore has decided to advertise is the Really Dumb Guy edition.  This is preposterous.  Everyone knows that Really Smart

Dude is a better translator that Really Dumb Guy – so I made sure my co-worker standing there was aware of the difference, anyway.

I’m livid – well, insofar as a dude in slacks and a name badge arguing over his favorite translation of classical literature can be livid.  Anyway, this customer walks up and says “Hey, livid dude in slacks – what gives?”  So I say “Man, this Really Dumb Guy version of this book is so lame.  I prefer Really Smart Dude’s version.”  The customer asks me the difference.  He says he’s never read the Odyssey.  I aim to rectify that.

And we’re off!  As we ride the escalator, I explain that Dumb Guy is a scholar, and the man’s got no soul.  Smart Dude is a poet and folklorist, so he keeps the language full of this great rhythm and bucolic verbosity and … sorry you don’t care. I’ll get to the point.

I was really passionate about this book, in fact, about a particular translation of this book.  The customer was eating it up – after we flipped through a few editions, he ended up buying these enormous, expensive versions of the Odyssey and the Iliad so he could take them home and read them.  See, he was a big fan of Latin American poetry and really cared about translation, too – later, I ended up buying some books he recommended.  We were talking all of ten minutes, coming down the escalators laughing and saying “Oh, if you like such-and-such you’d love so-and-so” and all that.  So I say bye to him, he says “See you around.” and he leaves to check out.

“Can I speak to you?” my manager asks.  “That’s not how we do business.  It’s not your job to recommend books and walk around the store talking about which translation you prefer.  You’re supposed to stand here, ask what book they want and order it off our website if we don’t carry it.”

I began to argue that buying used books online through another company was cheaper and easier (something I had told customers in the past) but I gave up the fight. In fact, the next day I put in my two weeks.

What’s funny is that around here, that’s not such a unique story.  You hear people saying all the time how they wanted to come work for a place where people are decent to one another – not to mention their customers.  It’s awful to think about, but the truth is that most places don’t care about you, just your ability to do the job.  Most companies won’t let you do the decent thing in your interactions with customers.  My favorite thing about this place, about Rackspace, is that you are a person here.  Your job is to talk to other people, to help them out if you can, and send them to the solution if you can’t.

I think we may do E-mail, too. I’m not sure.

After completing nearly two ‘useless’ degrees, Drew graduated from Chapman University in 2007 with a BFA in Film Production (Emphasis: Cinematography) and a minor in Philosophy.  Drew spent the summer in Costa Rica and France shooting an independent film, then headed to L.A. where he spent the next year jogging in the smog before being cast in the role of Stereotypical Industry Whipping Boy #1.

Tired of fetching coffee and doing concept art for television, Drew returned to San Antonio where he worked for a Hospice as a Project Manager for a year.  During that time he completely re-wrote the company’s IT policy – and moved everything to Rackspace.  To be fair, his best friend worked there and it was an excuse to talk on the phone everyday.  Still, he was impressed by the support and, after he quit the hospice and travelled around India on a bicycle for three months, he applied for a job.  Read More…

Photo Credit – Elise Ramsey

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