My cat has me freaked out...

Rembrandt is my little black cat, for those of you that don't know, or haven't met him. He's very affectionate, usually with everyone *except* me. The only time in the past that he was excessively clingy was when I had cancer earlier this year.

I mean, you have to understand, he's lived with me for over 7 years (he was six years old when I adopted him), and for the most part, our relationship has been like this.

Me: Hey there Rembrandt, want some love?
Him: No woman, where is my food?
Me: (feeds the cat)
Him: (eats, then disappears)

Generally, the only time he's somewhat affectionate to me is around 4 p.m., when it's time for me to fork over the wet cat food.

When I was sick, however, he was constantly wanting to be in my lap, etc., and was generally very concerned about my well being prior to my surgery. Once I had had my surgery, he went back to his old routine.

However, the last couple of weeks, he has been very clingy again. This morning, he practically won't let me sit at my desk and type without pawing at my lap and trying to get some attention.

This is freakin' me out.

Ciao for now.

Customer Service

/rant on

As readers may or may not know, I work on a technical support helpdesk. However, I am no longer on the phones, I am considered a Consultant, and am tasked with mentoring the current analysts to my level of success.

This is challenging for many reasons, but I just realized something that I wanted to write down here, so that I can capture it on our team website at a future time because it might be helpful.

So here's my definition of "excellent customer service."

Customer service is not only about providing the right advice at the right time, it's also about understanding that the customer's priority is *your* priority. I realized, when thinking about it today, that one of the reasons I excelled as an analyst was that I treated everything with virtually the same sense of urgency. Obviously, a global issue must be handled prior to an individual's issue, however, more than likely, someone else was doing the "real work" of solving the global issue, and I was merely a communicator. So, once again, it comes back to a matter of prioritization. Yes, I realize we have six days to solve a Sev 3 issue, but although it may be Sev 3 for us, for that customer, that might be the only problem they have to solve, so, in essence, it is a Sev 1. Jumping on issues right away is key. You never know what is coming down the pike next, so, taking that issue as far as you can when you take the issue in initially is an excellent SOP. In addition, the five-day Status Calls will never be an issue if you use my system, which is to contact customers with even numbered problem tickets on even numbered days, and odd numbered problem tickets on odd numbered days. That way, a customer receives an update from you every two business days. I never had to worry about whether or not I had made my five day status call either. Because I contacted my customers every two days, if an issue did take an extraordinarily long time to resolve, they were far less upset about it than the customers of those analysts who only made contact every five days.

So there is a glimpse into my customer service philosophy. Unfortunately, this makes me a tough customer, and when I ask another entrepreneur if they would like to partner with me, or offer them an opportunity to make me their customer, I'm not really enamored of them if they say to me, "I'll get back to you on that in a couple of weeks." Especially without any explanation of the lengthy delay. I take making money very seriously, and I just offered you the opportunity to profit. If you don't want to jump on that right away, I'm sure there's someone else out there who will, and who won't put me off. Yes, I realize I work non-standard hours, but I'm looking for success partners that will do whatever it takes to get the job done.

Preach "quality of life" to me all that you want, but you must understand this. I'm happiest when I'm working. There really isn't anything else in my life right now. I have friends, relationships, and I make time for those individuals all the time. In fact, I daresay I make more time for them than they make for me. So if I'd rather design a website at 2 a.m. than watch late-night TV, don't tell me I have a poor quality of life. Because more than likely, I'll be retired at 55 and enjoying my financial freedom while you're still grinding it away in the office for another 10 years.

/rant off

Ciao for now.