Five minutes on whose watch?
We returned to Bolivia from a short trip to spend Christmas with our families. When we got back we immediately noticed that our DSL connection was not working when we tried to use our Vonage phone. A quick diagnostic pointed to the obvious fact that the power light on the modem never came on. So I called the Internet company, and they told me to bring in the modem so they could fix/replace it.
Knowing that things can take longer than planned, I made stopping at the Internet company one of the first errands of the day. I sat in line for about 15-20 minutes, listening to an audio book and defending my right to go next. I finally sat down at the desk, and thirty seconds later a technician had our modem in hand. "Give me 5-6 minutes and you will be all set" he says. Usually I don't believe time estimates, but if they are that specific it is a good sign.
10 minutes later... waiting patiently
15 minutes later... getting bored watching other people talk to the service desk people. I mean how many people can ask the same question?
25 minutes later... I ask, "Hey, can we see how things are going with my modem?"
30 minutes later... The customer service guy tells me, "They said it will only be a couple more minutes. Please just be patient."
45 minutes later (not since arrival, since handing over the modem) I have a new modem in hand and walked out the door.
I have become accustomed to waiting a lot; it tends to happen frequently in Bolivia. My only question is what would be wrong with "Hey it might take a while to fix your modem, so why don't you come back in an hour?" I guess it is like the old Heinz commercials... "Good things come to those who wait." In this case, it was revived Internet access.
Knowing that things can take longer than planned, I made stopping at the Internet company one of the first errands of the day. I sat in line for about 15-20 minutes, listening to an audio book and defending my right to go next. I finally sat down at the desk, and thirty seconds later a technician had our modem in hand. "Give me 5-6 minutes and you will be all set" he says. Usually I don't believe time estimates, but if they are that specific it is a good sign.
10 minutes later... waiting patiently
15 minutes later... getting bored watching other people talk to the service desk people. I mean how many people can ask the same question?
25 minutes later... I ask, "Hey, can we see how things are going with my modem?"
30 minutes later... The customer service guy tells me, "They said it will only be a couple more minutes. Please just be patient."
45 minutes later (not since arrival, since handing over the modem) I have a new modem in hand and walked out the door.
I have become accustomed to waiting a lot; it tends to happen frequently in Bolivia. My only question is what would be wrong with "Hey it might take a while to fix your modem, so why don't you come back in an hour?" I guess it is like the old Heinz commercials... "Good things come to those who wait." In this case, it was revived Internet access.
posted by Unknown @ 7:40 PM
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