W3C EXI Format Working Draft Published!

The W3C just published the first working draft for the EXI Format.  There is a lot still for them to do, but this is an amazing start.

Tales in (Good) Customer Service

I recently had a friend tell me about the wonderful customer service he had received from Qwest after moving.  This came as a surprise to him, as he was not expecting anything other than outsourced incomprehensible delay tactics.  In his case, he got better support from Qwest than from Speakeasy.  Just a few years back this would have been unthinkable.

I recently decided to upgrade my home DSL connection.  I called and scheduled the upgrade yesterday afternoon.  Everyone I talked with was pleasant and helpful.  I did not feel rushed.  They were good at explaining my options.  When talking about TV package deals and my lack of TV usage, the rep on the phone related a personal story that was quite cute. 

I finished the call with a plan for faster DSL service at a lower monthly cost.  What do I remember?  The personal story from the rep.  I remember that he made the call friendly, unrushed, and inclusive.  This is what customer service should be about.  This is as close to old-fashioned small-town customer service as you can get.

Putting a pleasant approachable face on a company makes a significant difference.  Qwest used to have a monopoly on phone service.  Now with VOIP, I have many choices.  If you have bad customer service, you are suggesting to your customers that they should look elsewhere.  Customer Service is about keeping the customers that you have.

3 day, 1500 miles, the garden of eden

Many many thanks to Ezra and Red Velvet for inviting me down. It was a long weekend, ~750 miles each way, but early summer in the NW US can be quite beautiful. Listened to "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers" on the way down, and "Life of PI" on the way back. Audiobooks are a divine gift for such a long drive.

The purpose of the trip was 2 days of camping out in a veritable garden of eden, with some amazing people and fantastic music... heaven on earth is dancing till your legs hurt, then hopping in the hot-tub, to mellow to the next DJ's grooves.

and I learned to almost hoola-hoop...

I needed a weekend without internet, iPhone, President Bush, traffic, and all the rest of the chaos. My world is now a better place.