A chat with a retired lineman at the hardware store made me see our job differently

I was picking up some new fish tape at the local supply house last week, and I got talking to an older guy in line. He saw my work shirt and said he'd been a lineman for the phone company for 35 years, retired about a decade ago. I asked him what the biggest change was. He paused and said, 'We used to build things to last. Now you folks are just patching a system that's always changing. The skill isn't in the install anymore, it's in the customer.' He meant dealing with people's frustration over bills and signals, not just the wires. It hit me because I'd just come from a house where the lady was mad about her bill, and I couldn't fix that, only her connection. Has anyone else felt that shift, where the people part is becoming the real job?

2 comments

2 Comments

blair_dixon3d ago

Totally get that! I started keeping a couple of those cheap company-branded pens in my pocket. Handing one over when someone's upset about their bill costs nothing, and it usually breaks the tension enough to talk about the actual service call.

bettys513d ago

Wow, that's actually really smart. I always figured you should just jump right into fixing the problem when someone's mad. But a little thing like a free pen makes it feel less like a fight right away. It's like showing you're on their side before you even talk numbers. I'm gonna try that next time I have to deal with a tough customer.