Of Professionalism and Ethics

While working on the customer, I noticed that they have spent quite a bit on cabling. And although the PBX system we're relocating for them is just temporary, it was done right. And I am impressed by the team who did the cabling. Not that we could not do the same but it would have taken us longer and there's only two guys in the company against an experienced team.

Still, I would very much like them to do such jobs but after seeing a Professional team at work, they were very much disheartened at the "David and Goliath" mind-set. Somehow, I have to get them to overcome this hurdle and boost their confidence. But the main problem is for them to think out of the box, plan their job and not take the easy way out.

I do not mind them taking shortcuts if its to complete the work faster AND in the PROPER way. Its the only way to ensure everything goes well. Because in this line and in any other service line, if you take shortcuts for the wrong reason, its going to come back to haunt you and possibly lose a customer too. And let me tell you this, in all honesty, Customers are not stupid.

Even if they act and look stupid. Trust me on this.

There was a problem with their old connector module
which I discovered after relocating their PBX system
and AFTER reinstalling back in place.

The problem was that one of the pins are not properly
aligned. This is not a good sign. I could take the easy
way out and leave it alone since the customer is going
to use it or two to three weeks before implementing
their own system (and effectively end our business
with them). Or, I could do the right thing even though
its a lot of work. What do you think?

The answer is obvious, of course! This one of the
reason why our customers keep calling us again
and again.

Whoever did this cabling, is a
Master. Its all arranged so
nicely.Must have taken them
a week to do this or even less.

And its all colour coded. Yellow
for voice and blue for data.

MalfreeMaps v1.56

I have been using the MalFreeMap since version 1.52 and its quite nice. Of course, there was a History between it and MalSingMap. For me, I don't care much at this point. I just want a map and I do not have to worry about contributing in order to get the latest map or whatever crap they dictate. C'mon, even if I want to help out, it would be voluntarily and after following their Forums, I still cannot understand how to do them.

But buying an expensive Bluetooth GPS for this purpose, if I am not mistaken, is totally unacceptable. Why should I follow YOUR rules and BEG to get the latest maps? Then again, nowadays, being married and all, I have absolutely no time for anything else but for the family. I just grab whatever that works and that's it.

For the past few days, I have been using it to guide
me to the customer and it keeps telling me to go to
a certain route, which I found out, actually makes
me do U-turns instead. Here, the image wrongly
shows me (the car) pointing to the opposite
direction. Note the T-junction "behind" me.

And when I finally was at that spot, (the T-junction), it
was not possible to go further unless you're driving a
4x4. And its not because of the cars parking there,
obstructing the road. It really IS a Dead End. And I
can report this to MFM. If I really wanted to, that is.

Everyone likes Toshiba

Since I my first job was with Toshiba telephone products, I do admit I am biased towards it. And so, given the chance, I would recommend or even, convince anyone to use Toshiba phones. Its a very popular brand. So popular, that others would even like to make it personal, like these guys below.

When my Tech picked up the phone, he just mentioned
that its not working. When I took a look at it, that oh-so
familiar smell tells me the bad news. Luckily, we did not
freak out when the phone was opened. However, 8 years
ago, I freaked out because once I opened the phone, all
these little critters ran out in all directions!

However, in this case, its nothing much to worry about,
just dead ones in there. Still, there was one or two that
played possum until the very last moment.

Over here, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the crockcroach
cemetery. If you are squeamish about discarded skins
and limbs, I suggest you wait at the entrance until the
tour is over, thank you.

Anyway, back to the story. Apparently, the crockcroaches
have been living in the phone for ages and you can see how
much crap the motherboard has.

And did I mention that their urine is acidic? So, this
phone cannot be repaired. I mean, I am not going to
waste my time cleaning and disinfecting it, only to
find an irreplaceable component pee-d to oblivion.
Like it or not, I forced my techs to wash their hands
at least three times. Not because the smell won't go,
but you'd never know how dangerous the stuff is.

And so, everyone likes Toshiba. But in this case, to them, this is Toshiba City and not Toshiba Hotel. To me, its a Toshiba Phone and all who trespass inside must face the test of the Thinner Droplet....