So just when you think you’ve got a handle on the way the universe works, something happens out of the blue that totally resets your perspective.
Today has been a real jam day for me. I’m off to the ICANN meeting in New Zealand on Monday, and I’m trying to clear as many things as possible. Of course, as is the norm, I’m being distracted 17 ways from Sunday and spending way too much time with email, blogs and all of the other wonderful things that the internet entices you with when your trying your best to get stuff done (no, I’m not surfing pr0n at the office.)
At noon I realized that I had better get my act together if I actually had any real plans to get on the plane with a relatively clear plate, but by about 4pm, the prospect of me getting out of here in a reasonable time was pretty dim. I was way deep with a Powerpoint presentation when my phone rang. I had just settled in with some Santana, but I answered it anyways.
“Hello Ross speaking,” I said using what I imagined to be my gruffest “if this is a salesperson, it better be good” voice.
“Hi Ross, this is Brad Corob.”
“Yes Brad,” I thought. “Please get to the point quickly.”
I think like this all the time when the phone rings and I don’t recognize the voice. I get a lot of unsolicited phone calls from well-meaning sales-people looking to help me find the next-big-thing to sell to our ISP partners. I learned a long time ago that a stern voice and a lot of silence really helps salespeople speed things along. :-)
Silence.
“I read your blog.”
“Oh great,” I almost screamed inside my head. I mean, I love talking to people that read my blog – don’t get the wrong impression. But this was sort of like a long lost friend calling just as you were about to leave to pickup ice-cream – free ice cream. The last thing I wanted to do was get distracted into spending less time with the Powerpoint I was working on. I mean, this was really compelling stuff.
Actually, the last thing I wanted to do was work on the Powerpoint presentation. “Oh cool,” I responded.
“…and I work at Microsoft…”
Wait – did I just hear him right, did this guy that was distracting me saving me from my chores just say that he worked at Microsoft? That Microsoft?
“…and I couldn’t help but want to try and figure out what we could do to fix your problems with OneNote, so I decided to give you a call.”
Way to blow my socks off Brad.
The last, and I mean the very last, absolutely final, phone call that I expected to receive today was from somebody at Microsoft – never mind one of the people working on Microsoft Office.
I was positively amazed that Brad had called. His proposed fix was even more amazing.
He was going to run down to the Microsoft company store on his lunch break, buy me a license for OneNote and then help me install it.
Literally the only thing that he could have done that would have floored me more, would have been to fly Bill Gates up here to type in the 25 character-code with his own two hands.
I’m still beaming from ear to ear almost two hours later.
So to Brad and the rest of the folks at Microsoft, my sincerest thanks for helping me out, and more importantly, thank you for completely exceeding my expectations by going well above and beyond the call of duty. As Joey likes to say, “I wave a filet mignon on a flaming sword to you!”
And Brad? I’m really sorry I thought mean things when you called 
As a small postscript, I asked Brad whether or not the online store was fixed or not and he indicated that he was on top of that as well and it should be back to normal ASAP.
Lessons learned: a) No matter how big a company gets, it is still a collective of individuals who want to do the right thing. b) Sometimes processes can get in the way which makes doing the right thing the same as doing the hard thing. c) On any given day, there’s good chance there’s a Brad out there wanting to help. d) Smart companies will make it easy for people like Brad to help people like Ross. e) And finally, when you are working on the inside, never underestimate how powerful small gestures can be to those on the outside.
