My phone is set to speak the name of an incoming caller, or the number if it's not in my phonebook. When it announced an incoming call starting with 353, I was a bit confused because I couldn't remember ever hearing of that area code, and when the number of digits in the number exceeded 10 I was really confused. As it turns out, there isn't an area code 353 in the USA; it's the country code for Ireland.
The call was from a pleasant young woman from Beta Layout, the folk behind PCB-Pool, calling to let me know that they had indeed shipped my board Wednesday, and that I should expect to receive it Friday. This made me happy on several levels: it's great customer service, especially when you consider that I'm a hobbyist and unlikely to place an order for 10,000 boards anytime soon; it means that I'll be able to spend far too much time playing mad scientist in my basement this weekend; and like many Americans, I find hearing from a woman with a pleasingly foreign accent to be a day-brightener.
Lastly, her call reminded me of the not quite a week I spent in Ireland in 1996. The company I was working for at the time had a customer service office in Shannon, and when I had to visit Portugal on other business I made a case for visiting Shannon to give them some training and a chance to interact directly with a product developer. They, of course, insisted on taking me out to the local pub in the evenings for a pint or two. When I explained that Guinness wasn't to my tastes, they insisted that the problem was that it didn't travel well and it was far better nearer the source. I gave it a fair trial, and they celebrated my open-mindedness even if I still couldn't stomach the stuff. It was a great experience and I plan to visit the country again.
Tracking the package containing my board through the FedEx website shows that since yesterday afternoon it's taken a scenic tour of Shannon, Cork, Paris, New Jersey, and Virginia. And since I wasn't expecting it until tomorrow I didn't leave a note waiving the signature requirement, and the delivery attempt they just made failed because I'm at work. *sigh*
The call was from a pleasant young woman from Beta Layout, the folk behind PCB-Pool, calling to let me know that they had indeed shipped my board Wednesday, and that I should expect to receive it Friday. This made me happy on several levels: it's great customer service, especially when you consider that I'm a hobbyist and unlikely to place an order for 10,000 boards anytime soon; it means that I'll be able to spend far too much time playing mad scientist in my basement this weekend; and like many Americans, I find hearing from a woman with a pleasingly foreign accent to be a day-brightener.
Lastly, her call reminded me of the not quite a week I spent in Ireland in 1996. The company I was working for at the time had a customer service office in Shannon, and when I had to visit Portugal on other business I made a case for visiting Shannon to give them some training and a chance to interact directly with a product developer. They, of course, insisted on taking me out to the local pub in the evenings for a pint or two. When I explained that Guinness wasn't to my tastes, they insisted that the problem was that it didn't travel well and it was far better nearer the source. I gave it a fair trial, and they celebrated my open-mindedness even if I still couldn't stomach the stuff. It was a great experience and I plan to visit the country again.
Tracking the package containing my board through the FedEx website shows that since yesterday afternoon it's taken a scenic tour of Shannon, Cork, Paris, New Jersey, and Virginia. And since I wasn't expecting it until tomorrow I didn't leave a note waiving the signature requirement, and the delivery attempt they just made failed because I'm at work. *sigh*
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