I was a co-founder of a business where I served as the lead product developer and served as tech support for many years at the same time. When you craft somethi

I was a co-founder of a business where I served as the lead product developer and served as tech support for many years at the same time. When you craft something with your own two hands - pouring sweat and tears (literally) into it - and a customer contacts you with half truths, unfair accusations and has made very little effort to fairly examine the situation, it is incredibly difficult to not take it personally. In the heat of the moment, I occasionally found myself typing up a nasty response. Out of habit, I would re-read my response before sending it. That always caused me to pause. I don't recall a situation where I sent my original gut reaction. Inevitably, I would re-write the response in a much less personal and much more professional tone. This caused my customer to (almost always) respond in a similar manner, and in time a personal and professional relationship of trust was the result. Nonetheless, it seemed to be somehow therapeutic to bang out my initial reaction, even though I didn't send it. It allowed me to put my frustrations down on paper, which caused me to think through the situation. It also allowed me to "vent" and blow off the steam caused by my ooo-so-personal connection to the business. And perhaps most importantly, it allowed me to see that the nature of my gut response was at least partially unjustified, somewhat immature and certainly unprofessional. I shudder to think of the opportunities (and genuine friendships) that would have been forever lost if I had pushed "send" on my initial responses. The satisfaction of such responses lasts but a moment yet the consequences last forever.