4 ms·

The day Bill Gates answered a support call https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20091123-00/?p=15943 https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20091

• monsieurbanana 8y ago
  I'm very skeptic that the customer would believe it was actually Bill Gates that took his call. I could imagine it if it was a grandma or grandpa (or similar, you get the idea)... but then she wouldn't know who Bill Gates was anyways.
  • lultimouomo 8y ago
    It was 1989 though.
  • gist 8y ago
    Bill could be all nice, calm, and helpful because he is not sitting there every day taking calls from end users having to actually work according to some metrics and deal with aggravation.
  • deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
• gist 8y ago
  I get a kick out of stories like that but I would wonder about this: >Bill Gates is being taken on a guided tour of the product support department's new office building, and during his visit, he asks one of the people manning the phones, "Mind if I take this call?" In particular "Mind if I take this call?". Mind? The entire idea of the head of a corporation (such as Microsoft in particular) asking permission in that way as if the employee who works for him would have some reason to object or be offended. As if he is butting in front of him in the line at a store or taking his last 10 minutes on a jetski.
  • Nimitz14 8y ago
    It's called being polite.
    • gist 8y ago
      In a certain context it can also be considered patronizing. Let's imagine someone is doing heavy labor and digging ditches. More appropriate to just say 'let me do that for you'. Rather than 'mind if I do that for you'. Bill must know it's not a great job to take support calls constantly and deal with the aggravation. No doubt that there are people (like with any job) that like the job and are fine with it. But those are most likely not people that Bill associates with, is friends with, or respects. The contrast between the parties is where the 'patronizing' comes in. Another example is a Physician in a hospital. If someone is cleaning bed pans and the Physicians says 'let me do that for you' it means one thing. If they say 'mind if I do that for you' it means another thing.
      • mjfisher 8y ago
        Or it's showing genuine respect for your employee's job, autonomy and skillset, and implicitly acknowledging that you probably aren't going to do as good a job as they would. "Mind if I take this call?" could easily be met with "would you mind taking the one afterwards? I know who's dialling in and we're just wrapping up a long-running issue"
  • michaelt 8y ago
    Presumably he also took over the employee's desk, computer, chair, telephone headset, photos of wife and children, and so on. "Mind if I..." would be a normal, polite thing to say in such a situation.
    • gist 8y ago
      It's not the employee's desk. It is Microsoft's desk (and Bill is defacto Microsoft) He wasn't in the employee's house. He is using the desk that Microsoft provided for him. He is not 'another guy doing tech support asking to sit in and do a job'.