A Trip to Greece

One afternoon I received a 'phone call: could I be in Athens tomorrow? A major US corporation was trialling a data network to communicate with their EMEA subsidiaries, and it was all going pear-shaped. They had been given their credentials to use the Greek PTT's point-of-presence, but couldn't log in. The US support people had repeatedly 'phoned Mr Gasparos* at the PTT, but rarely got a reply, and the few times they did get through, they were told that Mr Gasparos was away from his desk.

I checked into the hotel around 8 p.m. and started digging around. It didn't take me long to find out that the PTT's working hours included a siesta which coincided with the time of day when the US support people were calling Mr Gasparos, which was why his 'phone was rarely answered. That also meant they started early, so I got an appointment with the PTT at 7.30 the following morning. It turned out that the login credentials had been dictated over the 'phone, and the recipient had written down a 'd' instead of a 'p'. And Mr Gasparos? "It was very sad" said the PTT executive, "he had a nervous breakdown." His colleagues had not wanted to mention his illness when they answered his 'phone.

So I turned up at the corporation's office at 9 am and had their network connection running five minutes later, and they thought I was a miracle worker, which was nice.

This story emphasizes the importance of soft skills, and taught me something about attention to detail. If I'm reading out a password over the phone, I always use the phonetic alphabet - Alpha, Bravo, Charlie etc. It may sound corny, but just getting one letter wrong cost this American corporation thousands of dollars.

* Note - Gasparos is not this gentleman's real name.