Office how to 3:

       I will begin by saying this is not a political post.  This is a very targeted post, with a very general message.

       In any business, there will be conflict.  Sometimes this is a personality clash, sometimes a competitive one.  Sometimes the conflict is based purely out of frustration, and the anger is completely misdirected.

       If you ask any service department you will hear the same story, with different names, over and over.  A piece of equipment, designed to last 10 years, that has lasted 25, and was no longer supported by the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) as of 10 years ago, has failed. (or 3,6, and 2 years for computers)  Parts are not immediately available, if at all.

       The service department worker cannot, in this one instance, produce a miracle from their posterior, as they have done hundreds of times before.  The equipment is down.  Productivity, production, surgery, cleaning, food prep; whatever it is, stops.  Then  the conflict starts.

       Someone (presumably with a degree of authority, but not always) becomes upset and lashes out at the people around them.  When service is called in, the person who was previously yelled at, treats them worse, because the most productive thing you can do with abuse is pay it forward, right?  Nevermind that the service department personally recommended that piece be replaced, every year since the OEM stopped supporting it.  Even though the piece went down yesterday, and the affected users were advised to schedule around it, and didn't.  And certainly, it is the service department's fault that something failed.  Heaven knows that machines and electronics always work forever, and never fail.

       And please, always assume that when we don't scream at you, like you are doing to us, that you are in the right.  It couldn't possibly be that we are better people, or know how unproductive arguing is.  It could not possibly be that the only reason we aren't yelling back is that it is everything we can do not to laugh at how ignorant you are acting.  It could not be that we understand your frustration and being shown a very small glimpse into the problems we are forced to deal with every single day, without complaint.  It cannot be that we know that prolonging an unproductive argument keeps us from addressing the very problem you are screaming about.

        So please, remember a few points:

1.  Everything eventually breaks.
2.  It isn't the fault of the person who just walked in to fix it.
3.  Arguing about it is keeping them from trying to help you.
4.  Despite your behavior, not because of it, they still want to help.
5.  It is in your best interest to let them.