Dear Tech Support: I was drunk at the time…

May 17, 2006 D. H. McKee

Off

Wow. I’ve been a tech support guy for almost 9 years now. I’ve flown from one side of this galaxy to the other. I’ve seen a lot of strange stuff, but I’ve never seen anything like this email from an irate end-user:
“I sincerely apologize for how I acted in my last message. I was drunk at the time I sent it, but I do not claim that as an excuse, only a reason.”
From the tone of the user’s previous three or four emails, I just assumed he was being a jerk. You know — typical end-user who thinks they can leverage you like a large corporate customer can. I’m sorry, but there’s a certain pecking order around in the tech support world. You can’t get me fired, you can’t get me to send you free software, you’re lucky we even talk to you, since you’re not even a paying customer. I’ve no problems with anything you say to me in an email. At least you weren’t writing in ALL CAPS LIKE SOME OF THE PEOPLE WHO EMAIL ME!!! WITH A THOUSAND EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAHHHH!!!!
But then this email comes in. I mean, whoah. How does one respond to something like this? “It’s OK, you’re swell.” “No problem.” “Hey, we all fly off the handle when we’re drunk and emailing tech support.” Who even sends an email like this? Is this guy in AA? Was he required to contact all the tech support people he’s previously ragged on? Did his mom read the message out of his “Sent” folder? Yikes.
What, did he think we were crying over here?
Still. Nice enough of him to let us know. I think. I’m still not sure I wanted to know that he was angry and drunk and emailing me.
Let’s just hope I never have to send an email like this to a customer.

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About This Site

As a guy who occasionally curates art shows and wrangles artists together, I often have to edit and post artist bios, profile pictures, and artwork images. This can be a problem, since many artists and writers aren’t used to selling themselves. Artists rarely know how to present their art for display in a brochure, and writers aren’t used to writing about themselves.

Writers often treat the bio like it’s an interview or something. Maybe like they’re having a conversation with you, the reader. While it may work sometimes, the most common way to write a bio is to write in the 3rd person.

I’m like those writers, and I’m talking to you directly, unlike the common way to do a bio. You should see my About page. It makes sense to me, since this is a bit which describes my blog’s website. When I get famous enough that I don’t have time to talk to you, I’ll have an intern write everything in 3rd person. Until then, you get to talk to me.

Like blogs of old, this one is a personal document of the comings and goings of me. Articles I’ve written, links I’ve posted, videos I liked, etc. Here, a first-person perspective is the way to go, at least for now. So, this is my site. I’m D. H. McKee, a sometimes artist, sometimes writer. Mostly just a guy on the internet.