It is so tempting as a customer service agent in any industry not to become passive or complacent when a particular call lasts too long or you are just exhausted or there seems to be no real answer to the problem. However, that is when the cream rises to the top and true legends are made. I think we may have seen our first legend last night/this morning.

From the dark computer dens of Russia to the fast paced city of New York comes a young man with confidence abounding and skill to match. He is quick to comment on his ego and his inability to accept the word “no” or to be beaten by a problem. He is a friendly PC tech support person with the determination of a frenzied hacker. This morning he took a call starting at 2 am. Each time the customer rebooted Windows, his Quick Launch bar disappeared. it was indeed a dilemna. At 4 am our fearless tech, Maxim Doumkine, was still at it but the solution was not far off. Maxim chatted Diego (time stamp in US Pacific Time):

[1:30:34 AM] Maxim Doumkine says: I had an idea
[1:30:39 AM] Maxim Doumkine says: he just restarted
[1:30:46 AM] Maxim Doumkine says: I am waiting for him to get back to me about it
[1:30:53 AM] Diego Orjuela says: What did you do?
[1:31:24 AM] Maxim Doumkine says: I created a new folder, named it quicklaunchnew and placed it in c:\ and copied over all his quicklaunch shortcuts
[1:31:40 AM] Maxim Doumkine says: and created a new toolbar instead of the old quicklaunch
[1:31:58 AM] Maxim Doumkine says: so… lets see
[1:32:27 AM] Maxim Doumkine says: well he isn’t paying, but I definitely will get a heck of a good review
[1:32:30 AM] Maxim Doumkine says: 4:32 am for me
[1:36:17 AM] Maxim Doumkine says: I FIXED IT!!!
[1:36:19 AM] Maxim Doumkine says: HA HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[1:36:21 AM] Maxim Doumkine says: YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[1:36:22 AM] Diego Orjuela says: hahahahaha
[1:36:25 AM] Diego Orjuela says: Whooooohoooooo!
[1:37:24 AM] Maxim Doumkine says: That was an invention fix, nowhere to be found online =).

He had done it. Without pay. Without anyone else even online to congratulate him Maxim had done it. The customer was astounded and so grateful. A legend had been born.

And I think that is why we all do it. It isn’t because we do or we don’t make money. It isn’t so we can take a look at other peoples computers. It is because there is that natural high that comes when helping another human being. There is that rush of sharing your knowledge with another and seeing a new world open up before them. Each one of you is such an important part of this team and tonight Maxim showed the skill, professionalism and determination embodied by each technician who carries the MinuteFix certification. Thank you Maxim. Job well done!

Some you may have seen the new footer link on the Certified MinuteFix Technician page that says Skype Prime Providers. If you click on that link you will find yet another video of Drew explaining something he didn’t understand twenty minutes prior. What he did understand, however, was how to really go overboard and make an amazing video (if I do say so myself) for Skype Prime providers coming into the world of MinuteFix. Of course, once it was viewed by a very, very select audience it was decided it might be a bit much for the “newbies”. So, we chopped it some and presented what you now see on this page. But, it is with great pleasure that I present to you the never-before-seen, director’s cut……

In an article published today on InformationWeek a figure was given that telecommuting could save gas and the United States about $38 billion.

The study says, in essence, that Americans already take fewer car trips (perhaps you have started walking up to the convenient store rather than driving or you are drinking that tasty but fat Latte and walking back from the cafe instead of driving) and ate out less to cope with rising gas prices (Minute Meals and items such as steamer vegetables have changed my life) to cope with the rising cost of gas. However, if American workers were allowed and encouraged to telecommute from home just twice weekly, the country could save 9.7 billion gallons of gas and $38.2 billion a year.

Telework Exchange, a public-private partnership for promoting telework, recently surveyed 377 federal and private-sector employees and found that 92% believe they could do their jobs from home. However, only 34% reported that they actually telework.

In addition, the report reveals that on average, Americans spend $2,052 annually on gas and an average of 264 hours, or 11 days, commuting each year.

Rafe Needleman is a man after my own heart. As a veteran journalist and technology authority he is fair and can spot a solid start up from half a Silicon Valley block away.

Having spoken to Diego and interviewing him about MinuteFix he followed up with a solid (yet glowing) assessment report on MinuteFix. As you know we have been beating the pavement sending out press releases and trying to gain some ground in that area. Alas our efforts have not been overlooked.

Comparing us to companies such as SupportSpace and oDesk Needleman is quick to add that we are “…smart: [He’s] not trying to invent a business model from whole cloth, like so many Web 2.0 start-ups. Instead, [he’s] aiming Web 2.0 concepts at an established and lucrative market, where there are customers paying big bucks already and leaving their customers, to a large extent, unsatisfied. This is a good business model.”

You can read the full article by following the link above. You can also digg it or add it to Facebook or even mention the article on your personal website. If you do so, please be sure to let me know so I can share some link love with you!

Congratulations Techs. You are an amazing team and this is proof from the guys and gals at CNET.

I am pleased to announce that we now have a Facebook application available. You can find it by visiting this page and clicking on ‘Add Application’. The app creates a nice little slideshow of images posted to Ning by the MinuteFix community. We even have a little icon that goes in your application sidebar on your Facebook profile page.

I have to admit it was a rather drawn out process creating it but it was a lot of fun and just reminded me why I love this community so much. We are hard workers and we are dedicated to what we do. We finish what we start. I encourage each of you with a Facebook profile to add the app and show off those MinuteFix Places and Faces. (You can keep on inviting friends to the group page as well).

Oh, and speaking of pics. You can now upload Flickr images right to your Ning page with one click! That was added tonight as well. It is very cool and works exceptionally fast. So now none of us have excuses for not having at least a profile pic.

With the line between “work cell” and “personal cell” being more blurred than ever what can small businesses do about all the different devices that are sprouting up throughout the firm? Well, it can be a “every man for himself” mentality or the powers-that-be can put someone in charge of them all. The latter seems to make more sense.

That’s the advice the research company Forrester offers in a new report out today. Forrester says the new device-manager position is necessary because of the insurgence of laptops, and because of an increasing reliance by workers on smartphones and PDAs (of course the Blackberry, the iPhone and the Treo being the preferred devices). These new managers shouldn’t just babysit the devices and the hardware and software necessary to support them, but rather set policies so that businesses can make sure they’re helping workers get the most out of their devices.

Devices that workers keep on them blur the line between the professional and personal. A recent survey by Visage, which makes technology that helps businesses manage mobile equipment, found that 80% of workers with an employer-issued mobile device use it for personal purposes and 89% of people use their personal devices for work purposes. (which means no one is using their phone for the reason they thought they were purchasing it for, methinks)

Corporate policies haven’t kept up with such  boundaries: Most employers who issue devices pick up the tab despite the usage and there are few rules and regs in place about accessing corporate systems though their own devices. (”Forrester surveyed over 500 tech leaders and found a fairly even split between businesses that support employee-owned devices, business that put employees in charge, businesses that provide partial support, and businesses that don’t have a policy”, adds Ben Worthen of WSJ.)

Forrester recommends that businesses resist the urge to gain control by issuing just one kind of device or limiting what information employees can access. Instead, businesses should invest in technology and develop policies that make it easier to manage different types of devices.

Please Note: Much of this article including some paraphrases are credited to Ben Worthen of the WSJ Business Technology blog