My first "real" job, when I was just out of college, was in customer service. While I hated it, I did it better than most businesses do it now. It's kind of sad that a great many large businesses, both internet and in-person, don't seem to mind their deserved reputations for bad customer service and make no effort to effect actual changes, although they mouth "every effort being made" platitudes.
Take our cable upgrade last fall. The cable company, known for appalling service, now promises they will have the person there when they say they will. They did, but he was an independent contractor, not their own employee, paid by the job. He did so much wrong that we had to wait several days before we had full service, and the "real" employee basically had to tear out everything the on-time contractor installed.
Maryn, who should go live in a stone cottage in the woods