Ben Stappleton

Someone from HR just asked if I can "quickly" transfer all their files from their old laptop to their new one. I said sure. Told them it'll take about 4 hours because of the data transfer speed and verification process. Reality? It takes 45 minutes. I run a script, it copies everything, done. But I learned a long time ago: never tell people how easy something is. Because if they know it's easy, they'll ask you to do it all the time. For everyone. Forever. So I tell them it's 4 hours. They say "oh wow, okay, whenever you have time." Then I do it in 45 minutes, but I don't tell them it's done until hour 3. They think I dropped everything to help them. They're grateful. They tell their manager I went "above and beyond." Meanwhile, I spent 2 hours watching YouTube and eating snacks. The secret to good customer service isn't speed. It's managing expectations so you always exceed them. Under-promise, over-deliver. Corporate 101. Except I'm not really over-delivering. I'm just lying about the timeline. But tomato, tomahto.