InsaneJournal

I know
that many chose to post yesterday about where they were, what they were doing 8 years ago.  They chose to compare and contrast.

I am choosing to post the day after the anniversary about an anniversary I'd much rather remember.

At that time, 8 years ago, I worked for a major Telecom.  By the luck of the draw, we were the only major that had circuits in Lower Manhattan.  The building our equipment was in happened to be spared, simply the luck of the draw.  We were requested to provision temporary circuits for the other majors in order to restore service.  The company agreed, not because it was mandated by Federal Law (it was), not because it was profitable (it wasn't) but because it was the right thing to do.

In order to provision those circuits, we needed additional computing capacity.  In the modern era of Mainframes, this was a simple matter of 'varying online' additional CPUs; the problem is that does not come cheaply.  We contacted our hardware vendor and explained the situation.  An Executive Vice President of said company explained that we would have the 'keys' for the CPUs within the hour, at no additional charge for 30 days.  He also went on to give us his desk number "This rings at my desk, no my secretary's desk, if any of the other vendors tries to charge you, have them call this number."  I know, I was on the conference call.  As we started calling software vendors and explaining the situation and why we needed the keys, every company,

EVERY    

SINGLE    

ONE

gave us the keys for the additional capacity, for 30 days, without charge.  Not a single one flinched, hesitated or though about charging us.

Why?

Not because it was required (it wasn't).  Not because it was profitable (it wasn't).  Because it was the right thing to do.

It is my wish and hope that in the future we do not require a National crisis in order for companies to do the right thing.  Don't get me wrong, I believe every company should make a profit, that's why they're in business.  I just feel that doing the right thing should be a part of that profit making.