The Spectator Magazine – 9th March 2013 – “In praise of rude nerds” by Mark Mason

Around this time last year I wrote a post extolling the benefits of a good first contact with Legal IT when providing good customer service. One of the points I mentioned was “be polite”, however I read an article this week (again in The Spectator) that suggests the “rude nerds” are where the good service is. Or as they put it “rude is the new polite”.

Have a read at the article, it stereotypes a little but effectively it’s about those that man technical helplines that “have the social skills of a breeze-block — but by Christ can they tell you how to defrag a hard-drive”. I suspect it’s intended to be a little tongue in cheek, but the sentiments are right. We’ve all been on calls where at some point you know whether a) the operator is reading a script and doesn’t understand your problem or b) you’re going to get a resolution.

At least with the Sheldon’s* of this world you know where you stand and ultimately your problem is fixed! So maybe the last line is right.

“This man hadn’t been rude, he’d just been true to his nature. A nature that, yes, shuns small talk, but also — and more importantly — lets him do his job brilliantly.

Give me that over futile, scripted politeness any day.”