I’m still protesting the photos. And I was at a loss at what to write until Monday, then I knew exactly what I should rant- I mean- blog about.

In a world where you must DIY, there comes a time when it is required to mingle with the rest of society. If you are anti-social like me, it’s difficult to come out of the hermit shell and remember how to talk in the right dialect but certain situations require desperate measures. Sometimes, we just need help no matter how hard it is to admit it. To someone else and to yourself.

I used to work in customer service, in retail to be exact. You really never get away from customer service. Everyday, in some small way, you are responsible for helping someone other than yourself. You give someone that extra little boost to get them going, to help them on their way, find what they are looking for and/or help them find the courage to keep on going. Customer service in writing is a lot like cheerleading. When you need help, you reach out to someone you know can give you exactly what you need at the moment. I know not everyone likes the dreaded cheerleader writer. They are usual the people pushing you to keep going, telling you everything will work out, and only think about the good things. I think it helps to have these writers. Maybe that’s because I’m a bit of a cheerleader and don’t like negative thoughts. You just have to take the customer service approach to writing and not let it get you down and find that person who helps get you through.

Customer service – much like its sister the dreaded critique and red mark edit- is very critical to the writer’s psyche.  It’s a system of checks and balances and when customer service is broken, the writer gets bound up and angry like a sidewinder being poked by a stick. I prefer when customer service is having an off day to walk away from the customer and shut the hell up. Everyone has an off day. It’s understandable. We all struggle some days (and come on, it was Monday. I do have a heart.) But nothing goads the angry bear of customer service hell worse than someone saying, “I’m sorry. I can’t help you. I know there is a law against child labor, I’m sixteen. You can’t pull your pants down here in the middle of the floor. You can’t bring that back. I don’t know what to tell you. No you can’t have your money back. I am the manager. I’m sorry did you just call me a F*$%ing twit?”

Usually when someone reaches out to customer service there is a damn good reason. And it is within your best interest to find out what that reason is for future notice and help out however you can for those future days when you’ll need help too. There are days it hurts to be helpful and all you want to do is destroy every bit of faith in mankind they might have, but that would come back to bite you in the butt eventually. So, you play nice and remember that your customer service is what keeps you in business during the dark days.

Do you function well on your own and reach out only when you desperately need it and when you do reach out, do you find it almost painful to admit it? Or do you rely on help the whole way through? For our readers, any crazy stories about searching for reading material and there was no help in sight? What did you do?