Let me express my point of view: Every organization has customers. You may not call them customers, but they are people that you serve. When I worked in the Purchasing Department of a big company, my customers were the "user groups". The people in the company that actually used the stuff that I bought. These were the people that the purchasing department had to keep happy. As a volunteer, in the technical services department, at my Church, my "customers" are the Music Minister and the Creative Arts Pastor. They are the people that I have to keep happy. An Amateur Radio group, like ARES also has "customers" - the agencies that it serves. If you take the ARRL Emcomm class, it says that an Amateur Radio operator, when involved in emergency communications, with a "served agency" should conduct themself just like they were an employee of that agency, with few exceptions. I agree with that statement. Do what the agency asks of us, or don't volunteer. Hams are not as valuable for Emcomm, as we were 40 years ago. If we start telling the "served agencies" what we will do and what we won't do, we may find ourselves excluded from the agency's Emcomm plans.
Buddy Morgan WB4OMG KJ4ACN Trustee On Jan 20, 2010, at 1:38:02 PM, "John Hays" <[email protected]> wrote: From: "John Hays" <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] "Customers" Date: January 20, 2010 1:38:02 PM EST To: [email protected] On Jan 20, 2010, at 9:42 AM, J. Moen wrote: I'm not advocating talking to club members or government agencies, or writing documents, that refer to them as customers. I'm talking about an attitude, where you understand a customer is someone you are serving and whose needs you need to understand. It is a way of thinking that all service providers s hould have. The original post was not to the government agencies, it was to a bunch of hams on an email list, in other words, a service provider talking to other service providers, not to their "customers." I agree I would not put anything in writing with that word, but then it wouldn't occur to me to do that. But I'm glad you brought it up, since in this world of lawsuits, hams don't need that aggrevation. Jim - K6JM We shouldn't be servants either, maybe cooperating communicators? We aren't "service providers" (that would be the commercial network operators), we are volunteers who have valuable knowledge and sometimes resources to contribute in an emergency. People have a habit of trying to apply concepts from one venue to another, e.g. the government should operate like my small business, and this carries baggage with it and it builds certain images and expectations in people's minds that might not be appropriate and could lead to misunderstandings, even lawsuits -- we should state exactly what we are and what we offer. We are not "free servants" to agencies, we are amateur radio operators who provide volunteer expertise and resources when and where we can, with no promises, warranties, or guarantees. If we are organized well enough and dependable, act professionally, and demonstrate our skills we will be recognized for the service we provide as partners, but not as "service providers". John D. Hays Amateur Radio Station K7VE PO Box 1223 Edmonds, WA 98020-1223 VOIP/SIP: [email protected] Email: [email protected]
