Just over three years ago, Matt Alexander founded Need, a publication that releases exclusive, curated clothing and products for "the modern gentleman". They later added Foremost, a line of affordable, American-made clothing for men and women. This month, Need became Imprint and launched an iOS app.

This is the origin of Need's customer service model, and how it helped them grow and evolve from a sensation (Need) into a tangible, formidable Imprint in the world of fashion.

Matt Alexander will return. (cue "James Bond Theme")

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Show Notes

• Imprint
• Foremost
• iOS app
• Imprint: A new name, a new iOS app, a new site, and a new idea or two.
• Imprint on Twitter
• Foremost on Twitter
• Matt Alexander on Twitter
• Matt Alexander appeared in the original run of Giant Size on two back-to-back episodes ("ORIGINS" #9 and #10) to talk about Marvel's big "NOW!" relaunch back in 2013.

One of Austin's most iconic taco joints turns 35 years old in July.

Juan in a Million is known as much for their triple-sized signature "Don Juan" breakfast tacos as they are for owner Juan Meza's legendary handshake.

Get the "Don Juan" with chorizo. You won't be sorry.

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• Casper: premium mattresses for a fraction of the price. Use coupon code THANKYOU to save $50 on your choice of Casper mattress. Terms and Conditions Apply.

The man with the handshake, Juan Meza

On the highway from one major city in Texas to another, there's always at least one really good, locally-owned place to eat. A little over 40 miles outside of Austin on the way to Houston is Taqueria Chihuahua, a place full of good food and good people who have been serving customers for over 20 years.

Be ready for a taco that it takes two hands to eat.

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• Casper: premium mattresses for a fraction of the price. Use coupon code THANKYOU to save $50 on your choice of Casper mattress. Terms and Conditions Apply.
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Show Notes and Links

• Taqueria Chihuahua in Giddings, Texas on Yelp
• ...on Urbanspoon/Zomato
• ...on Google Plus
• ...on Facebook

Running a movie theatre is one thing. Running free movie screenings for non-paying guests is a production. It involves a theatre's staff, lots of excited movie fans, and an contracted rep or two whose job it is to manage concentrated chaos.

What happens when (once a week at minimum) the same 40 customers are willing to wait over twelve hours to watch one movie for free?

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Annie used to do Elvis' nails, doesn't care about famous people, and is the best designated driver on the planet. We need more "Annies" in the world.

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Show Notes and Links

• Annie doesn't have Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tinder, LinkedIn, or any of that garbage.
• Elvis Presley sang a bunch of songs, like the one you hear a (very) short (Fair Use-protected) clip of toward the end of this show.

Emily Nagoski talks about her work as a sex educator and the misconceptions she's faced with when people stop her in the grocery store to ask about their sex lives.

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• Come As You Are: Dr. Nagoski's new show, where she talks with people 1-on-1 about sex. Anyone is welcome as a guest. All you need are questions and concerns about sex. It's launching next week right here on ESN. RSS feed here, iTunes feed still to come.
• Our Founding Sponsors: made ESN happen a year ago on 7 February 2014. Visit them and support what they do.

Show Notes and Links

• Emily's new book is also called Come As You Are, and is out in the US on 3 March 2015.
• Emily is doing a book tour, so go see her and be a lovely fan.
• Emily is on Twitter. Be nice.

Liz Furl left waiting tables behind to work in a call center. Little did she realize how much more difficult it would be to tell Medicare applicants that "there's no update on your status" for a living.

Listen to learn the art of the Polite Hang-Up, and whether you're dying fast enough.

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• Warner Archive Instant: the classic cinema and TV streaming service you've been waiting for, on Roku and iPad, supporting AirPlay to AppleTV.

Liz Furl

• Twitter
• LadyBits Podcast on 5by5

Show Notes and Links

• In 2015, Thank You For Calling! is going to continue to follow up on specific themed stories, including this one about customer service inside healthcare.

You Might Also Like

• Systematic, hosted by Brett Terpstra: an interview show unlike many others, hosted by the friendliest introvert you'll ever meet. This past week, he took a long, hot shower with Merlin Mann.

Venturing out during Black Friday weekend can be fascinating when you go not to shop, but to assess how American shopping culture has become its own form of zombie pandemic.

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• Harry's: even if already a customer, or if you've used a discount code, get $5 off the Winter Winston set with "THANKYOUHOLIDAY"

Before Friar Gabriel Mosher joined the Dominican Order, he worked in both fast food and bill collection. How does dealing with people who demand a "Medium" Frosty inform taking on religious life?

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• Backblaze: unlimited, unthrottled backup for $5/month

Show Notes and Links

• Brother Gabe is on Twitter.
• Historical note in the style of Dungeons & Dragons: "Brother Gabe" levels up to "Father Gabe" on 30 May 2015.
• The header photo is explained by this Yahoo! article. He can't help it, he's a Jesuit.
• The after-show for this episode will end up edited into a bonus episode of Electric Shadow, but it'll also be available here.

Drew Westphal and Anna Bartenstein run the customer service machine behind musician Jonathan Coulton. They cover everything, from emails about orders or general questions to the still-being-fulfilled, massively successful Code Monkey Save World Kickstarter from 2013.

They talk about their professional histories and why they love doing what they're doing for musicians like They Might Be Giants and "JoCo".

Special Guest Stars: Jonathan Coulton and Greg Pak!

Sponsors

• Backblaze: back that Mac up for only $5 a month (less if you sign up for longer). Whatever kind of computer you’re using, make sure you’re backing it up. Set up Backblaze for yourself or a family member (or both) today.
• The Magazine Book 2: Back their ending-in-24-hours Kickstarter to get some uncommonly great content. Salute and bid a fond farewell to a great publication. An eBook of the first one is now free!
• Symbolicons: by Jory Raphael, designer of all our new artwork. Get 40% off any icon set bundle with ESN1

Related Episodes

• Artist Edition 21: City of Monkeys (Greg Pak & Jonathan Coulton) is excerpted in part here. The interview was conducted just a few days into the Code Monkey Kickstarter.

Songs Fair-ly Used (in Order of Appearance)

• "Code Monkey"
• "See You All in Hell"
• "We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions"
• "The Whiffenpoof Song"
• "Big Bad World One"
• "Shop Vac"
• Buy them all (and more) here.

Show Notes and Links

• Drew Westphal on twitter
• Jonathan Coulton's website, and direct links to buy both songs and merch.
• The Yale Whiffenpoofs are ballers in white ties and tails.
• Six decades of Whiffenpoofs singing "The Whiffenpoof Song" at their 100th Anniversary celebration in 2009.
• Eric Carle is a national hero
• UPrinting

Drobo CEO Geoff Barrall details his company’s struggle to get AT&T to deliver on their promise of providing functioning internet and telephone service. While Drobo bends over backwards to support their customers, AT&T can’t be bothered to have its right hand work with its left to flip a switch. Is that really “just the way it is, man”?

Part 3 in an ongoing series: "Disconnecting Telecom"

Sponsors

• Symbolicons: by Jory Raphael, designer of all our new artwork. Get 40% off any icon set bundle with ESN1
• Harry's: They're improving the experience, price, convenience, and quality of shaving. Try their new Foaming Shave Gel and After Shave Lotion. Use THANKYOU at checkout for $5 off your first order.
• The Magazine Book 2: Back their Kickstarter and get some uncommonly great content to salute and bid a fond farewell to a great publication. An eBook of the first one is now free!

Guest

• Geoff Barrall founded and ran Drobo as founding CEO, left, and returned a year and a half ago. He has a university degree in cybernetics, and soft spot in his heart for 2000AD (Judge Dredd, et al). More on that bit below.

Related Episodes

• Thank You For Calling! #13: Escalation Points ("Telecom and AT&T" Part 1)
• Thank You For Calling! #14: Gesture of Goodwill ("Telecom and AT&T" Part 2)
• Giant Size Origins #14: Cigar-Smoking Baby (Geoff discussing Judge Dredd and 2000AD)

Show Notes and Links

• When Moisés saw Geoff reaching out to AT&T on Twitter to no response, Moisés inserted himself into the conversation.
• AT&T responded to Moisés as if he were the one having an issue. I guess the guy with more followers on Twitter is more important than a well-respected tech industry CEO.
• Our host heard the Drobo CEO on Mac Power Users #153 and followed Geoff. Geoff followed Moisés back.
• "I love your show," Geoff said in a DM. "Glad you're enjoying Critical Path," said Moisés. "No, I meant Giant Size." "...Wait...what?"
• This resulted in Geoff joining Antony Johnston on Giant Size Origins #14.
• Depending on how this situation develops, there might be two episodes of TYFC! next week. No matter what, there will be a followup installment of this developing story sometime soon.

Adam's Email to Drobo (Unedited and Unabridged)

Greg, 

I do not understand what I've done for you to believe that I haven't given you sufficient service. When we first met we discussed how 90 days was the standard interval for installation. I believe we were given just over a month and addressed changed. We created contracts, ordered services, cancelled services, all to help accommodate your move. We also created contracts for interim circuits to help you move in such a short timeframe. We had to get 5th level management approval to get this circuit approved as an interim solution. I understand your frustration as you need to run your business, but these issues are not coming from people not caring or lack of attention. Another Account Manager isn't going to be able to help with meeting due dates that you needed. Multiple people on your account team worked throughout the weekend to try and get the service installed. I'm not too sure what else anyone at AT&T could have done.

All the information you requested is below. Please use the link below and send me the trouble ticket number when you are done.

Adam <lastname redacted> 
Business Relationship Manager II 
Rethink Possible

Disclosure Statement

Drobo is a Founding Sponsor of this network, and continues to support our shows. That played no part in why this episode was recorded. No one at Drobo, including Geoff Barrall, suggested or influenced the planning of this episode. Geoff needed a couple of weeks of convincing.

TYFC! has addressed the topic of AT&T and regional telecom monopolies more than once on the show previously (as linked above). Situations like this are not right, and as you can hear on the show, it's gotten much worse since the beginning of the story.

TYFC! exists because I want to investigate why we keep making things unnecessarily hard for one another in a customer service context, and how we can cut through the noise, complacency, and spite. There's got to be a better way. Some episodes are fun, mini-memoirs of "the way things used to be", like an upcoming episode that features a 90-plus-year-old retired accountant, or the two-parter on video game retail. Some of them deal with the situations that make us want to scream. The next episode features two really nice people who love the work they do and the people they work to make happy.

If you, the listener, have any concerns, please send an email. I want to know that listeners trust the integrity of this and all the shows at ESN. You will get a response if you send something.

-Moisés