Please Welcome Lauri Reinhardt
Back in 2007 when we incorporated TidBITS Publishing, Tonya and I were the only employees. Between us, we replied to all support email personally, and as much as we always tried to reduce problems by improving our Web sites and clarifying instructions, it still took a lot of time. In 2013, we hired Josh Centers as the managing editor of TidBITS, and his writing and editing has helped free up some time. But even still, as the number of administrative and support details ballooned, we found that we could no longer help people with lost passwords or accidentally duplicated orders and still have time to publish new content, especially on the Take Control side.
So we turned to our friend Lauri Reinhardt, who we met years ago when she was providing us with stellar support at our cart provider, eSellerate. She had left that job and was looking for part-time work, and most important, she understood what we meant when we told her that she should treat everyone writing in like a friend — beyond this being just good manners, we count many of you among our friends. If you’ve written in to the Take Control support address in the past year or two, you’ve likely been helped by Lauri.
We’re extremely pleased to announce that Lauri has now joined TidBITS Publishing as our fourth employee, with the title of Director of Customer Service, although she’ll be helping with all sorts of tasks. Lauri played an essential role with testing the Take Control Web site redesign earlier this year, and she serves as our liaison to the iBooks Store and to our publishing partner O’Reilly Media. We have lots more projects along these lines in mind for Lauri to work on. You may not see her name in TidBITS regularly, but if you
write to me with an administrative problem, for example, it’s likely you’ll hear back from Lauri (and probably sooner than I’d be able to respond, too).
Lauri is one of the nicest and most empathetic people we know, which is why she’s so good at customer support. Perhaps it’s partly due to being from the Midwest (she hails from Lincoln, Nebraska), or perhaps she’s just constitutionally pleasant, but regardless, we’ve enjoyed working with Lauri tremendously. Should you have the opportunity to interact with her, we hope you’ll come away with the same impression. And while this doesn’t come through in email, all our video calls with her are brightened by her parakeets chirping happily in the background.
With Lauri handling more administrative and support tasks, Tonya and I can spend more time on those projects that will benefit the most from our skills and experience. Without the excuse of needing to procrastinate on support email so often, we’re hoping to implement more of our big picture ideas that require time and focus.
Welcome Lauri! I have enjoyed the services of TidBits for many years and look forward to my continuing relationship. While I have seldom written to the Take Control address except to buy TCO Books, I know that I will be treated warmly by you. Blessings in this new venture! Thank you, JFR
Hi John! Thanks so much! Don't hesitate to get in touch any time you have a question or comment. I'm here to help!
Hi Laurie, welcome to TidBits. TidBits has helped me to keep being informed for many, many years (I can't remember for how long).
Hi there! Thanks so much! TidBITS and Take Control is a great place and I am happy to be here!
I am tremendously happy to learn that you have added Laurie to your staff. Several months ago, I had a problem over on the Take Control side of the house, and I was fortunate enough to have Laurie assigned to my case.
Laurie did a significantly commendable job of patiently dealing with my convoluted descriptions, oppressive requests, and general bellyaching. She guided me to more than one quite satisfactory solution, and we had a rollicking good time in the process. :-)
As I wrote to you afterwards, she represents the TidBITS team very well, indeed. Now, I am even more pleased to find that she will be with you on a full-time basis.
While I hope that I will have only minimal need of her services, I am confident that any issues I might have will be taken care of expeditiously, effectively, and courteously in her good hands.
Much we never want people to have problems, they are inevitable (I spent 20 minutes helping a guy the other day purely because he had a typo in an email address change that was causing all sorts of confusion). So when they do happen, it's great that Lauri does such a good job in resolving them.
Laurie, Welcome. I hope you enjoy working with Adam and Tonya and the rest of the gang at TidBITS. Long long ago I and my team at Dartmouth (especially Andy Williams) were helpful to the TidBITS efforts to keep Mac users informed and sharing solutions (and occasionally frustrations). Now retired, I still try to keep up with Mac user info, and TidBITS is still the cornerstone of sound info and shared advice. Have fun!
Randy's being modest - he and Andy were responsible for the very first TidBITS Web site ever, back when it was nearly impossible for small organizations to host one. It was much appreciated then, and something we'll always remember!
Always glad to see another Lincolnite working online.
Welcome, Laurie! I'm so happy to hear that you will be working directly with TidBITS. I've have the pleasure of being helped by you more than once when you were working on the eSellerate end of my Take Control book orders.
Your patience in walking me through a technical (not human, I swear!) glitch in the system, and especially your kindness and humour in doing so allow me to enthusiastically endorse Adam's appraisal of your customer relations skills. Can I also mention how impressed I was by your promptness in responding to my cry for help? I believe on one of those occasions I was trying to place an order around 3 a.m. PST and got an immediate reply from you!
Glad to know you'll be there for us as a regular member of the team.
Warm regards,
Jean