People I Most Admire

Richard Benn
I met Richard at PSI modem company, just before Elsa Perez was fired. I was the "newbie" in so many ways, so I got no respect. Richard only said "hello" and gave me that "she's not gonna make it look". Within a few weeks and little or no training, I guess I gained Richard and Ric Jones' respect and was part of the 3 member team that had customers worldwide thinking PSI was this huge modem company with a large technical support group. We had so much fun working, but it was stressful. We even had to call customers back from our own home lines. All this for a company that really didn't give a damn about its employees or customers. I heard the founders were indicted for tax fraud, changed their names and are living in Idaho somewhere.

But we cared and cared about the customers. And the customers showed how much they appreciated us. Richard also had a considerable amount of integrity on and off the job. He would never leave even the customer "who just learned how to find the power key on his computer" hanging. With more than 1 customer on the line, Richard would take the time to handhold the customer through it all - patiently, but with that "I'm dying over here" look on his face. In the end, he'd receive the nicest letter of appreciation for Richard and PSI, and more than anything, Richard was happy the customer solved their modem and software problems that we resolved beyond modem help. No matter how rude a customer was, he was always polite. But thank goodness for the mute and hold buttons because to get through the call, with the mute or hold button active, we heard all his frustrations and the laughter could be heard on the other side of the walls and beyond.

The most memorable moment was Christmas Eve in 92, Richard and I were working non-stop on one call after another. We had hired a 4th support rep, but he just wanted to hang out and chat. Richard and I just gave each other that "oh, you have got to be kidding me" look, while juggling 3 customers at the same time. Richard brought in a cool Christmas tunes tape which featured Run DMC, Nat King Cole, Stevie Nicks, and other cool artists. By the end of the day, because we had heard "It's Christmas times in Hollis Queens, mom's in the kitchen cookin' collard greens..." about a hundred times, when we finally shut off the tech support lines, we started singing the song and just walked out. No goodbyes to the other rep, just walked out the door to the parking lot and looked forward to the two-week break.

Since that day, Richard and I became close friends. We supported each other through every work drama. When I jumped ship to the company's competitor, Global Village, he actually wrote a personal letter to defend me when the company's founders wanted to start trouble by saying my leaving and joining their #1 competitor sabotaged their company and a bunch of other nonsense. This was the turning in point in learning who was really a friend and what a workplace is actually for.

And through all this drama and nonsense, and even when I stood alone repeatedly on the job, Richard was there to make me laff and say "forget those people, we know the truth, so that's all that matters".

Richard and I always stay in touch, spent some holidays together and he became one of those friends that you could just do absolutely nothing with but have one of the best times. We'd find the silliest things to do and just could not stop laff'g while he was mimicking folks, including those from PSI and Global Village. And no matter where we went (to the store, to a park, or any ordinary place) something comical would just happen. I obviously really care about him because I was willing to sit in his house with his tarantula and boa, caged, of course! Even when other guests wanted to play with either, he'd make sure they were as far away as possible. Or maybe it was that "I'll stab you if you come closer look"?!

Richard left the tech biz and is pursuing an acting career in both San Francisco and Los Angeles. I've seen a couple of the children's plays he's directed and they were way cool. He appeared in Nash Bridges a couple of times and an independent film. It doesn't matter whether it's acting, something technical, I'm sure whatever Richard wants to do, he'll be very successful at it because he's a good person with a good heart.
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