How Microsoft gave customers what they wanted: An audience with Bill Gates

Microsoft had a special way of dealing with customers demanding to speak to its CEO. One that kept the customer happy without necessarily bothering His Billness.

According to veteran Microsoft engineer Raymond Chen, there was a procedure followed by product support staff if a customer (presumably a prized customer) became irate enough during a call to demand to speak with Bill Gates.

Chen recalled a colleague in product support explaining the process. First, there would be apologies for not resolving the issue to the customer's satisfaction. If that failed to smooth ruffled feathers and the demands to speak to The Boss continued, then the magic happened.

Chen went on: "The customer was transferred to a special internal phone number, and when the operators saw a call on that line, they took the call and said, "Bill Gates's office."

Of course, the operator wasn't actually in Bill Gates ...