1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148 
• It's a well-known fact that when it comes to
Page 43
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
working hours, the Hawk is not only an early bird, but also a bit of a night owl. This hardly endears me to Mrs Hawk (she who must be constantly supplied with nesting material), but does at least show which companies give that little bit more when it comes to keeping the customer satisfied.
The other day I was truly desperate to speak to a certain gentleman in the industry at 7.30pm. The phone rang, a voice answered — and to it was nether an answerphone nor a sleepy security guard, but the man himself.
Could he help me out? Indeed he could. And he did, leaving the Hawk happy to swoop back to his spartan mountaintop dwelling.
I shall spare the gentleman's blushes by not revealing his identity, suffice to say he works for a certain manufacturer "somewhere in Oxford".
Of course you might think working to 7.30 at night is chicken (or Hawk) feed; but considering the fact that many so-called "service" companies switch on the answerphone at lunchtime, pack up promptly at sundown and push off at four o'clock on a Friday (POETS day).
I reckon my man's a cut above the rest — unless you can tell me better?