Congratulations Vicki Winton, Socket's You-Make-the-Difference award winner for November!

This month's You-Make-The-Difference Award winner, Vicki Winton, is officially described as a business account coordinator, but that hardly does justice to the multitude of jobs she gets done.

It may not look like much. Just a used maxi sneaker made by Case or Astec, depending on who you ask, dragged to Missouri from Minnesota.

But our new vibratory plow is a huge next step for Socket and our Rural Fiber Project.

Why? It allows us to do our own drops, which connect homes and businesses to our existing fiber route.

Chelsea Jaggard, one of our Business Account Coordinators, was chosen as Socket's You-Make-the-Difference-Award winner for October. If you’ve ever been to our office in Columbia, you’ve probably met her – she’s the one right in front of the door.

“Chelsea manages to work the front desk, handle incoming inquiries for both business and residential accounts, and navigate all the front office traffic and keep on the phones,” said a coworker who nominated her. “She’s always willing to help out.”

On Friday, October 19th, the mood at our Columbia office was somber. Socketeers came to work wearing black. A few even donned mourning veils.

That’s right – our president, Carson Coffman, is officially over the hill.

We figured the least we could do was throw him a surprise party after work. So while his fellow co-owner George Pfenenger shuttled him out of the building, we broke out the grill and started barbecuing…

October 1-5 is Customer Service Appreciation Week, a time to recognize and thank employees dedicated to taking care of customers.

Here at Socket, everyone is involved in making the customer experience exceptional. So to celebrate, we’ve been having some festivities around the office!

Every month, Socket employees nominate and vote on a co-worker who best exemplifies our Core Values and Beliefs. This month, we picked Jason Vander Veen, Residential Supervisor.

By the way, “Residential Supervisor” is actually short for “Residential Customer Service and Tech Support Supervisor” – quite the mouthful! Jason oversees both sections simultaneously, a talent that puts even the most ambidextrous among us to shame.

What would you do if the phones at your business stopped ringing?

More importantly, what would your telecom provider do?

We’ve all become so dependent on our voice and data networks that we cringe even thinking about a disaster. But the fact is that they happen.