I've been having a very customer-servicey few days, what with Apple and AT&T and everything. But this is the best story yet, because it involves me getting an email from the 407th richest person in the world.

Some background: Dan Rather is like a mythical figure to me, as my earliest childhood memories include the cultivation of a deep respect for the CBS Evening News. The mere glimpse of Dan's face fills me with the sort of deep abiding respect that usually can only be felt by wizened Indians for the natural beauty that was once this country.

Dan's new show only airs on HDNet, which is apparently some kind of television thing. I only use TVs for internet stuff -- NetFlix and YouTube -- because it's too much work to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to broadcast TV. (Not that YouTube isn't overflowing with chaff; but at least you can subscribe to the users you like.) So I wrote to HDNet, regarding Dan Rather Reports:

Hi,
Is the show available on iTunes? I don't watch TV, but I'd gladly pay to subscribe to this program.
Matt

Hi Matt-

Thanks for the email. We hope to offer "Dan Rather Reports" over iTunes in the near future, however, in the meantime, please feel free to check out last night's episode in its entirety at the following link:

http://www.hd.net/danrather.html

Thanks, again and please feel free to contact us with any other comments or questions.

You can stream it from www.hd.net/danrather

Now, wait. Does this mean that Mark Cuban personally sent me instructions for watching his network's shows? Maybe not -- it could have been his secretary; or he could have a whole army of "Mark Cuban" emailers, sending out these little rejoinders, just to make potential customers feel cool.

But the point is: OMFG. One pithy email, and all of a sudden I'm automatically basking in Executive Customer Support, and by Executive, I mean the actual freaking Chairman of the board. Goodbye, chaff! Hello, wheat!