[matheusmoreira]

> Doing nothing is akin to saying my time is more valuable than yours, you silly plebian.

Well, isn't it? Just calculate how much you make per hour. Your time is more valuable than the time of anyone making less.

> It's the sort of attitude that reinforces the unfortunate stereotype that IT people are arrogant and view their expertise and role as more important than others'.

This is probably a good thing. Too often IT doesn't get the respect it deserves. Other people also view their expertise as more important than ours.

[doctor_eval]

Just because a caller earns less than you means nothing. If they’re a junior clerk and they can’t enter a million dollar invoice without your help, well their time might well be more valuable than yours.

[NikolaNovak]

I have witnessed plenty of cases where a lower-paid employee is performing a critical function that if not resolved has phenomenal cost.

e.g any number of administrators/co-ordinators/financial officers may get "paid less" than an IT support person; but a) the IT support person is explicitly being paid to support them and b) the value of actions they make is not 100% tied to their hourly rate - processing an invoice, writing up a contract, fulfilling some SLA, whatever.