Help Desk

I've worked at a company in PA that outsources its services as a help desk (much like those companies in Bangladesh) to other companies for almost 4 years. I've also done a stint at my current employer as help desk (for their proprietary software) for a year. These are my feelings on help desk employees.

Firstly, it takes a special kind of person to do help desk properly. Not because the work is difficult, per se, but because most of the job is customer service. They need to properly diffuse live situations with frantic, irate customers, and still try to solve the technical issues while calming them. I've had calls where people have deleted their project files and called in, and by the end of the call they were thanking me despite my not being able to help them. I've also had calls where I failed miserably at catering to the individual's emotional needs, and solely focused on the technical issues. Those customers probably felt used, or maybe some other negative emotional feelings. They were not happy at the end of the call.

If you're stuck in help desk hell, remember this: The customer is always right (d'uh), and they may make it seem like it's your fault. Your most important task in this situation, is position the problem not between you and the customer, but instead position it on the other side of you and the customer. Imagine an invisible fence between you and the customer, with the problem in the center. You want to jump into their side of the fence, next to them, and attack the problem together. It helps.