Current Events > Starting a Help Desk job. How bad is it?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'll be working at the main branch of a tax company, assisting other employees at smaller branches over the phone.

So a call center that deals with employees instead of customers? Is it going to shred my soul?
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@Error1355

Oh yeah, good call
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If it's anything like the one I got right now, it's awesome. You will mainly just browse GameFAQs or whatever you browse all day, and then play games to fix an issue - which is just mainly turning a computer off and on for someone.
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Employees can be worse than outside customers, trust me
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Way better than dealing with customers. At least other employees will retain professionalism.
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Bio1590 posted...

Employees can be worse than outside customers, trust me

Damn. I was hoping that would save me.
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3khc posted...

At least other employees will retain professionalism.

It's cute that someone actually believes that.

Mikablu posted...

3khc posted...

At least other employees will retain professionalism.

It's cute that someone actually believes that.

It's true. If you scream at a customer for offensive then you get fired. If someone internally in the customer becomes offensive with you then you can go to HR and they will get into trouble.

This is actually a really good way to move yourself up in the IT world.
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OpShaft posted...

Bio1590 posted...

Employees can be worse than outside customers, trust me

Damn. I was hoping that would save me.

Only issue I can guess is that some people will need you to do everything.

I do think it would be better than dealing with customers, if you can handle the job easily.
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Yeah, I kinda wish I had started out doing a helpdesk job where I was helping employees and not customers. I'm a network engineer now, but we also have helpdesk guys that primarily assist users and escalate to me if it's a network issue they can't fix or can't figure out. It's so much better.
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Assisting employees is a lot more relaxed of a setting than customers. Customers are almost expected to be entitled screaming children and your job revolves around coddling them back into acting like adults. With employees, there are actual channels you can go through if someone does the same stuff with you
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I can't get this gif to print D: can you help me?
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ultimate reaver posted...

Assisting employees is a lot more relaxed of a setting than customers. Customers are almost expected to be entitled screaming children and your job revolves around coddling them back into acting like adults. With employees, there are actual channels you can go through if someone does the same stuff with you

Eh, not when the employees are higher rank than you.... I work IT at a lawfirm, and we get shit on so much, and we can't do much about attorneys acting that way. Hell, we had an office in TX that was really really obnoxious about it, until the hurricane hit and one of the managing partner's wife stepped in to help, and she got same attitude from the employees. After she complained to her husband, and he brought it up to the others did it get better.
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Had orientation today. Didn't really help much. Start training on Monday.
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it's good experience and will teach you a lot about concise communication, prioritizing tasks, and the importance of covering your ass.

however the work will likely get tedious quickly, and while you will develop thick skin to angry customers saying that you should be fired because their computer isn't working (when in reality their monitor is turned off), it will get to you at some point
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ultimate reaver posted...

Assisting employees is a lot more relaxed of a setting than customers. Customers are almost expected to be entitled screaming children and your job revolves around coddling them back into acting like adults. With employees, there are actual channels you can go through if someone does the same stuff with you

This.

Romulox28 posted...

will teach you a lot about concise communication, prioritizing tasks, and the importance of covering your ass.

Holy shit this. CYA policy my friend. Note everything in a ticket including the times you attempted to call a person and they didn't answer.
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BlazinBlue88 posted...

ultimate reaver posted...

Assisting employees is a lot more relaxed of a setting than customers. Customers are almost expected to be entitled screaming children and your job revolves around coddling them back into acting like adults. With employees, there are actual channels you can go through if someone does the same stuff with you

This.

Romulox28 posted...

will teach you a lot about concise communication, prioritizing tasks, and the importance of covering your ass.

Holy shit this. CYA policy my friend. Note everything in a ticket including the times you attempted to call a person and they didn't answer.

Don't forget to save all your emails, and never just call. If you call and they don't answer, always send an email with the same message, that way you have a paper trail.
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Help Desk guy working at a local hospital here.

Its not a bad gig, but its been pretty rough lately with a big rollout coming up here in February for thousands of new machines.
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Would help desk be better on the phone or on live chat?
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OpShaft posted...

Would help desk be better on the phone or on live chat?

Phone. People are naturally chatty so you can small talk with them. Helps them forget that you're taking so long to fix their issue.
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@pojr
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OpShaft posted...

I'll be working at the main branch of a tax company, assisting other employees at smaller branches over the phone.

So a call center that deals with employees instead of customers? Is it going to shred my soul?

Employees are better than customers

With customers, you have to be professional to them but they can treat you any way they want

With employees, both you and them treat each other in a pofessional way. There still might be rudeness and frustration, but it's still much better than dealing with customers
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I wouldnt want the job of solving someones computer issues. Sure some of them may be simple, but eventually youll run into some problem that is a bitch to solve.
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