Years ago when I was doing tech support for a hospitality software company we had a lean team of support reps and I was having a particularly stressful week. Tons of calls coming in, no easy resolutions, frustrated customers. Many of you can probably relate. I remember one of my buddies on the help desk saying to me “everything is broken…nothing is working.” That became our phrase of the day when the you-know-what was hitting the fan and there was no clear end in sight. Friday rolled around and I made my 100-mile commute home–exhausted–but happy to meet up with my husband and some friends to get dinner and catch a movie. Throughout dinner, I tried to put the stress of the busy week behind me, grateful that I wasn’t on call that weekend.
We got to the movie theater, bought our tickets and settled in for a relaxing film–or so I thought. We were seeing Pushing Tin (so that dates me a bit). If you haven’t seen Pushing Tin, it is decent film about air traffic controllers and stars John Cusack and some other folks. I don’t remember a whole lot about the movie except this key bit that changed my outlook on tech support forever: Tech support is like air traffic control except for one REALLY MAJOR difference. I didn’t have thousands of people’s lives in my hands depending on me to land them safely. My job was crisis control and managing a lot of moving parts in a similar sort of firing squad approach that air traffic controllers have to deal with. But nobody was going to die if I didn’t get it right.
And with that, my outlook changed. I relaxed, enjoyed the rest of my weekend and went back to work Monday knowing that I could take my job seriously (but not too seriously) and focus on giving the very best support I was able to provide with a smile on my face, knowing that all I needed to do was solve some technical issues, not get someone home to their family.
I have enormous respect for those of you who support customers everyday. I know how intense it can be. Our customers are the lifeblood of our businesses, and in this economy that means a whole lot more than it used to. You are the heroes of the organization and that’s why we are here. To create great products that make your jobs easier, improve your customers’ experience and help bring those figurative “planes” in for a landing. I look forward to hearing from you and getting to hear your stories.
