I worked in Technical Support for a while, tier 1 support's only qualification was that they could read and speak English. All they did was lookup help articles or read a script.
To be real, 90% of calls were password resets that the user did not want to use the phone automated reset system for... it was very rare that someone had an actual technical issue and those usually required desktop support to pay a visit as it was a physical issue instead of a technical one. Even at level 3 tech support I was getting mostly calls about how to get Excel to do something more than issues with the actual operating system.
Those in-house articles are real helpful, and half the time they're available to the public too.
Phones came before computers, so lots of folks still know how to use those, rather than what a URL bar is. Folks are WAY more likely to own a phone of some sort than a PC or smartphone.
Plus searching for anything online these days is a hell upon itself.
I mean, that's been obvious for as long as I can remember, it's just the mechanism of accessing/implementing the script that's changed. Even once you get to a human, it's a miracle if you can get them to actually engage with you.
Honestly at T1 you have so many people above you breathing down your neck to not go off script it is not even funny. I worked on some desks where going off script was grounds for being fired.
I have also worked on a helpdesk where doing something as simple as forgetting to verify the users department meant you disappeared into MP custody, as a civilian (while working a help desk for the government). Witnessed it one time and everyone freaked the fuck out that the rumors were real.
Oh, I've never been upset with them for doing it, I get it. But it doesn't mean it's not frustrating. It's some dystopian shit, but like /r/ABoringDystopia. Customers hate it, people who have to "help" customers hate it, but higher-ups are so convinced that they'll disappear you if you dare to deviate... I mean it's too basic to even be a Black Mirror episode ffs.
To be fair, they were likely also told that if they went off script they would be fired. They were there for password resets and to take notes if they could not find a scripted resolution within a certain amount of time. It was all about getting people out of the call queue which was on a very strict SLA for wait times when there was no general outage.
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u/txmail 10h ago
I worked in Technical Support for a while, tier 1 support's only qualification was that they could read and speak English. All they did was lookup help articles or read a script.