I work in Desktop Support now, but for a long while I was providing phone support to a health system.
Most calls were from customers who were totally frustrated, and angry that they had to make the call to the helpdesk in the 1st place.
WhenI get a caller who’s having problems, and they are blowing steam in the direction of the faceless person on the phone, here are a few lines I’ve used to try and break the ice, get their attention and calm them down (usually with a little humor).
* As I’m typing and not hitting the right keys, I remark, “I just washed my hands and can’t do a thing with them.” It’s funny how many have to stop and re-think what I just said to them.
* Other things I do, especially with the known issues in Windows and/or mixing with network programs, “Its a feature, not a bug.”
* Try to be creative. Another way of explaining what happened to their system is equate it with what they do for a living. In healthcare, its easy to say we are doing surgeryon the pc, or giving it a labotomy, or something to the affect that helps them understand in their terms what’s happening with their system.
All they want is something in their language…English, not ours…geekize.
By the way, this carries over to Desktop support as well. Explaining things in their English, and terminology helps them feel a part of the process, and calm them down, and hopefully give them a good laugh it you do it right.