How do you get better at your job when you have been told you suck?

Armymanis

How do you get better at your job when you have been told you suck at it? I thought i was doing a great job having only been at this for 2 months and learning all i can. I just got told today that I suck and need to improve big time on how i talk to customers and be actually pleased to talk to them. The fact is, i am really pleased. When a company does not give you the right tools to do your job and looses your access papers, you get really nervous and freeze up and start looking to other people for answers. I am doing help desk fyi, and find it very fun to be on the computer all day answering calls so this news really hit me hard. I was sad for around an hour after work and just figured out I need to improve on stuff. Also I was called in the tickets I write up, to not call the people User in the subject line. Call them customer or by their first name. I get by their first name is a lot more personal but whats the difference between the customer and the user? They sound the same to me. They both have a problem and want it solved.

Also, any tips on how to improve when your slowly but surly being given the right access tools to programs and stuff? I finally got my own desk today which i was pleased about.

Krunchi

I work in an Enterprise support environment supporting Server harware and NOS so I have to deal with some of the same thing's.
Calling someone a User just sounds bad do it only to other IT types as for saying they have a problem is also bad it can come off rough if I said to you over the phone "OK what's you problem" you could take it wrong but if I said "OK what seems to be the issue" it sounds so much better.

Some people just go through life pissed at the world and they thrive off of negativity don't give them a reason and kill them with kindness.

N2IT

Armymanis wrote: »

How do you get better at your job when you have been told you suck at it? I thought i was doing a great job having only been at this for 2 months and learning all i can. I just got told today that I suck and need to improve big time on how i talk to customers and be actually pleased to talk to them. The fact is, i am really pleased. When a company does not give you the right tools to do your job and looses your access papers, you get really nervous and freeze up and start looking to other people for answers. I am doing help desk fyi, and find it very fun to be on the computer all day answering calls so this news really hit me hard. I was sad for around an hour after work and just figured out I need to improve on stuff. Also I was called in the tickets I write up, to not call the people User in the subject line. Call them customer or by their first name. I get by their first name is a lot more personal but whats the difference between the customer and the user? They sound the same to me. They both have a problem and want it solved.

Also, any tips on how to improve when your slowly but surly being given the right access tools to programs and stuff? I finally got my own desk today which i was pleased about.

Your second point isn't a big deal. Stop typing user and starting typing customer, problem solved.

As far as your voice/wording goes, that is a bit more tricky. Some people are naturals at that part and others aren't. A few tips I would tell my techs when reviewing their phone calls.

-Smile when you talk to the customer on the headset. It supposed to bring a more positive tone over the phone.
-Always thank them for calling
-Always ask if you can do anything else for them
-Realize without them you don't exist. They are the business users [usually], and they are to be treated as such.
-Ask your manager how you can improve. What do they expect from you on the phone. Get some examples, maybe create a canned response in the beginning. Thank you for calling X company my name is Armymanis how may I assist you?

I would get a service management book how to talk to the customer. It doesn't have to be IT related just customer service.

lsud00d

N2IT wrote: »

Your second point isn't a big deal. Stop typing user and starting typing customer, problem solved.

As far as your voice/wording goes, that is a bit more tricky. Some people are naturals at that part and others aren't. A few tips I would tell my techs when reviewing their phone calls.

-Smile when you talk to the customer on the headset. It supposed to bring a more positive tone over the phone.
-Always thank them for calling
-Always ask if you can do anything else for them
-Realize without them you don't exist. They are the business users [usually], and they are to be treated as such.
-Ask your manager how you can improve. What do they expect from you on the phone. Get some examples, maybe create a canned response in the beginning. Thank you for calling X company my name is Armymanis how may I assist you?

I would get a service management book how to talk to the customer. It doesn't have to be IT related just customer service.

Well put N2IT!

And FWIW OP, if someone tells you that you are not doing well at customer service, you are probably not doing well at customer service.

SouthSeaPirate

You don't suck, you need to improve. Show them that you can man up. I believe you need to tell yourself that you can do better, then be better. I do understand some out there can be Manager Nazis just for the sake of it. Follow the advice above, which I believe is spot on. With that I will add; show them what you are capable of, being better. Don't give them the chance to judge you negatively. You are only human, but you can still show that you are trying your best to meet the expectations of your superiors. Good luck friend!

apr911

Sounds to me like your technical skills arent being challenged but your people skills are. IT is tough. Frontline IT (helpdesk) even tougher. As a frontline IT staffer, you need to not only know how to interface with computers, networks and programs to fix them but you also need to be able to interface with users as well.

The key really is to make it personal. User is very generic and cold sounding. If you need proof, go watch Tron (its not till near the end of the movie that the terms program and user take on a more congenial tone, even then programs are mostly referred to as programs and users as their name). If you want to use something generic (saves time) use Hello Team. It makes it sound like you are including the user. If you want to make it a little more personal go with Hello Company Team and of course for direct communications go with Hello persons-name.

My rule of thumb generally is, if I am responding to someone in a Ticket, I am going to use their name. If I am responding to an automated alert or generating the ticket myself or any other time when I have not had direct communication from the customer, I use hello team or hello customer team.

Again its just about making the user feel welcomed and included. Computers are uncaring, cold pieces of logic. They dont care whats said and how its said as long as its syntactically correct (i.e. cisco devices will execute "write memory" or "wr me" the same way but "me wr" wont work... syntax). (Again, go watch Tron for proof. Programs have no problem being referred to as Program but users have names)

Users on the other hand want to feel welcomed and involved. The dont want to feel like they are being talked down to or at. They want you to stroke their ego

"oh, well your having an issue opening xyz program? Well lets take a look and see if we can figure it out... Oh here it is you need to run this program as administrator. Its an easy setting to miss but it should work for you now." <- This statement does all of the above. "lets take a look" and "see if WE can figure it out" is all about inclusion. "its an easy setting to miss" is all about stroking the user's ego making them feel good about having called support.

This work better than "oh well your having an issue opening xyz program? Let me take a look and see what I can work out. Oh here it is, you need to run this program as administrator and everything will work."

See the difference?

Id recommend you take a technical writing class, one geared toward customer service. This should help with what you type and with practice what you say.

Hope that helps.

wweboy

We never call our users customers. Because our help desk is transparent we use Mr. Smith or Ms. Jones etc. Prior to starting on the help desk did you work any customer service oriented jobs?

MrRyte

Few FYIs:
1. Address them by their last name (Simply addressing a person by their last name does wonders-and no it's not KISSING A$$)
2. It's just what you say; it's the WAY YOU SAY IT.
3. No matter what; project a warm; friendly persona over the phone.
4. Depending on the severity of the issue; do a followup call to see how things are going. (do it on your downtime though; the client/customer/user may spring another issue on you when do your follow up call.....)

I realize these are generalities but without more specifics regarding your performance it's hard to give you more precise advice. Wish you well going forward (I don't believe in luck....)

NathanielTurner

Here is what worked for me :

I have an aggressive personality and can come across rough around the edges. What i had to do was make a script that covered all the bases. At first I sounded like i was reading from a teleprompter. I soon chnaged my script by adding catch phrases that worked with my personality and sounded normal .I also made sure that I had a copy of what the team leads where looking for in my documentation and what they were listening for when they did call audits. I also borrowed ideas from those that were considered the better agents. I also told my supervisor that I would try it his way. That let him known that I was willing to work to get better. I kept him on the loop on how i felt i was doing .
They way I see it now is that customer service is a skill set that you have to have going forward. Employers are looking for people who have these skills when they walk into the door. Look at is a way to help you get more $$$.

I still have a strong personality but I channel it and use it to control the call and to get things done.

Just my $.02

NetworkingStudent

Armymanis wrote: »

How do you get better at your job when you have been told you suck at it? I thought i was doing a great job having only been at this for 2 months and learning all i can. I just got told today that I suck and need to improve big time on how i talk to customers and be actually pleased to talk to them. The fact is, i am really pleased. When a company does not give you the right tools to do your job and looses your access papers, you get really nervous and freeze up and start looking to other people for answers. I am doing help desk fyi, and find it very fun to be on the computer all day answering calls so this news really hit me hard. I was sad for around an hour after work and just figured out I need to improve on stuff. Also I was called in the tickets I write up, to not call the people User in the subject line. Call them customer or by their first name. I get by their first name is a lot more personal but whats the difference between the customer and the user? They sound the same to me. They both have a problem and want it solved.

Also, any tips on how to improve when your slowly but surly being given the right access tools to programs and stuff? I finally got my own desk today which i was pleased about.

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Armymanis

I have had customer service experience which was all face to face with not only this company but many others. I have been working since I was 16 and I am 22 now. I have only taken 1 year off of work and never have gotten any complaints like I did at this job before. I am going to start using their First and last name in the ticket and start being more pleasant on the phone. I know IT is something i want to do. Prior to this I have only had 5 months of phone experience troubleshooting Microsoft office programs to students at my local college. The rest of my jobs have only been face to face retail. Funny thing is I get along with all my co-workers at every job i am good at, yet customer service is always something I need to work on. I have gotten all averages on everyone of my reviews for jobs I have worked at. Never have I gotten a beyond expectations review. Wish that would happen.

advanex1

Stop wishing and as Nike says "Just do it." I'm a little curious though.. did your supervisor actually say "You suck, fix your customer service skills" or did he say that you needed improvement in that area and give you things to think about in terms of different ways to do things, etc. etc.

If he just said you suck and it's this problem... that's a terrible manager... but if he did it the second way... that's great. Just means you've identified the problem and now you can fix it... that simple. Don't get bent out of shape about something like this because trust me, as you get older... you'll get much worse.

Armymanis

He says that I need improvement in that area.

CodeBlox

On our helpdesk it's forbidden to put a persons name in a ticket. I always use "User" or "Customer". At least someone told you what your problem was. I just so happened to have taken the liberty of looking through my previous tickets that got escalated because I could not figure out how to resolve them. I wanted to know what the tier 3 tech did to fix it. Not only did I learn something new so that I dont escalate the same ticket, I also noticed in some of them where they added the ticket to a database for improper procedures. Once I saw those, I corrected what I was doing from then on out. Had I not chose to look through my previous tickets, I'd have never known this. Don't understand why they never informed me of the mistake either instead of letting me do it over and over and "putting it on file" for me to be in hot water.

Edit: This might sound odd but when I looked at those tickets from about 4 months ago, I found it hilarious the way I was doing things and how my documentation really sucked. Could not believe thats how I was documenting tickets.

An example of one of the tickets is where I took the persons name down incorrectly so no one could even find them in AD, misdiagnosed the problem and put no contact information in the ticket for tier 3 to contact the person. I think that was an adverse too. They were forced to close the ticket as there was no way to contact this person.

IEWANNABE

Get with co-workers who are good at doing what you are not, and ask them for advice and perhaps some training via role-play.

the_Grinch

I'm lucky in the fact that all of my jobs prior to going into IT were customer service related. I was a manager at a movie theater for years and if you can do that you can work anywhere. I always loved phone support because I tend to where my emotions on my sleeve and if you can see me you can see that I am mad/sad/glad. But my voice never gives away what I am feeling, thus no issues on the phone. The best way to deal with things is to be very personable and basically just be overly nice. Best complaint you can ever get is "this guy was way too nice". If you treat each person as if they were your mother (assuming you like your mother) then you won't have to worry. I always like to use the persons first name because customer/user/whatever doesn't sound personable. As far as running into a point where you don't know something, I usually ask if I can place them on a brief hold or call them back within 5 minutes to do some further research. The other thing is you are new and it does take time to develop phone skills. I had always been a desk side tech, so jumping on the phones took me a couple of months to be comfortable and to work out the kinks in my speaking (too fast, too low, etc). Give it time, take the criticism in stride, and work to become better. You'll get through it don't worry, none of us were awesome when we started (or at least I wasn't).

Daniel333

There is always room for improvement. Don't doubt that. But the nature of the beast is that you can get up every morning and say, "I have improved X things about myself since yesterday" Sometimes that's enough for the system, sometimes it's not. But the important thing is you focus on you.

I've sent candy to customers, follow up emails a few days after the issue is considered resolved, etc etc. Most of it works. But there is no one method that matches your personality/background, to the customer needs and personality. It's something you build over time.

1) Listening to everyone is a bad idea. Find a mentor, someone who you like, who they like. Ask them to mentor you. Pick one trait a week and work it into your routine. Do what this person tells you. It's not just okay to humble yourself, but mandatory.
2) "How to win friends and influence people" is still the gold standard when it comes to professional interaction in anglo-american culture. Live it, breathe it. 1 chapter a month and APPLY IT. It's not a book you read in a week.
3) Physical traits count, get in shape, smile, smell good, dress half a step above what is expected of you with a touch of individuality.
4) Social, build your network. Start taking people to drinks, coffee etc. Doing this often shows you social and political lines that exist you might not have been aware of.
5) Work hard, I am the first person in at my department and last one out. People notice this kind of dedication. There is an art to the littlest things we do as IT professionals. Try and find it.
6) Keep your skills up, A+ alone pretty sad. If you are committed to technology, then you need to expect at least 2-3 more certs by June. (MTA certs, CCENT, MCITP, HDI etc)
7) You might want to consider seeing if your boss will let you take courses in Project+ and HDI (Help desk representative, Customer Service analyst and Desktop support professional) can make things that are not clear stand out more. One course alone won't help much, but working on them endlessly will set in motion change.
Ah! Almost forgot, Delivering Happiness. A great book about someone's real struggle with the idea of customer service.

All of these things are so obvious our pride makes them hard to apply. Just remember, its a game you play against yourself. Each day, be better a player than you were yesterday.

Armymanis

I just finished up my AA in Technical Support and am getting it in December. Moving onto my bachelors. Whats HDI?

Daniel333

HDI focuses on the softskills. Some of their basic stuff is.. well. Basic. But as you move up their track they really start to dig deep. But you need to start the bottom and it can seem tedious.

Google for details

Armymanis

I thought since i am working on my bachelors and just finished up my AA. It's harder and I want to focus on my job instead of certs.

powerfool

"When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead."

-Barney Stinson


I think it applies.

Psoasman

Armymanis wrote: »

How do you get better at your job when you have been told you suck at it? I thought i was doing a great job having only been at this for 2 months and learning all i can. I just got told today that I suck and need to improve big time on how i talk to customers and be actually pleased to talk to them. The fact is, i am really pleased. When a company does not give you the right tools to do your job and looses your access papers, you get really nervous and freeze up and start looking to other people for answers. I am doing help desk fyi, and find it very fun to be on the computer all day answering calls so this news really hit me hard. I was sad for around an hour after work and just figured out I need to improve on stuff. Also I was called in the tickets I write up, to not call the people User in the subject line. Call them customer or by their first name. I get by their first name is a lot more personal but whats the difference between the customer and the user? They sound the same to me. They both have a problem and want it solved.

Also, any tips on how to improve when your slowly but surly being given the right access tools to programs and stuff? I finally got my own desk today which i was pleased about.

Did the person actually say you suck? That's unprofessional at best. The other posters provided some good advice. You might watch the other people on the phone and see what they are doing when dealing with customers. Nothing wrong with stealing good ideas. My first IT position was for one of the local ISPs. I would address them as Mr. / Mrs. on the phone. You can also put their name in your tickets. It gives more specific info, when others are looking through the tickets for follow up, etc.
From my experience, users are the people in the company that you work for, customers would be people that are contracted with your company. As far as getting access to various tools and programs, that can take time. You could watch someone work with a program you don't have access to get a head start.

Armymanis

He said I need improvement, which is understandable since I have only been on for 2 months at this position. My other position with the same company was 4 months and I was doing such an excellent job they promoted me to this position, which is way more technical then being a Desktop Technician 1. As a Desktop Technician 1 all i did was drill PC mounts into desks and mount PC's and did that for 4 months.

Plantwiz

IEWANNABE wrote: »

Get with co-workers who are good at doing what you are not, and ask them for advice and perhaps some training via role-play.

Likley the easiest soluton. Perhaps your manager is able to recommend someone he/she thinks is doing well and could help coach you a bit. If you seek out a peer directly, they may see it as competition and only provide half-hearted assistance. If your manager suggests is for the 'best interest of the team' your co-worker has an interest to do well in coaching you (looks good for them), plus if it is a true team atmosphere, the 'whole' group looks better when you get better.

Not sure why everyone is so sensative about being told someone 'sucks'? We're getting a little soft as a society and sometimes it's best to call a spade a spade. I don't think the OP was offened, he/she seems to be looking to resolve the problem so the next review goes much better and that is the point, identify the issue, look for solutions, impliment those solutions, test, rinse, repeat or proceed.

Turgon

Plantwiz wrote: »

Likley the easiest soluton. Perhaps your manager is able to recommend someone he/she thinks is doing well and could help coach you a bit. If you seek out a peer directly, they may see it as competition and only provide half-hearted assistance. If your manager suggests is for the 'best interest of the team' your co-worker has an interest to do well in coaching you (looks good for them), plus if it is a true team atmosphere, the 'whole' group looks better when you get better.

Not sure why everyone is so sensative about being told someone 'sucks'? We're getting a little soft as a society and sometimes it's best to call a spade a spade. I don't think the OP was offened, he/she seems to be looking to resolve the problem so the next review goes much better and that is the point, identify the issue, look for solutions, impliment those solutions, test, rinse, repeat or proceed.

I agree. We can all benefit from a reasonable bollocking once in a while. It helps you revaluate and make positive adjustments. Feedback is important because there is nothing more demoralising than to think you have been exceeding peoples expectations for a long time only to learn late that people are are not happy. What your peers, boss and customers think of you does actually matter in the long run. Find out what is on peoples minds and deal with the impressions that are most critical to your profile first in a positive way. Some people are actually not that good at their jobs but are extremely well thought of by people whos opinion counts within organisations. They will fly. Work hard by all means but that is only one aspect to succeeding in the workplace.

Turgon

Daniel333 wrote: »

There is always room for improvement. Don't doubt that. But the nature of the beast is that you can get up every morning and say, "I have improved X things about myself since yesterday" Sometimes that's enough for the system, sometimes it's not. But the important thing is you focus on you.

I've sent candy to customers, follow up emails a few days after the issue is considered resolved, etc etc. Most of it works. But there is no one method that matches your personality/background, to the customer needs and personality. It's something you build over time.

1) Listening to everyone is a bad idea. Find a mentor, someone who you like, who they like. Ask them to mentor you. Pick one trait a week and work it into your routine. Do what this person tells you. It's not just okay to humble yourself, but mandatory.
2) "How to win friends and influence people" is still the gold standard when it comes to professional interaction in anglo-american culture. Live it, breathe it. 1 chapter a month and APPLY IT. It's not a book you read in a week.
3) Physical traits count, get in shape, smile, smell good, dress half a step above what is expected of you with a touch of individuality.
4) Social, build your network. Start taking people to drinks, coffee etc. Doing this often shows you social and political lines that exist you might not have been aware of.
5) Work hard, I am the first person in at my department and last one out. People notice this kind of dedication. There is an art to the littlest things we do as IT professionals. Try and find it.
6) Keep your skills up, A+ alone pretty sad. If you are committed to technology, then you need to expect at least 2-3 more certs by June. (MTA certs, CCENT, MCITP, HDI etc)
7) You might want to consider seeing if your boss will let you take courses in Project+ and HDI (Help desk representative, Customer Service analyst and Desktop support professional) can make things that are not clear stand out more. One course alone won't help much, but working on them endlessly will set in motion change.
Ah! Almost forgot, Delivering Happiness. A great book about someone's real struggle with the idea of customer service.

All of these things are so obvious our pride makes them hard to apply. Just remember, its a game you play against yourself. Each day, be better a player than you were yesterday.

Some good advice there.

Armymanis

the funny thing is. I get good recommendations when i leave a job and that basically leads me onto my next job.

Plantwiz

U

Armymanis wrote: »

the funny thing is. I get good recommendations when i leave a job and that basically leads me onto my next job.

Well, employers have a couple options when an employee leaves (regardless of the reason for departure).

Wish the employee well, and hope they find a new bus and a new seat on a new bus. Or possible face slander lawsuits, ect..

Many times the employee is a decent person, just not a match in some capacity with that organization. It is many times best to see them leave but do some goodwill and assist them in finding a new home.

NetworkingStudent

Armymanis wrote: »

How do you get better at your job when you have been told you suck at it? I thought i was doing a great job having only been at this for 2 months and learning all i can. I just got told today that I suck and need to improve big time on how i talk to customers and be actually pleased to talk to them. The fact is, i am really pleased. When a company does not give you the right tools to do your job and looses your access papers, you get really nervous and freeze up and start looking to other people for answers. I am doing help desk fyi, and find it very fun to be on the computer all day answering calls so this news really hit me hard. I was sad for around an hour after work and just figured out I need to improve on stuff. Also I was called in the tickets I write up, to not call the people User in the subject line. Call them customer or by their first name. I get by their first name is a lot more personal but whats the difference between the customer and the user? They sound the same to me. They both have a problem and want it solved.

Also, any tips on how to improve when your slowly but surly being given the right access tools to programs and stuff? I finally got my own desk today which i was pleased about.

I don’t currently work in a help desk environment, but I do understand some of the customer service skills required to be successful in a customer service /help desk role. My current volunteer job as a support tech/computer skills trainer at a local organization has given me time to hone my customer service/ soft skills. Here are my tips.

1. Greet the customer by name(I don’t always do this but I do smile and at least say “hi” in a friendly tone of voice) and let them know that their problem or situation is important.

2. Show empathy-Try to put yourself in the other person’s shoes. How would you feel if you got a virus on your computer, or couldn’t remember how to access a certain program? I bet you would feel pretty bad.

3. Restate the problem using the customer’s own words-avoid geek speak.


4. Follow up with a story of when you made a technical mistake that is similar to their own. ( do this only if the call resolution or in person time permits)


Also, let them know that their mistake happens often with other customers( only if it does). These people that are calling you , or asking for your help often feel silly, or horrible for making a mistake and asking you for help, so I believe it helps to make them feel that you are human too and can make mistake. Additionally I think have found that letting them know that their problem isn’t a big deal definitely makes dealing the client/customer a lot easier.


5. Whatever you do don’t try to talk down to the customers that are calling you, if you do they will likely avoid calling you in the future.

6. Each customer should be treated the same weather it’s your 100th customer, or your first. It’s not their fault that you didn’t et enough sleep that day, or that you skipped lunch( I’m just stating examples here)

7. Finally remember that at the end of the day it’s the customers( or users) that sign your check, and in a sense your work for them too.

Way to improve work performance , this is just my advice:

Find a tech at work that is a high performer, or has been there a long time and find out how he writes tickets.. and what he calls the users.

You could just ask your boss” Bob, what would be an appropriate title for the customer name section, when I’m writing up a ticket?”

Ask if you can listen in on some calls to improve your understanding of customer service side of things.

Look for ways to improve processes at work by utilizing current technology.

Here’s a good HDI blog on the subject:

Fulfilling Needs and Making Customers Rave | HDIConnect

recently read an article that suggested that people want to feel heard more than they care about whether you agree with them. You can show that you're listening by giving someone your complete attention and saying things like:

• “I’m here to help you. Tell me more about your concern."
• “I understand your frustration."
• “I'm interested in what you've just said. Please share a little bit about what lead you to that belief.”


Avoid saying:
• "Hey, I’m just doing my job.”
• “You must have done something wrong.”
• “No one else is having that problem.”
• “It's not my job.”

Good luck I hope this helps

Armymanis

I started putting the customers name in my ticket so they feel more important and have started using their name in the conversation instead of saying you are going to want to do.

it_consultant

Armymanis wrote: »

How do you get better at your job when you have been told you suck at it? I thought i was doing a great job having only been at this for 2 months and learning all i can. I just got told today that I suck and need to improve big time on how i talk to customers and be actually pleased to talk to them. The fact is, i am really pleased. When a company does not give you the right tools to do your job and looses your access papers, you get really nervous and freeze up and start looking to other people for answers. I am doing help desk fyi, and find it very fun to be on the computer all day answering calls so this news really hit me hard. I was sad for around an hour after work and just figured out I need to improve on stuff. Also I was called in the tickets I write up, to not call the people User in the subject line. Call them customer or by their first name. I get by their first name is a lot more personal but whats the difference between the customer and the user? They sound the same to me. They both have a problem and want it solved.

Also, any tips on how to improve when your slowly but surly being given the right access tools to programs and stuff? I finally got my own desk today which i was pleased about.

I always ask what they are ultimately trying to accomplish. A lot of times we get "printing no worky" but what is really happening is something more specific, like their wide format printer is cutting off the edges. Asking things like "how would this normally work correctly" indicates that you are interested in what they are doing and helping them to get back to normal - not just break fixing computer problems.

I also HATE this type of feedback since it is non-specific and subjective. "Sound happy to talk to them", how the hell do you do that? Are their feelings so fragile that if you don't sound like you are about to pop the champagne cork at the sound of their voice they might break down in tears?

The most important thing is that you solve the problem(s) efficiently and correctly. That changes the customer narrative to "he was kind of brisk but he fixed it". Then you can have a frank discussion with your bosses about the difference between doing things incorrectly and style. If you are forced to take on a style that is not natural to you, it will appear forced and not authentic, which bothers people like me and many other professionals.

BTW I use the work "user" in tickets all the time. This is accurate more than insulting. Ever notice that police write "Motorist" when they are issuing you a citation?