$hexentanz has posted a news article regarding complaints about the help desk's speed of response, and if I may, I'd like to add a few things.

I spent two years working under the many hats of a "systems administrator," doing things like dusting out computers and responding to emergency repairs, but a lot of the time my job consisted of two things:

1. Maintain the database.
2. Address user complaints.

Number 2 is always the hardest.

People who don't profess to know anything about computers seem to harbor a subconscious hatred for those who do. I find it rather upsetting when I get angry phone calls regarding a computer lockup or a low-priority issue that can be fixed at any time, but the user wants it fixed NOW and has no regard for anything I might have be doing at the time. And of course, if the computer does lock up, it's somehow my fault.

Flooding a help desk with issues never solves anything. It does, however, put the help desk folks under a heavy amount of stress trying to figure out and wade through all the mess left by end users. Being rude to help desk people, especially, is not acceptable - we know what we're doing, and telling us we're pricks because we haven't got around to you yet (or telling you to wait a few minutes) doesn't do anything to fix your problem, but it does make us hate you.

As a favor to all help desk professionals, be they volunteers like those on deviantART or paid professionals at your place of work, or even people on the other end of the phone at your service provider, please respect those who would aid you in your time of need. Remember: be kind to your fine feathered friends, for a duck may be somebody's mother.

One post.
One problem.

It's just that simple.