Which Sesame Street character at the service desk are you?

By Naïma Lachhab on July 16, 2020

Sesame Street’s 50th season finale aired on 11 July! Children in more than 150 countries all over the world have grown up with the lovable residents of Sesame Street. Did you know the service desk has more in common with Sesame Street than you think? Take this quiz to find out which Sesame Street characters roam the service desk – which character are you?

1. You have an important meeting at 9 AM. What do you do?

You’re ready at 8:55 sharp with pen and paper in hand.
You walk in at 9:10, still munching on your breakfast while noisily greeting all your colleagues.
You’re beyond excited to talk numbers and can’t wait to share your latest findings with your team.
You just stay at your desk, minding your own business and hoping no one notices. Ultimately, your colleagues have to drag you to the meeting.

2. The CEO of your organization stops by the service desk. How do you respond?

You take the opportunity to complain about your colleagues who play music on Friday afternoon while you work. How dare they?
You’re best buds with the CEO (you’re friends with everyone!), so you chat about the weekend, family life, and the possibility of organizing a Caribbean-themed office summer party.
You immediately jump at the CEO to show off your latest calculations and plans to improve the service desk even more. This is huge!
You scoff and just keep working – why should you pay attention to the CEO? You don’t pay attention to anyone, and that’s that.

3. You’re working from home instead of from the office. What/who do you miss most?

The structure and routine of going to the office every day. You hate how disorganized your life has become since your work and private life have been merged.
Your daily stroll around the office, having lunch with your colleagues, and the latest gossip. Video chatting just isn’t the same.
Your beautiful whiteboard with an elaborate summary of your team’s goals and health metrics that you painstakingly keep up to date every week. You’re building a digital version of it right now.
No one! Finally, some peace and quiet. Although you secretly start to realize being around your colleagues isn’t that bad either.

4. The fire alarm goes off. What do you do?

As an Emergency Response Officer, you’re in charge of making sure everyone follows the rules and exits the building in an orderly fashion. If you see anyone breaking the rules, you immediately reprimand them. Rules are rules.
You’re already outside because you’re trying out the latest office hype: walking meetings. What a blessing in disguise!
Your first reaction is to calculate how much time and money this situation is going to cost you, the service desk, and the entire organization.
Great, just as you were trying to concentrate. So much fuss about a simple fire drill. How dare they interrupt your work for such a trivial thing? You hurry back to your desk and don’t socialize with anyone for the rest of the day.

5. What is your definition of success at the service desk?

When you finally solve that one tricky incident that’s been bugging you for way too long.
When you have the time for a personal chat with your customers and they leave the service desk with a smile.
When response times are low and First Contact Resolution levels are high. Your numbers don’t lie.
When customers solve their own incidents via the self-service portal and you’re not bombarded with questions via four channels at the same time.

6. What does your desk look like?

Tidy and organized – that’s the only way you can concentrate on your work. You always clean your desk before you leave the office and make sure you’ve watered your favourite cactus.
Your desk reflects your life: it’s decorated with pictures and personal memorabilia. You also have a huge stash of your favourite snacks lying around that you share with the entire service desk.
Your calculator has a prominent place on your desk. You keep your two back-up calculators in your desk drawer in case you need them for a metric-related emergency. You also have enough sticky notes to last until the year 2050.
Tucked away in the corner of the office, your desk is filled with piles of paper and other random stuff that you can hide behind when chatty colleagues walk past.

7. It's rush hour at the service desk! How do you cope?

Cope? You don’t just cope – you thrive. This is what you do best. You’re cool, calm, and collected and work your way through the mountain of incidents at a steady pace.
Although life at the service desk is really hectic right now, you make sure your customers feel heard and leave happy and content.
You time every customer interaction you and your colleagues have and make sure none of them exceeds five minutes. Efficiency is key during rush hour.
You can’t wait for rush hour to be over so you help out diligently until everything returns to normal and you can work in peace again.

8. A customer stops by in your lunch break with an urgent request. What do you do?

You don’t mind and immediately offer your help and services – you were having lunch at your desk anyway to finish your administration.
You were just about to head to lunch, but you happily attend to the customer before you go. You’ve known them for a while now and are happy to go the extra mile to help them.
You have exactly 30 minutes to eat lunch and you’ve already set your stopwatch – no time to spare, sorry.
You hide at your desk with your headphones on to make sure no one bothers you during lunch.

9. You just resolved an incident. What’s your next move?

You close the incident and add the resolution to the knowledge base so your colleagues will know how to deal with a similar incident in the future.
You’re ready for a quick foosball break – your administrative duties can wait!
You’ve timed yourself and calculated your new individual average response time. Your numbers are lower than ever.
You sigh just for sighing’s sake – after all, you have a reputation to uphold – and continue with your work.

10. It’s Friday afternoon! You survived another busy week. How do you celebrate?

Celebrate? You’re still completely absorbed in your work, trying to fix a particularly challenging incident – no time to relax.
You’ve been feeling weekend vibes all day. Now it’s finally time for some music and drinks. Work hard, play hard!
You amuse your colleagues with work-related anecdotes. Until you notice the group surrounding you becomes smaller and smaller… Maybe that KPI one-liner was a bit too much?
At 5 sharp, you grab your things and make a run for the exit, avoiding eye contact. Your personal rule is to only socialize with colleagues once a year during Christmas.

The results

Mostly A’s: you’re Bert.
Mostly B’s: you’re Ernie.
Mostly C’s: you’re The Count.
Mostly D’s: you’re Oscar the Grouch.

Bert: service desk coordinator

You invented the no-nonsense attitude: you’re professional, punctual, and follow every rule to a tee. You need peace and quiet to be able to concentrate, so you’re not the biggest fan of Friday afternoon jam sessions at the office. You’re very good at your job. Your colleagues appreciate your hard work because they know you get the most stuff done out of everyone.

Ernie: customer satisfaction expert

Known for your characteristic laugh, you’re the comedian of the service desk. You’re always in for a friendly chat – even when your colleagues are waiting for you in a meeting. You often prank your colleagues and you don’t take much seriously. But when it comes to customer experience, you don’t joke around. You’ll do anything to make your customers walk away with a smile.

The Count: data analyst

Numbers are your cup of tea. You know everything there is to know about service desk KPIs and other metrics. Once you start counting data, you get way too excited and caught up in it. Your passion and energy rub off on other people: you even get your most data-averse colleagues to listen to your number-related speeches. You’re a perfect addition to any service desk!

Oscar the Grouch: back office specialist

Getting stuck on a remote island is your idea of a perfect holiday. You like to be left alone as much as possible, which is a huge challenge at the service desk. When a customer or colleague asks you something, you moan and groan, but you always go above and beyond to help them anyway. Although you like to act tough, your colleagues love and appreciate you. You don’t like to show it, but you secretly love your job – and your colleagues.

Download your Microsoft Teams background here

In honour of Sesame Street’s 50th season finale, we designed our very own Sesame Street inspired Microsoft Teams background. Ready to wow your colleagues on your next video call? Download your background here!

To use your new background, all you have to do is join a Microsoft Teams meeting, go to your meeting controls, and select More actions > Show background effects. Select Add new and upload your brand-new background.