As a Support Lead at Dovetail, a customer insights hub that helps teams build better products, Pat Barlow emphasizes the importance of empathy and communication in customer service. He advocates for using phrases like "conversations" instead of "tickets" to make interactions more personal. Great customer service is adaptable, understanding, and expert, with human emotion being a unique aspect that bots can't replicate. Pat identifies as passionate about customer experience, which encompasses everything from reply speed to proactive help. His greatest productivity hack is starting early in the morning, and he's currently reading "The Year I Met My Brain" by Matilda Boseley. If customer service were an Olympic sport, it would be about finding that one conversation where you already answered a question well. Pat values understanding when customers say "I know it's not your fault," which shows they're empathetic. He wishes people knew that working in customer service is about more than just emails, and the strangest thing a customer has asked him was about train routes for a game.