My story is a bit different. I started at a company where the engineers hated the customer support team and refused to do any work for them, because they would ask for quite a lot of help. At some point, I finished all of my work early and they kept asking our team for help. I noticed the other teammates wouldn't give them the time day.

But, all of their requests ultimately helped our customers which was good for the company. And, more importantly, it helped some of our best customers that were keeping the lights on. I decided to go ahead and help them complete several of the surprisingly difficult tasks for quite a variety of customers. Several of those customers had threatened to drop us and scratching those itches were all they really needed to feel comfortable with our products.

I half regretted it later on when I was laid off and I asked for recommendations from my fellow team members and manager. They declined. I turned to ask for recommendations from the support team I had helped. They said, "You didn't accomplish anything. Why would we recommend you?"

I said, "Wait, what are you talking about? I helped you with so many customer issues that were show stoppers, when no one else would." I was a bit offended and depressed by this, because I didn't expect it.

And, then they responded that if you can list us a few of the things you think you did for us we'll think about it. I listed a dozen in fairly extensive detail. They did apologize and agreed to recommended me but it was done so grudgingly. It was a very strong lesson to me that the other engineers there already understood well. But, I was hard working, naïve and socially awkward. And, in the end I almost walked away with nothing to show for it.