A fascinating piece of Microsoft history has resurfaced thanks to Raymond Chen, the legendary engineer behind The Old New Thing blog and a Microsoft veteran of more than three decades. In late December 2025, Chen revisited a clever and slightly deceptive customer support tactic used during the 1990s, when Bill Gates was still deeply involved in Microsoft’s day-to-day operations.
The story offers a rare glimpse into how Microsoft managed customer outrage, CEO myth-making, and technical escalation during the company’s most dominant era.
The “Bill Gates’s Office” Ruse
In the 1990s, Microsoft support teams frequently encountered high-profile or extremely angry customers who refused to speak to anyone except Bill Gates himself. Rather than escalating these calls to the CEO, Microsoft implemented a special internal protocol.
Once a technician had exhausted all reasonable troubleshooting options and the caller still demanded “the boss,” the call would be transferred to a dedicated internal phone number. That line was answered by trained operators whose sole responsibility was to pick up the phone and say, “Bill Gates’s Office.”
These operators were not Gates’s assistants, nor were they physically located near his office. Following a strict script, they would politely explain that Mr. Gates was unavailable but would gladly take a detailed message and ensure it reached him directly.
The Brilliant “Call Back” Strategy
The real genius of the system came after the call ended. The message never went to Bill Gates. Instead, it was routed back to a specialized senior support team, flagged with a high-priority note: “Escalated to Bill Gates’s Office.”
A senior technician would then personally call the customer back, opening with a powerful line: “Mr. Gates received your message and asked me to contact you directly to resolve this.”
The psychological effect was immediate. Customers who had been furious moments earlier suddenly became calm, respectful, and cooperative. Believing the CEO himself was involved validated their concerns and made resolution far easier.
When Bill Gates Actually Took Support Calls
While the ruse was standard practice, Microsoft lore includes a famous exception. In the late 1990s, Gates visited a new support facility and volunteered to take a live call to test the internal STARS knowledgebase system.
Using the name “William,” Gates answered a real customer support call. He reportedly navigated the database with ease and successfully solved the issue. The irony? The customer never realized they were speaking to one of the richest men in the world.
Days later, the customer called back asking specifically for “that nice man William,” saying he was the only one who could fix the problem.
Why This Story Still Resonates
Raymond Chen’s anecdotes matter because they capture Microsoft’s “Wild West” era when improvisation, psychology, and myth-building were just as important as technical skill. The tale highlights how Microsoft managed the legend of Bill Gates while keeping operations efficient, offering a timeless lesson in customer support, perception management, and corporate storytelling.
