The worst part is that the helpdesk staff were nice. More than a decade later I can't remember anything else about them, except that they were all lovely people.

I'm sure they got new jobs and whatnot, but I still feel bad about the whole thing.

Intellectually, I agree with you that bullshit jobs ought to be eliminated, but I suspect that this process will continue to be morally a gray area until we have something like universal basic income.