I taught myself how to type. The biggest thing that helped me was getting one of those natural keyboards with the hump in the middle. I got one at one of my early jobs because I was afraid of having carpal tunnel issues--and when I first started using it my hands would actually collide in mid air because my fingers were all over the place. I quickly adapted to keeping my hands on their respective sides, and eventually dumped the natural keyboard and my typing is better for it. I type about 100-120 wpm.

I don't think independent thought is a requirement for a lvl 1 support person.

The script reads:
10 Have the customer reboot.
20 Ask basic questions to try and determine if blame can be shifted on to somebody else
30 Put customer on hold while you try and learn something from a lvl 2 person.
40 GOTO 10