But I need the number for customer service!

[GoldFinch]

I work at a video rental place and we often get phone calls from people who mistake our number for the movie theater. Thus, we've learned to keep the movie theater number on hand.

So the phone rings last night and I pick it up. It happens to be one of these calls and I give the woman the correct phone number and she goes on her merry way. Not even five-ten minutes later she calls the store back.

SC: "I needed the number for customer service, not all this stuff about movie times."
Me: "I'm sorry ma'am but we don't keep the customer service number for the theater handy."
SC: "But I NEED the customer service number."
Me: "I'm sorry, but maybe you could find it by looking in the phone book."
SC: "Well, you're connected to the theater, why don't you have that number with you?"
Me: "Our store is not affiliated with the movie theater. We're just a video rental place."
SC: "BUT I NEED THE CUSTOMER SERVICE NUMBER FOR THE THEATER!!!"
Me: "Again, I'm sorry but we don't have the number."
SC: *angry huff goes here and then her hanging up*


I was glad when she hung up on me because the conversation was getting absolutely ridiculous. It's not our job to have every phone number you'll ever need on hand. Open up the phone book and find it yourself. >_<

[ShinyGreenApple]

Open up the phone book and find it yourself. >_<

But that's too harrrrrdd! Besides, you're getting paid for it, right? RIGHT?

[aurelemsrealm]

That's about as good as getting a call asking for the number to a competitor's store, then getting huffy with me about being rude when I say it's in the phone book and I'm too busy to look it up for you.

[the lawsmeister]

We used to get calls like that when I was at the furniture store. Never fails to drive you up the wall.

[GoldFinch]

But that's too harrrrrdd! Besides, you're getting paid for it, right? RIGHT?

I swear I just want to send these people through the . No where in my job description does it say that I'll look up whatever phone number you may want.

[myswtghst]

I was glad when she hung up on me because the conversation was getting absolutely ridiculous. It's not our job to have every phone number you'll ever need on hand. Open up the phone book and find it yourself. >_<

That's what you get for trying to do something nice, you know. We've had the same problem here when we manage to figure out what number people were supposed to be calling and give it to them.

[EclipseDragon986]

I am not the phone book, Map Quest, or a shortcut out of the menu system.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

This is why you shouldn't be giving out the movie number at all. You do a favor for some of these people out of the goodness of your heart, and all of a sudden you're obligated.

No good deed goes unpunished.

[Kara]

When I was in Video at Kroger, they'd page us to call cabs for elderly customers that couldn't get home on their own. Which was fine, except that a few of them started calling Video from home and asking us to call them a cab.

[JustaCashier]

"Oh, yes. I have their toll free Customer Service number right here. Have a pen and paper handy? Good! It's 1-800-EAT-SHIT!"

Mike

[Fera Festiva]

Used to get this loads at Crappy Faux-Ethnic Furniture, with people wanting customer accounts for a big local department store, then getting pissy when I couldn't put them through.

Where I work now, the direct line to my desk is one digit off the number for some other local business, but I don't know what it is. I just keep getting calls that go:

Me: Hello, library office.
Them: ... Oh. *click*

[Tigress]

I love telling this story:

First week working at Cingular. A woman called in wanting to know the number to the Cingular store that was "next to the car wash." Being the cheerful, optimistic "oh, cool, my first job out of college" person that I was, I asked what street "the car wash" was on. Was it on <street>? Near the mall? Nope on both counts. I told her that I only had numbers for the corporate-owned stores, so, unless she could provide me with more information to go on, I couldn't give her any answers.

She immediately started ranting about how I should know this stuff and how she was going to report me to my manager. I informed her that I had only been working there a week and lived 30-45 minutes away. So I didn't know the area at all and really needed more information. She kept giving me more vague threats about "reporting" me. When I told my manager about it, she said that the woman probably meant one of the many, many re-sellers in the area.

I don't have any entertaining stories acting as "information central" when I did title insurance.

But really, people, if you have a landline service, you get a free phone book every year. How hard is it to open the book up and find the number you want? Most providers have a look-up service, where you give them the city, state, and listing, and will even dial it for you. And you can always use the many phone directories on the Internets. It's not that hard to find a damned phone number.

[aurelemsrealm]

For that matter, phone books are delivered to every home around here whether or not you have a landline phone. My wife and I only have our cell phones, and we still get phone books delivered to the door every so often. We also get a CD-ROM version delivered to us every so often in the mail, so I know that most everyone gets it. I just figure that such people who call to ask stupid questions are either illiterate or lazy, and it's their own problem. If I fell inclined, I may be helpful. If not, then they're just S.O.L.