"Just a secretary"? Lesson one...

[protege]

That is why some of my friends will have me call a company they are having problems with, because I can be very professional, businesslike, polite, firm, stubborn, and unbending, all at the same time. And yes, that will get done what I need done the vast majority of the time.

I second that. Whenever my grandmother has a problem, either with her apartment management company, or when she still had the car, I took care of it for her. Some of you might remember me ranting about the idiots who manage her apartment complex. For months, Grandma would always have me send in her rent check early. Sometimes she gets confused, and at one point, was paid up about 2 months in advance. Anyway, according to her books, she was paid up until the end of August. Imagine our surprise when she gets a letter...stating that she's late on nearly $1200 in rent and was facing eviction She calls me up very upset and in tears over it.

Now I don't know about you, but if someone makes my grandmother cry, that's just *asking* to get on my bad side. However, I tried to stay nice about the whole thing. One late check I can understand--the mail service sucks. But two checks had been sent, and they'd both been cashed. Turns out someone forgot to put them in the management company's ledger. It took an entire week of phone calls to get that all settled, plus a receipt saying it was all paid.

Even though I was pissed, I somehow managed to stay calm throughout the entire ordeal.

[Freemage]

Mysty, you are my personal goddess from this day forth. Dear gods, I hate the schmucks who think there's a reporter in the building 24/7--even if it's some niche reporting market. "What do you mean there's no fashion reporter on-call at 10 pm?" Sorry, lady, but we rarely get a hot-news item about buckles.

[myswtghst]

That is why some of my friends will have me call a company they are having problems with, because I can be very professional, businesslike, polite, firm, stubborn, and unbending, all at the same time. And yes, that will get done what I need done the vast majority of the time.

This is exactly why I often enlist my dad to help me out with things. Sadly, some places still don't believe I know what I'm talking about (especially when it comes to car stuff and apartment repairs) given that I'm a girl, or think they can bully me, since I'm cute and have a nice phone voice, and because of that, I tend to get upset rather quickly. So, I enlist dad, who has a much longer fuse than I do, and is rather good at getting his way, without you even realizing you've bent to his will. That's how I got a new A/C unit for my apartment.

But yes, I learned early on in the call center that we hold the keys. You think you're going to talk to the CEO? First you need to speak nicely to me, the Switchboard operator who picked up your call. Then you're sure as heck going to have to be nice to his evil witch of a secretary (nothing against all other secretaries, this one was a doozy) in order for her to even think of passing along your message.

Also, as I've said many times before, Mysty, you rock, and are my hero.