You mean I have to ANSWER?

[Setsunaela]

No specific SC this time, just a general complaint.
To my lovely, lovely customers.
The company I work for has several techs that run several service calls in a single day. They call you approximately 30 minutes before they arrive. We tell every single person this. We also told you that you MUST answer the phone, or after 10 minutes, with no return phone call, he WILL LEAVE!, and that it WILL come up as "unknown caller", and NO we will not give you our tech's phone number so you "can know it's him", because you would just abuse that knowledge and call him to whine that he hasn't gotten there yet. (we will make exceptions for reasonable emergency reasons, like the lady who had just put out a restraining order on her ex boyfriend because he kept calling from random numbers and telling her he was going to kill her slowly ) We even give you a time window as to when to expect him, and therefore, when to expect his phone call!
So, knowing all of this, WHY do you NEVER answer the phone?!
We hear all kinds of amazing reasons as to why...
I was in the bathtub/backyard/garage.
I went grocery shopping.
I TURNED MY PHONE OFF!!! >.<
and then you're angry at me, because our tech, who called you an hour ago, is now two calls ahead of you, and no he won't come back because you went and turned your phone ringer off, and got in the tub for a nice hot hour long bubble bath, at 3 PM, when we told you he'd come between 2 and 4.
you people make no sense to me.

[rerant]

I don't get this either. If I was waiting on a tech and was told I'd get a call before they arrived I'd have the phone with me all day. If I went to the bathroom: phone. If I'm in the kitchen: phone. If I'm sitting in the hall playing with my cat for 45 minutes because I get distracted easily: ph-- OH LOOK! A BIRD!

[Grumpy]

We schedule our customers exactly the same way. And have exactly the same stupid behaviors out of them. My favorite was the ditz who called in wanting to know where our tech was. When I told her that he'd called 30 minutes prior to arrival, knocked on her door, and called again before moving on with his day, she said "Oh, is that who that was? I don't answer the phone when I'm not at work."

Naturally, she threw a tantrum when I told her he couldn't come back that day and that she'd have to reschedule. Because our scheduler calls every customer the day before to remind them of their appointment, I put a note on her work order instructing the scheduler to remind her to answer the phone on the day of install.

[Setsunaela]

Sometimes when the tech has to be in the area for another call anyway he'll go by the house and knock, too, and leave our business card in the door.
My favorite "whyyyy isn't he heeeeere?" whiner stated these reasons as to why she didn't make her presence known.
1. Unknown Caller on the ID. Doesn't answer those.
2. Our vans have no logo on them. How can she be sure it's our tech? (umm.. the company name and logo on his shirt? His name on his shirt, that we told you his name would be, because you asked us when you scheduled the call? The fact that he stuck our business card in your door after knocking three times, and then proceeded to walk away and get in the van?)

[Grumpy]

When I was a tech, the company was still very small, and we didn't have uniforms or marked vans. I had one lady ask me from behind her locked security door how she could be sure I was really from my company since I had no uniform or anything. I asked her how I would know that she had an appointment on this day, at this time, to have our very, very specialized product installed in her home unless I worked for the company.