silly questions

[vacation_rentals_suck]

Guest: yea Dave, I want to rent this property but I need to know how firm the mattress is and what type of sheets you put on the bed

Me: I have no idea

Guest: well Dave, it is crucial that I know these things and also it doesnt show the bathrooms on the website and I hope this doesnt sound silly but do you have a description in your notes anywhere about the toilet seat covers. The reason I ask is because a place we stayed in last year had toilet seat covers that were just hideous

Me: I really dont know, ma'am

Guest: well do you know anything about these properties or are you in some call center somewhere?

Me: I'm here on the island

Guest: (in a real snotty tone) well I am amazed you dont know these things. Everyone else I talk to there is so helpful. May I talk to someone there who knows what they are doing?

Me: sure one moment

[seigus]

How you have managed to keep working there without killing someone (slowly) is a mystery to me.

[Pagan]

Guest: well Dave, it is crucial that I know these things and also it doesnt show the bathrooms on the website and I hope this doesnt sound silly but do you have a description in your notes anywhere about the toilet seat covers. The reason I ask is because a place we stayed in last year had toilet seat covers that were just hideous

You know, we're renting an apartment in Edinburgh next month. And I admit, I'm curious as to what the kitchen is going to look like, but just insofar as the differences between here and the UK.

But the toilet covers? Honestly, as long as it closes the top of the toilet, I don't really give a crap what it looks like! Seriously, that's what she's obsessing over?

I frankly don't care about the mattress and pillows. Of course, not being a speshul snowflake, I can (and have) sleep anywhere.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Why the hell is this fuckdumpling getting all antsy about toilet seat covers?

You flip up the cover and go. Or at least I hope you do.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Why the hell is this fuckdumpling getting all antsy about toilet seat covers?

So he can have something soft and sturdy to wipe his butt with after he's done.

Silly goose.

[WhiteRose]

....*sigh*

if it's THAT important, she should bring her OWN decor...otherwise, deal with it!

one summer i ALMOST got stuck with a cleaning job for this lady who had a cat...and about ten cups of yellow liquid that smelled of urine placed around the house that looked like a tornado hit...if I had to hazard a guess, she was about 70-something years old.

If i can stand seeing that for a few hours (thank goodness she didnt' hire me afterall) then I think this lady can deal with an ugly toilet seat cover.

[Automan Empire]

Some of these responses have a stonewall-y feel to them. That tends to provoke SCs.

I might have responded to the first question with, "Maam, we manage X hundred different, unique properties, each with different owners, here on the island. We don't have that level of detail at hand, and frankly, nobody asks. If it concerns you, let me write down your questions one by one and we'll find the answers and get back to you within 48 hours."

"YOU CAN'T JUST TELL ME?"

(Now is the time to say flat out) "No."

[Mr Hero]

But the toilet covers? Honestly, as long as it closes the top of the toilet, I don't really give a crap what it looks like! Seriously, that's what she's obsessing over?

No pun intended, right?

[Andara Bledin]

"If it concerns you, let me write down your questions one by one and we'll find the answers and get back to you within 48 hours."

And then what do you do when you've lost a dozen reasonable people because you were on the phone for 10 hours for something completely pointless, and you still don't have most of the answers because one or more property owners has a life and hasn't gotten back to you?

Some questions are just too stupid to be worthy of an answer.

Honestly, if the toilet seat cover is so awful that it could ruin a person's vacation, they should just leave the damn seat up.

^-.-^

[Pagan]

No pun intended, right?

Oy, I didn't even see that!

[Automan Empire]

A, I understand your point and quite heartily agree.

I offered a quick way to take down all her questions at once, then offer answers within a reasonable time frame, and discreetly informing her that the questions are unusual, then getting her the F off the phone too, in one fell swoop. A lot of times, people will back off with most of their stupid questions,sometimes even saying oh don't worry within the call. Or, they'll just ask for their MOST IMPORTANT information. All of this without giving a hackle-raising NO.

Sometimes this trains SCs to be more reasonable, more often not, but I've found in over 20 years of selling the public things they NEED but DON'T want to pay for, that it is effective.

See Dale Carnegie on the yes-yes-yes technique.

Some SCs are just incorrigible, and then if you see another call holding, you put them on hold to "go ask," get a better customer handled and off the phone, and come back and say sorry, no can do. Make sure not to pick up the wrong line in the process.