Just get over it

[hartlock10]

This just happened but its not a first occurance. I work as a temp for a financial securities office. I call myself their minion because i will do whatever they tell me to do this of course meaning I answer their phone. Per instructions from my boss when some one calls I ask for name, who they would like to speak with and WHAT THE CALL IS REGARDING. So this little gem happened 10 minutes ago

Me.: Thank you for calling blah blah blah this is Kelli how may I help you?

SC: Is "other girl" available?

Me: I can check, may I ask what the call is regarding?

silence

Me: Sir?

SC: Yes?

Me: May I ask what the call is regarding?

SC (rude voice) Can I just speak with "other girl"

(I transfered him and the other girl upfront heard me repeatedly ask him. She later told me the sc and his wife are like that)

I have more then one person calling in and to try and keep the work load down I find out what they need and the agents and the other girl upfront with me will handle it accordingly. I once was laughing because a guy made a comment about me questioning him when he thought he was put on hold and I heard him. My awesome boss? said he can get over it I'M DOING MY JOB. Why can't people understand they are not the only ones calling in and we aren't just sitting here doing nothing. I ask so that we can get the info together to call you back and answer your question. Its not a goverment secret what you are calling about and most of the time if you don't tell me your call will get put aside and they will take care of the people who let us know what they need first. So its your own fault if you don't get called till the next day

[NateTheChops]

Good question. Why can't anyone ever realize that they aren't the only people on Earth, period.

You know like, "No ma'am, I am not personally harrassing you for your e-mail address. I am asking everyone as the people who sign my paycheck have asked me to do, that is all."

[Sparky]

You might try "May I tell him/her what the call is regarding?" This makes it a bit more clear that you are collecting the information for the other person's benefit, not just out of curiosity.

Of course, reasonable people already understand this, and SCs think the world revolves around them.

[Andara Bledin]

Don't ask if you may tell them. It only encourages people who think they're funny to say "yes."

The way to lead the question for minimum fuss is "And what shall I tell him/her this is regarding?"

My old boss was cool. I could badger people until they gave in or they gave up for that. If they said, "Personal" and didn't give me a company name, I could tell them flat out that he wouldn't accept it and would neither take the call nor would he return it.

I only ever had one person be insistent on not even giving their name because they were "a friend." I fobbed that off on another coworker who wanted to play with them some. And, no, the boss, who was sitting at another desk in the same office, never took the call. He had better things to do with his time than deal with idiots who refused to follow simple instructions.

^-.-^

[Jester]

It is amazing to me how many people don't realize that fucking with the gatekeeper will not end well for them. If you want to get to the king, you have to answer the guard's questions. This is nothing new under the sun. And those who don't like it can enjoy swimming in the moat.

[Treasure]

What is your Name?
What is your Quest?
What is the number you want them to call you back at?

[Elspeth]

I do the same thing for the boss at the office. I once got yelled at for asking too many questions and that they didn't want to deal with it. And yea I mocked him to the rest of the office when I got off the phone.

[hartlock10]

What is your Name?
What is your Quest?
What is the number you want them to call you back at?

what is your favorite color

[EricKei]

If I ever end up as a manager in an office, I will set this in stone as one of the rules. If they can't be bothered to give us info that basic, we can't be bothered to help them. This goes double if the call is an "emergency" (I have never taken an actual emergency call -- they were always salespeople. A family member with an emergency would either call my cell or start the call with "This is ___, EK's brother...")

Another one will be "If they insult you (or another worker) in any way, or allow a four-letter word to escape their lips for any reason: The Call Is Over. Do NOT respond, simply hang up immediately. Sooner or later, they'll figure it out or just stop calling. This applies even if you recognize their voice as belonging to someone else who works here."

[Taz]

I'm the "phone gatekeeper" for a rather small office - 6 office people including the owner and 12 shop guys. I got to tell off one caller last week. The caller ask for our receiving dept, which we don't have. He then asked for our shop foreman, who rarely takes calls. I asked him what it was regarding and what company he was with. He got rather indignant and all but yelled that I was wasting his time. I told him "I would keep wasting his time until he answered my questions". He hung up after that.

People really should respect the other end of the phone. He could of ended up with my manager who is also the Sales VP since she covers the phone for my lunch break. She would have been even less polite.

[Andara Bledin]

What I find funny is that I've been on the cold-calling end of it, and I never did that crap. And I got a sale while still in training, too.

^-.-^

[MoonCat]

I think the people who get pissy about it are mostly the ones who are hoping to sell the boss some copier supplies.

[EricKei]

I think the people who get pissy about it are mostly the ones who are hoping to sell the boss some copier supplies.

We loved getting those. The places would call up claiming to be "our printer guys" and then ASK what printer we used....Yeeeeeeeeeahhhhh...And then offer us toner for the low, low one-time-special price of 3x what we normally paid for the stuff...

This, in fact, was one of the few uses my boss's GF had...she could be a right b**** when she wanted to be (unfortunately she did, often), and she specifically asked that we pass all such sales calls on to her so she could blow off steam...

[Andara Bledin]

I always loved telling the printer guys exactly how much we paid for our equipment and supplies.

They'd get so crestfallen and sad and then mope a bit before putting us on their personal "don't bother" list.

When your last copier purchase cost $100 for an $800 unit and you often pay only 20% of the going rate for toner on eBay, or a whopping 70% at the local pro refill shop. They're 80% refill cost just can't compete. Plus, when you tell them that you just chuck old machines and use one of the spares you have upstairs from the last bankruptcy auction...


^-.-^

[underemployeed]

I think the people who get pissy about it are mostly the ones who are hoping to sell the boss some copier supplies.

I miss my old co-op, one of the guys often got calls that he didn't want, I was under instructions to "have fun" (and make them stop calling). One was for a free magazine I told them, "Sir, while it is nice that it is free, so is getting herpes..... He has no interest in getting herpes that has been around longer than your magazine"

Or I would just tell them cw has been fired for incompetence, actually once I got the boss of whoever called the first time calling in to look for CW and I assured them cw was fired for incompetence and well I was cw's equally incompetent replacement who wouldn't be around much longer.