Telephone Etiquette
There is no phone on the planet on which you type in the seven digit phone number and then the area code, so why the hell do so many of you stupid people give the phone number that way?
While we are on the subject, if you are talking to anyone who is operating in a professional capacity, keep the same name through the call. If you introduce yourself as Debbie, don't change it to Deborah when verifying spelling. Yes, your full name is more accurate for professional dealings, so why don't you start with it? We aren't friends, Debbie. In fact I neither know nor care about you, so lets just keep it formal from the beginning.
Just some aggravated thoughts from the person on the other end of the telephone in your life, or something close to it.
While we are on the subject, if you are talking to anyone who is operating in a professional capacity, keep the same name through the call. If you introduce yourself as Debbie, don't change it to Deborah when verifying spelling. Yes, your full name is more accurate for professional dealings, so why don't you start with it? We aren't friends, Debbie. In fact I neither know nor care about you, so lets just keep it formal from the beginning.
Just some aggravated thoughts from the person on the other end of the telephone in your life, or something close to it.
Labels: stupid people, telephone
posted by Wanderer at 10:10 AM
13 Comments:
I'm not sure what kind of callers you are dealing with, but I think the key here is that you are operating in a professional capacity but they are not. You answer the phone over and over, and request the same info from the callers. But they don't make the same call over and over. In essence, you are working from a script and they are ad libbing. So you might want to cut them a little slack and not judge them by the same criteria as yourself.
Wow, your insight is profound oh anonymous one. Having worked at this job for a decade, and supervising others at it for half that time, I don't think that I could have come to the depth of understanding you provide here. I am thoroughly enlightened.
Or wait, perhaps there is another angle to consider. Perhaps I am a professional to them on the phone. Perhaps I could be aware that nobody I talk to on the phone is actually reading this blog, or would know it if they were. Perhaps in my own forum I am simply blowing off steam, while simultaneously enlightening you folks as to how it is that you can sound stupid to the person you are speaking to or just generally be frustrating to them. Do you suppose there is any possibility that might be the case?
Oh, and your presumption is wrong. I am a professional in the telecommunications industry, but since there are thousands of clients it isn't the same call over and over. Of course you could make an argument that the format doesn't change much. You could make the same argument for every call you ever make to any professional ever. So you aren't so without experience either.
So be a little less condescending behind your cloak of anonymity and take this for what every such post has been, a chance to educate you and others on telephone etiquette. (Funny, you'd think if that was my goal I would have put it in the title.) Or just talk about me being unfair by blowing off steam in my own house so to speak and don't let these obvious suggestions sink in. I don't care. There are already enough stupid people on the phones, one more or less doesn't matter.
Hmmm...interesting that you would have interpreted my comment as "condescending". I've seen you post several of these complaints about the stupidity and thoughtlessness of your customers, and you sound like you genuinely believe yourself to be superior to them because you know what you want to hear and they don't. Having worked in customer service for many years myself, I know that many employees get bent out of shape over dealing with the same corrections and misunderstandings over and over. It helped me to keep in mind that they don't work here and don't know the drill. So I just thought I'd mention that to you. Seriously, you sound like you're ready to pop a vein sometimes and no crappy customer service job is worth that.
This is because you don't know me. Although I am again going to state that I am surprised that you think these comments are made in anger. My comments are coarse because I have no reason to edit them here. This isn't anger, I am just not generally friendly in tone, something that doesn't always come out in type, but has frequently enough. My surprise comes from the fact that I have demonstrated it here again and again.
I understand human nature is to do stupid things without thinking. That doesn't make them less stupid. The things that I have called stupid are. I ask you to spell Debbie and you spell it Deborah, that is stupid. I ask for a phone number and you give it out of order, that is stupid. Getting annoyed that a stranger doesn't know which way you spell your name is stupid. I just don't see a problem pointing that out in this forum.
And since I know you will point it out, I will add that I did say "aggravated thoughts" but this doesn't actually reflect my mood, as much as serve as an adjective for my traditional tag line.
Well, whatever amuses you, I guess. I'm glad I don't need to fear for your blood pressure (or the world's safety). But it's hard to interpret your words as reflecting anything other than anger. Maybe cold contempt, although I'm not sure that's any better.
It's funny to see the difference in your attitude here compared to your posts on religion (like the one above). You seem to advocate a totally non-dogmatic and individualistic spiritual path. And then, on the other hand, you're a telephone nazi. I guess we all have our areas where we demand orthodoxy, but most people would probably emphasize religious orthodoxy as the important one and give telephone quirks a pass.
Well, whatever amuses you, I guess. The tone of your writing certainly comes across as anger, or at least cold contempt.
There's quite a dichotomy between your posts on work vs. your posts on religion. In the area of spirituality, you seem to advocate individualism and personal experimentation and reject orthodoxy and dogma of all types. And yet, you have no mercy for people who don't follow strict and perhaps obscure guidelines for interacting with you on the telephone. Do you see this as a contradiction?
I will say that I don't see the contradiction you suggest, but will wait for the blog to sort itself out before going into further detail.
Sorry about the double comment. The first one didn't appear for a few hours, so I thought there had been an error and rewrote it. You can respond to either or both!
I still have several comments missing. I hope I am not the only one who has commented out here and had it not show.
Anonymous - Cold contempt is probably fairly accurate. When people choose to not think before they speak, act or whatever, my response normally is such. Many of the ills of our society are based on people acting with minimal thought or observation. Or refusing to observe or act upon that which they accidentally notice.
This mental laziness is pathetic, and I offer no apologies for my opinion of people when they engage in such behavior.
I see no dichotomy in my religious position versus my telephone position. I hold in equal contempt people who demand people strictly adhere to their interpretation of dogma that they haven't actually put any thought into.
Cold contempt for people who don't think when discussing religion. Cold contempt for people who don't think when discussin politics. Cold contempt for people who don't think when on the phone. Where is the dichotomy?
So hear I am posting content free comments to make the old legitemate comments appear.
and again
The dichotomy: since you don't hold to an orthodox creed yourself in religion, it seems contradictory that you would seek to impose an orthodox creed of telephone mannerisms on others.
Also, it seems as though the concept of tolerance for other viewpoints ought to apply equally to both spiritual matters and mundane.
I'm assuming here that you actually do tolerate viewpoints other than your own in religious matters, and that you make a distinction between people who don't think and people who merely think differently than yourself. That may not be the case, but one would hope.
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