a storms a brewing!

[Binky]

This JUST happened

Guy calls...it's after 5:30 so everyone, bar me, has gone home.
WG=weird guy
Me

Me "hello this is (insert name of company) this is (insert my name) how can I help you??"
WG "Yes can I speak to (insert name of other employee)
Me "sorry sir she has gone home, sorry"
WG "oh she's gone home for the day has she"
Me *rolls eyes* "yes sir, would you like to leave her a message"
WG "no, I kinda sorta need to speak to her today"
me *thinking in my head-then you should have called BEFORE 5:30 as MOST IF NOT ALL companies close after that time GEES* "I'm sorry sir I can leave a message for her, or you can call back tomorrow"
WG "no, I need to speak to her today, can I have her mobile number" (keep in mind this guy hasn't given me a name or comany that he works for yet)
Me" Sorry sir I can't do that, but I can take down your details and get her to call you back today"
WG "no, can I have her mobile"
Me "no, I'm sorry sir but I can't give out mobile numbers without permission from the staff member, but I can take down your details and get her to call you"
WG "no, I'll just call back tomorrow"

OMFG! That took 5 minutes of my life that I'm never getting back because this guy just wouldn't take no for an answer and wouldn't leave me a message or details...if he REALLY needed to talk to the employee today then he would have been more than happy to do so....I'm not giving out personal info to people who won't even give me a name..I don't know who you are...and I don't know what your going to do with that info...I mean OMG he wouldn't even give me HIS details....GEESE....but any ways, while he stayed calm on the phone the whole time, I good sense some tention as I kept refusing him the number...I can just imagine the blow out that is goign to happen tomorrow...I had to ring the emplyee to warn them of the storm thats brewing for them...adn told them my story...anyways...I'm not meant to even BE the secretary here...so they shouldn't really be blaming me if I do something wrong...i'm not trained "properly" lol

[Canadian In Maine]

I have actually had people call and ask for the home numbers of my co-workers.

Do they really think we are that stupid to give out that info?

[NightWolf]

I don't understand what makes people think they can call an employee when they are not only off duty, but also on their personal phone. I hate people sometimes.......ok, most times.

[Lehk]

i suspect he is a stalker

[Shyla]

All you need to memorize is one phone number. I had a co-worker who when asked her phone number recited the number of the local police station. Just give that out.

[DistantStar]

I suspect he's a bill collector. We get those calling occasionally at my job.

[counterjockey]

Probably is a bill collector. I did that for a little bit and at least with our company they didn't make us ask for home numbers in as creepifying a fashion. If we couldn't get a hold of the guy, we'd ask "How can I get in touch with _____________ right now?" but usually I'd just take a hint and leave a message or put them down for someone else to call back.

How much did I enjoy this job? Two weeks in, I called the gas station where I used to work to see about getting my old job back. I'm headed over there again in an hour. Sad to say, I'm relatively thrilled, that's how much I enjoyed bill collecting.

[Qwakkeddup]

When I was in apt maintenance I hated caller ID.
They had to call a pager service and give them the details, then they would page us.
Then they changed pager companys.
They called the pager company who sent us the phone number and we had to call the renter back to get the details.
You know whats coming?!?!
People stopped calling the pager to call us directly! Then had the nerve to get angry when we told them to call the pager co.
I really got tired of getting 2am calls when I wasn't even on call that week. My Supervisor and I got together and complained about it over the site Managers head. Took two more months but we got our old pager company back. Then we both had to change our phone numbers, paying for it on our own. Is really hell to have 40 SCs who have your personal phone number.

[Confuzed-Monkey]

Sort of on the same topic...

When we get returned appliances we usually will sell them as SCRACTH & DENT. We usually knock of 10 - 25 percent off of the retail price. Of course this means that people feel the need to haggle.

Well, one person I was trying to assist was asking about a certain washing machine we had discounted. Mind you, he had been pretty decent up to this point.

BSC - Borderline Sucky Customer
ME - yeah

BSC - "Is this the best deal you can do on this?"
Me - "I am only authorized to take off 10%, this is already at 30% off."
BSC - "Can someone else do better?"
Me - "My manager could, but he is off today."
(Here it changes)
BSC - "Can we call him?"
Me - "Call Him?"
BSC - "Yeah, can we call him to see how much he'll take off?"
Me - "I'm not going to bother him at home."
BSC - "OK, when will he be back?
Me - "Tomorrow."
BSC - "Ok, I'll come back."

He almost crossed over the line to SC territory. I often wonder what these people would do if they were the ones being bothered by work, while they are trying to have some family time.

Side Note - We have 5 or 6 other managers at the time that could have discounted it further, but that means my dept/store doesn't get as close to making budget.

Con_Mon

[Mango]

I got this once at my last job, only it was even worse. The person was asking for the OWNER's personal phone number and got VERY upset when I didn't hand it over. Turns out...it was the owner's MOTHER calling. Why she thought I'd be able to hand over the number, having never even met her, is beyond me.

Why wouldn't she have her kids' phone numbers already, anyway?

[TonyDonuts]

I suspect he's just some idiot with a simple question that any one with more than two minutes experience at suchislife's company could answer fully, but since he has spoken with suchislife's coworker previously, now believes that coworker, and only coworker, has the precious answer he seeks.

Those fools can take years off your life.

[Dips]

Our main tech support guy, Carl, works out of his home. He has a business phone line seperate from his personal line. After 5 he disconnects the business line, but people can leave voice messages for him and he'll call back the next business day.

I posted a thread a couple of boards ago about how a customer felt that, since Carl was home and awake anyway that "there's no good reason [he] can't help customers until midnight."

You guys came up with some pretty creative reasons in your replies, as I recall. I wish I had saved that thread.

[Imogene]

Not as good as coworkers calling in (to check their schedule, if I remember correctly), getting me, and asking me for the store manager.
M: "He's not here."
C: "Well, what's his home number?"
M: "No clue."
C: "Why not? Can't you get it off the comp?"
M: "Seeing as I'm not a manager, no, I can't. You need a login to get to that screen, dumbass."

[Mighty Girl]

Why wouldn't she have her kids' phone numbers already, anyway?

Hmm, I'm guessing they either blocked her number or got a new one and had it unlisted because she wouldn't stop bugging the crap out of them. One of my friends had to do this- her mother in law would call and berate them for no reason, and she'd call in the middle of the night. So, they changed their number and she could only call her son at work or on his mobile.

On another note, my husband takes turns being on call for computer support. A lot of times, he can fix problems from home by remoting in. There have been a couple of times where, instead of calling the on-call number, people would just try and call our house directly because he called them from here once......Totally pissed both of us off. Needless to say, we never answer the phone unless we're sure we know who it is.