I left the tannoy on...

[Lace Neil Singer]

Nothing bad happened, but my colleague Tina just happened to speak about how totally fit a customer was, and he heard everything.

However, he was cool about it, tho Tina was a bit embarrassed. XD After that day, I always check that it's off!

[notalwaysright]

*googles tannoy* Ahh, I get it. I'm so paranoid about saying something bad and the customer hearing it. So I double/triple check that the line is really on hold, not still open. At least she was saying something good about the person!

[Nunavut Pants]

I am always amused by the differences between certain words in different English dialects. We might call it a "bullhorn", or a "loudspeaker", or "loudhailer", rather than a "tannoy" as someone from the UK might. "Asdic" is another one; we Yanks refer to it by the more generic acronym "SONAR" (SOuNd Detection And Ranging, from RADAR, RAdio Detection And Ranging) rather than a brand name.

I don't know if any of our genericized trademarks (like Xerox for photocopy, Kleenex for facial tissue) made it across the Atlantic, though...

[Minflick]

I used to work with an unflappable Indian veterinarian. As is all too common, many pet owners would call for a drug refill that required periodic blood work to assure safety for the pet, without either allowing enough time for us to refill the meds before the owner ran out, or agreeing to bring pet in for blood work. Some of the meds are dangerous if the liver or kidneys aren't in tip top shape, and some some meds have to be at a certain blood level before they can affect the problem, and different pets metabolize it differently - so we need to see what the blood work says!

And one owner called for a refill, said she was out as of that day, and didn't have the time to bring her pet in for the blood work. We checked the history, and she had done this a minimum of 3 times over the past year, so we hadn't had current blood work for about 18 months, and she'd steamrollered several doctors into refilling the meds anyway. Our unflappable Dr got on the phone to speak with her, and she again refused to bring the pet in, blah, blah, blah. Dr put her on hold, and went OFF. "She does this EVERY time, she won't bring the dog in for blood work, she won't call far enough ahead of time that we can deal with this properly, she always waits until the last minute!! I'm SO sick of owners like this who refuse to take proper care of their pets and call us at the last minute" He was PISSED! I'D NEVER heard him go off like that, it was glorious, I tell you all....

And then we ALL hear "I can hear you!...."

He'd put the call on speaker phone, not on hold! OMG.... Luckily, he was pretty restrained in his anger, and it was handled, and she did actually make an appointment to bring her poor dog in, and we did have to adjust his meds....

And because he was very restrained and normally unflappable, she did NOT hear, "That FUCKING idiot is doing it AGAIN...!" Lucky us!

[dalesys]

I am always amused by the differences between certain words in different English dialects...

Or phrases... My cousin visiting Scotland discovered that a young lady saying, "Knock me up some time." had a completely different meaning.