More fun with numbers

[elysia]

Me: "May I have your phone number please?"
SC: "Jessica Johnson."
Me: "....Ok, may I have your phone number please?"
SC: "Oh. Ok. 7288..."
Me: .....
SC: "886786."
Me: "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"
SC: "Yeah, 72. 8888, thats FOUR EIGHTS, then 786."

I don't know which was more irritating, the fact that she had no phone number rythem or the fact she got all pissy when said lack of rythem confused me.
*disclaimer, name and #s are not real.*

**phone rings**
Me: *answers with spiel*
SC: "MY GODDAMN PACKAGE ISNT HERE YET."
Me: "Um, I'm sorry sir, do you..."
SC: " I need to know what truck its on and where its at."
Me: "There is no way for me to find that information, but I can track it to see what city its in. Do you have a tracking number?"
SC: "1z47v469w405....."
Me: "Wait, hold on sir, I need to bring up the tracking screen and I can't type that fast."
SC: *chuckles at my idiocy* "You asked me for a tracking number honey."
Me: "I asked if you had one, because a lot of people that call trying to find a package don't have one so I've gotten in the habit of asking that right away. My mistake. Ok, I have the screen up, could you please repeat it for me?"
SC: **fires off the tracking number again, which is 16 digits long, with numbers and letters mixed in randomly, at about 900 miles per second.**
Me: "I'm sorry. Can you please give me your tracking number slower, I cannot type that fast."
SC: "One."
Me: ....sigh.
SC: "Got that?"
Me: "Yes, they all begin with one. What is the rest of the number?"
SC: "Zee. .... Got that?"
Me: *now I'm really pissed* "Sir, you can give me the entire number, I asked you to speak slower but you dont have to tell me the digits one at a time. I'm not stupid."
SC: "Coulda fooled me honey."

GAH. That one right there was enough to ruin my day. The worste thing about it? Tracking a GODDAMN PACKAGE for a customer is a curtesy thing. We are a retail store, not the main line, not corporate, not either of the two websites available to track a package, and the first six digits of his tracking number told me it wasnt shipped by us. You know what its like? Its like calling Kinkos and biting their heads off about a FedEx package.
And then he calls me honey. Multiple times. There is nothing worse in retail (for me) than being spoken to like I'm an idiot by someone who thinks that a tracking number is a gps system and the meaning of the word "slower" is to be as condescending as possible to the person at the other end of the line whilst dragging us both through the agony of eternity one painstakingly annunciated digit at a time.

[marty]

I'd have hung up on him around the second "honey". But you seem like you can hold your temper better than I can.

"Oops, phone cut out."

[rerant]

Me: *now I'm really pissed* "Sir, you can give me the entire number, I asked you to speak slower but you dont have to tell me the digits one at a time. I'm not stupid."
SC: "Coulda fooled me honey."

That's where the conversation would have ended for me.
It would have gone a little something like this:

SC: Coulda fooled me, honey.
Me: Sir, we're not paid to be verbally abused by customers here. You can track your package yourself at <website>. This conversation is over. *click*

[JoitheArtist]

Me: "Yes, they all begin with one. What is the rest of the number?"
SC: "Zee. .... Got that?"
Me: *now I'm really pissed* "Sir, you can give me the entire number, I asked you to speak slower but you dont have to tell me the digits one at a time. I'm not stupid."
SC: "Coulda fooled me honey."

What an idiot! Though I've had my own frustration with said shipper (my company uses the same one), their website is really good for tracking packages. They give up-to-date, accurate reports (wish their drivers were as accurate!) and you can have the updates sent to your email.

He so has no excuse.

[iradney]

I would've told him I'm not his honey, I will never be his honey, and he can forget the package tracking COURTESY that I don't HAVE to give him, and hung up.
What an ass hat

[Emrld]

he says "honey"
You say "Sir you must have mis understood . . .my name is ________" or "So sorry sir I forgot to give you my name, it is ____________"
calls you honey again . . .rinse lather repeat as necessary

being called terms like Honey, Sweetie, Darlin doesn't upset me. However, there are people with a different opinion on that and they are intitled to that opinion. They are also to politely tell someone how they liked to be addressed by that person. Don't stoop to the level of the person annoying you.

[marty]

being called terms like Honey, Sweetie, Darlin doesn't upset me. However, there are people with a different opinion on that and they are intitled to that opinion. They are also to politely tell someone how they liked to be addressed by that person. Don't stoop to the level of the person annoying you.

I'm inclined to think that he was saying "honey" in a very condescending manner, which would piss me off whether or not being called pet names by strangers bothers me.

[Emrld]

Main point was to not stoop to the persons level . . .especially if they were intentionally doing it to annoy . . .be polite when you correct them. Remember when on the company dollar the dreaded phrase of the customer is right happens.
If you are polite in providing your name to the person then you are still reflecting the company in a positive light and a lot less likely to get in trouble.

As for the not bothering me. I don't care if it is condesending, it doesn't bother me. I have my way of doing things and in the end the point that I have a brain is usually known. And, 9 times out of 10 I have more knowledge than the one calling me honey.

[Bramblerose]

Me: *now I'm really pissed* "Sir, you can give me the entire number, I asked you to speak slower but you dont have to tell me the digits one at a time. I'm not stupid."

That makes me gently crazy. I grew up in the midwest. We speak in a slow and relaxed fashion 'round these parts. If you talk all East Coast fast, I am simply not going to understand you- this is before I start discussing lack of diction, but that varies by individual. I'm not stupid, I just listen at 33.3 RPM, and you are talking at 45 or even 78 RPM, I simply wont understand even if you got me 30 more IQ points.

And this is even before you add in typing speed to ear speed.

Polite people know to give numbers in 3-4 number chunks. YOu know the thing about flies, honey,and vinegar is still true

[AdminAssistant]

I'm (as most here are well aware) from the American South. My grandparents are from Mississippi, the Ozarks, the Smokey Mountains, and Illinois. Iiii sppeeeaak slooowww. I'm constantly having to ask people from other areas to slow down, because I can't freakin' understand what they're saying!

[JustADude]

Me: "May I have your phone number please?"
SC: "Jessica Johnson."
Me: "....Ok, may I have your phone number please?"
SC: "Oh. Ok. 7288..."
Me: .....
SC: "886786."
Me: "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"
SC: "Yeah, 72. 8888, thats FOUR EIGHTS, then 786."

I get that about a dozen times a day at my job, so let me just say:


AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! !!


That is all.

[Samaliel]

Ouch. My eyes. But I feel for you. In fact, I feel much more than I normally would.

[Meegz]

ALL retail employees are dumb! :guffaw:
But seriously.

I'm pretty sure that guy just lacked his own self esteem. What a jerk!

And I apologize to the person talking about the east coast fast talkin' people to the midwest, which may apply to the south- I live in a state where I'm dead in between the coast and it makes it hard for tourists to understand me. I say sorry, and try to talk slightly slower and without my Southern Delaware accent that is just SO HARD to understand and I get customers that tell me I shouldn't be working with public if I can't speak proper English. I speak it fine, I just have a slightly different accent than people from MD, PA, NJ, NY, etc..

But I do love those people with the cute southern drawl

No matter where you're from, people who spew numbers at a high speed are just being intentional me thinks.