whiny bitch

[Hyndis]

Exactly! Where I work, I have to fill in on the switchboard. Some people insist on calling in & telling their whole life story. Most will stop after I inform them that I'm just the operator, let me transfer them to someone who will help them, but there are an occasional few that still insist on going on & on. You want a shoulder to cry on? Call one of your friends or a psychiatrist. I'm neither one of them, so shut up & tell me who you want to speak to!

Whats a good way to get them to do that without being overly rude or pushy? Or at least coming across as such, since appearances are everything. I'm busy, have a job to do, and don't have time to listen to someone blather on without actually asking any questions or letting me know what they want.

How do you do it?

[Mytical]

Which is why it is a great thing I don't have to take phone calls for a business. I have no brain to mouth filter. It would be "Yeah, need to know who you are wanting to talk to, not your life story." *shakes head*. I can tell when I do open my own business .. I am going to have to hire somebody to handle the phones.

[Tito]

Whats a good way to get them to do that without being overly rude or pushy?

It's not easy, I do agree with that. On a rare occasion, I do have to get a little more assertive (for lack of a better word) with callers than I would have to otherwise, especially since I have other calls coming in & I'm sure they're getting annoyed that no one is picking up. I am not sure if anyone ever complained that I was rude to them. If anyone ever did, I never heard a word of it. Probably because the caller was an even bigger pain in the a$$ to the person who ended up with their call & they really ended up not caring about whether the caller was happy or not.