Clearly a secret agent of some sort

[Arghetlam]

This little gem was one of probably three calls I took today. This is just gold.

Me: (opening spiel)
Cs: Hi, is LS there?

Well, at least he's polite. This wouldn't last, since I'm posting it here.

Me: He's currently on the phone, can I take a message?
Cs: Yes, can you tell him Joe from ABC called?
Me: Sure, and may I ask what this is regarding?
Cs: Hell no.

. . .riiiiiiiiight, let me go ahead and put this in LJ's priority file, which looks suspiciously like a waste basket. . .

Seriously, I don't mind taking your calls, but please, if you don't want to tell me what's up, can you just say, "It's something I need to speak with LS about" or something a little more polite? It's not like the fate of the world is at stake here. . .unless LS has another job that I'm not aware of. In which case he just became a whole lot cooler - coder by day, secret agent by night.

Yeah, that's pretty badass.

[chainedbarista]

007 he is not, lol; hell no is only acceptable for a response to 'how about a date' from that creepy old drunk at the end of the counter, 'free: 5 tons of bullshit' from your local feed store, or some other undesirable offer.

[Mr Hero]

If I was in that caller's shoes, I'm sure I could find a way to convey to the boss it's confidential, but still give the phone rep something to pass on to the boss. But the caller has no hope to do this since he's an idiot/jackass.

[BeenThereDoneThat]

From fine to crazy sucky bastard in 5 seconds! *** ZOOM ***

[Sunshine]

"so, you gonna pass along that message?" "hell, NO!"

[TonyDonuts]

Calling a business, Rule Number One:

Be nice to the Gatekeeper.

Your ego may insist on talking down to "the help," but "the help" decides when your message gets passed along.

Hell, "the help" decides if your message gets passed along.

The blank stares I get when I explain this to people, many of them educated, are heartbreaking.

Apparently giving the ego a few quick strokes is much more important that actually getting something done.

X 1,000,000

[BeeMused]

The blank stares I get when I explain this to people, many of them educated, are heartbreaking.

QFW
And never ever piss off the personal assistant, or you can kiss any meeting with the boss good bye. It's the same with janitors/caretakers.
Back in my consulting days we needed a crowbar to access the false bottom in the server room. My (some not so) dear collegues were very surprised when I was able to borrow one from the caretaker. But hey... that's what a friendly good morning to the caretaker gets you... Ignore those lowly people at your own peril!

[AccountingDrone]

QFW
And never ever piss off the personal assistant, or you can kiss any meeting with the boss good bye. It's the same with janitors/caretakers.
Back in my consulting days we needed a crowbar to access the false bottom in the server room. My (some not so) dear collegues were very surprised when I was able to borrow one from the caretaker. But hey... that's what a friendly good morning to the caretaker gets you... Ignore those lowly people at your own peril!

Heh, I was working my first nuke outage at Mcguire NPS for Duke Power. Let me splain something ... Duke Power was full of Good Ole Boys, many of whom were exNavy. This is Asheville NC as well

During that interminidable time when we were getting badged in most of the guys were happy sitting on their asses drinking coffee and playing cards. That bores the hell out of me. So I asked if there was some simple job I could do to keep from being bored. I got handed a wire brush and a bucket of 1 inch bolts from some damned flange or another that were corroded all to hell. Obviously they expected the project to suck up the entire 12 hour shift. I went to my car and grabbed a can of coffee from the groceries in the trunk, wandered over to the machine shop, had a lovely discussion with an ex navy chief and got the use of a sandblaster, got some quite excellent coffee [you need to be able to stand a spoon up in it, and it should be willing to crawl out of the mug and tapdance. I like midrats coffee.] An hour of sandblasting, peening and touching up the threads, 1 hour of lunch break and 10 hours of hanging out in the machine shop trading 'no shit there i was' stories with a bunch of old navy goats. At $22 an hour and $65 per diem

[underemployeed]

QFW
And never ever piss off the personal assistant, or you can kiss any meeting with the boss good bye. It's the same with janitors/caretakers.

Yeah, this is how the cook at a fraternity house dorm that we shared with another fraternity who were all douches. If they gave her suggestions it might get done within a month if at all, more so to shut them up. If my guys asked for something we got in it about week, as we were nice to her. Those of us who talked to her daily, and helped unload groceries if we were around.... got about 24hr turnaround.

also with a Secretary people don't realize. You can either be the gentleman who came in and had patience to wait to ask for an app while she was on the phone. Or the loud mouth who had a less than professional appearance as she was on a phone call. I'm wondering what the Boss gonna go with a killer app and resume OR the viewpoint of your new potential coworker who already hates you.

[taxguykarl]

I hate getting messages like that. What's so terrible about saying what the message pertains to?

[Andara Bledin]

When I used to answer the phones, I'd ask what the call was regarding. If they refused to tell me, I'd flat out let them know that he wouldn't be calling back. If he didn't recognize the name immediately, he'd pitch it in the trash.

^-.-^