Announcement

**Moirae** · 07-29-2011, 08:47 PM

Call one happens alot here. They don't get that I can't force people to answer their phone and I often here "can you go look for the person and make them answer?". No, I can't. And I won't. I am not leaving my desk where I make revenue for the company to be your messenger. Suck it.

I also have alot of phone calls that, for some reason, people take a while to answer me. I say my spiel and instead of immediately saying what they want, I have to say "hello? hello?" before they will speak. If you call a hotel, why aren't you actually on the phone? I can and WILL hang up if you don't answer me, I will not sit on the phone waiting for you.

**AccountingSlave** · 07-29-2011, 09:03 PM

I know, right? What gets me is the fact that they think it is somehow personally my fault or that I am not doing my job properly because someone won't answer or return phone calls...or clean out their voice mail inbox.....

I get the people not answering right away a lot too. I also get telemarketers/collectors who put ME on hold when they call me.

I have to make sure the calls do not disrupt my numbers (I get scores on call times, how long they last, how long I take to answer, etc. and I have to make sure my numbers are good)

**flare** · 07-29-2011, 09:08 PM

Being on swichboard is the worst cos everyone is a sucky customer. No-one can see you so they all think youre BSing them. Sounds like the first guy didnt understand what a voicemail is though lol

**MoonCat** · 07-30-2011, 01:29 AM

Ah, yes, been there...done that. Repeatedly.

For the record:
- I cannot MAKE someone answer their phone, especially if they're not in!
- I cannot MAKE someone reply to your 57 ranty voicemails.
- Using obscenity will not produce the results you want. All it does is make the call mysteriously disconnect.
- I cannot tell you whether someone who works in another dept, on another floor, is in. Nor can I tell you how long it will be before they return your call.
- I cannot transfer you to someone who works in another building in another county!

Worst part is, I am not a switchboard operator, but our number is the one printed all over the paper, so everybody dials it first whether they want our dept or not.

**EricKei** · 07-30-2011, 05:03 AM

Quoth AccountingSlave View Post

I get the people not answering right away a lot too. I also get telemarketers/collectors who put ME on hold when they call me.

Calls like that are on my "immediate disconnect without another word" list...

- Being called by a person and then being asked to Hold by the caller

- Being called by a compu-*click*

- Hearing a curse word escape their lips

**wolfie** · 07-31-2011, 03:32 AM

Quoth EricKei View Post

Calls like that are on my "immediate disconnect without another word" list...

- Being called by a person and then being asked to Hold by the caller

From what I've heard, that situation is where VIP doesn't want their valuable time wasted, so they have their secretary place the call, then not disturb them until the person they want to reach is on the line. Definitely self-important asshat material.

In a world with justice, they'd have a desperate need to contact someone who, as a matter of policy, hangs up on anyone who calls and then tells them to hold.

I'd like to hear about someone who picks up the phone, gets told "hold for (extremely high-profile VIP), and hangs up. Even when (extremely high-profile VIP) is someone along the lines of "President of the United States".

**Hyndis** · 07-31-2011, 04:24 PM

Quoth wolfie View Post

I'd like to hear about someone who picks up the phone, gets told "hold for (extremely high-profile VIP), and hangs up. Even when (extremely high-profile VIP) is someone along the lines of "President of the United States".

I think you're only allowed to do that if you have an actual title in front of your name. Like General, Admiral, or President.

Just some random person from another company? No. Call back when you want to talk, or contact the person directly.

If you're so important and such good friends you already have their direct contact information.

**EricKei** · 08-01-2011, 03:22 AM

Wolfie - fair enough. If I hear "Hello, how are you today? .... This is ____ from ____ calling on behalf of Mr Suchandsuch. Would you mind if I put you on Hold for a moment while I get him on the line?" --- THAT, I have no problem with whatsoever. The ones I hang up on are the ones that literally ask me to Hold with no greeting nor explanation whatsoever, nor a chance to respond.

**Teefies2** · 08-01-2011, 04:49 AM

Quoth EricKei View Post

Wolfie - fair enough. If I hear "Hello, how are you today? .... This is ____ from ____ calling on behalf of Mr Suchandsuch. Would you mind if I put you on Hold for a moment while I get him on the line?" --- THAT, I have no problem with whatsoever. The ones I hang up on are the ones that literally ask me to Hold with no greeting nor explanation whatsoever, nor a chance to respond.

Exactly.

I always hang up on the computer voice "Please hold for an important message/representative." The one that REALLY got me was when I first was dating my husband. His father called my phone, I said "Hello?" and he said (I'm not lying) "Who's this?" No identification of himself whatsoever. Now I have to point out that if his son had been a minor and he was checking who his son had been calling (as in a redial) I could see it, but my husband was 36 years old at the time.

I had no idea who was calling me, this was in the days before you could see the number calling on your phone. All I knew was I was single, living alone, and an unidentified man called my number and said "Who's this?" I said "you called me, Who are YOU????????"

I should have known then it wasn't going to go well when we got married

**EricKei** · 08-01-2011, 08:33 AM

That has VERY seldom happened to me, but yeah, "Who's this?" callers get the "EK-as-complete-asshole" treatment from me when they make that mistake ^_^

...Granted, I'm not really an asshole (we all think that, don't we?), but I play one on TV

**Andara Bledin** · 08-02-2011, 04:43 PM

Ah, yes, the asshole callers who don't believe a word you have to say.

I had one of those. I was the, well, the office had four rooms, total, with two of those being the offices of the three real estate agents I worked for, and I was the only other employee, so I did pretty much everything that needed to be done that they handed to me.

This guy calls and asks for the top boss, the guy whose name is the same as the company. I let him know that top boss isn't in the office and ask to take a message. He asks for anyone else, and I let him know there is nobody there but me and ask if I can take a message. We didn't have voice mail, so he could either leave a message or call back.

Instead, he spent the next five minutes calling me a liar and berating me for not giving him to whoever was in charge of the office that day because I couldn't possibly have the keys to open it up myself, being a lowly office peon. I eventually hung up on him because he wouldn't shut up.

Fun fact: The top boss handed me the keys to the office the day he hired me. Which was half an hour after first meeting me. No background check or anything. He's lucky I'm honest, because his office was stocked with some very expensive (for the time) computers.

^-.-^

**Ghel** · 08-02-2011, 05:04 PM

Quoth EricKei View Post

- Being called by a compu-*click*

At work, I've been getting a lot of calls where it's computer generated, but it listens, too. I pick up the phone and hear a voice, so I do my normal spiel. (It's not unusual for someone to call us, but continue their conversation with a friend until we get on the line.) It almost sounds like there's really a person there, because the computer hears me talking and stops its spiel. But it starts over at the beginning when I stop talking.

When I say, "is there someone there?" it stops for a second, then starts over again.

Now that I think about it, that sounds like the same pattern as the first caller in the OP. Maybe he's really a slightly more sophisticated (but still just as stupid) computer program? Nah. Couldn't be.

**AccountingSlave** · 08-02-2011, 08:21 PM

I had another one today...

Let's call him N. Because he was nasty, and his company name starts with that letter.

Me: (company greeting)
N: I am an employee of NCompany and they sent me to you because they messed up on my 401K, I want to talk to someone.

I connect the call to the 800 line for that company, because that is what I am supposed to do, and assume that it's over.....but it's wasn't. He calls back about 10 minutes later.

N: I am having a very difficult time here, I am sick of automated systems, send me to a senior executive!
Me: Sir, I apologize but I do not have listings by department, I can only connect you if you know the first and last name of the person you want to reach, and for NCompany I can only send you to the 800 line for that company, I have no control over the call at that point.

This goes back and forth for a few minutes

N: this is stupid, pick a name and just send me to someone.
Me: sir, I am not allowed to do that per company policy, I could lose my job.
N: Well you should do your job and get me to someone. You are not doing your job, blah blah blah, rant, rant, rant
Me: Sir, there is no need for that

He starts cussins and *click* I terminate the call. Haven't heard back from him yet, but that one actually almost made me cry.

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