Why is this a difficult question?

valanhb

TCS Member
Thread starter
Veteran
Joined
Mar 2, 2002
Messages
32,530
Purraise
100
Location
Lakewood (Denver suburb), Colorado
I answer the phones at work. Apparently the most difficult question that I ask in any given day is, "Would you like to leave them a voice mail?"
Seriously - it's a yes or no question. Either they can get back to you or not. Either it's actually important, or it's not. All of these should be known before you pick up the phone to call someone! It shouldn't take extreme thought and concentration to make that decision.

ARG!
People are so irritating!
 

angelkitty

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Aug 11, 2006
Messages
1,409
Purraise
1
Location
Indiana
Originally Posted by valanhb

I answer the phones at work. Apparently the most difficult question that I ask in any given day is, "Would you like to leave them a voice mail?"
Seriously - it's a yes or no question. Either they can get back to you or not. Either it's actually important, or it's not. All of these should be known before you pick up the phone to call someone! It shouldn't take extreme thought and concentration to make that decision.

ARG!
People are so irritating!
I don't get people.. It's almost like you don't even wanna ask, just want to transfer them.. They can either leave the message or hang up...

Some people are to indecisive.
 

4crazycats

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Aug 23, 2006
Messages
1,861
Purraise
1
Location
Missouri
This is why I dont talk on the phone very much. People are so annoying! I could never do that as a job.
 

neetanddave

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
May 6, 2006
Messages
8,707
Purraise
1
Location
Tarheel State
Originally Posted by 4crazycats

This is why I dont talk on the phone very much. People are so annoying! I could never do that as a job.
Me either. I'd be really bad for business....
 

gingersmom

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
May 11, 2006
Messages
8,028
Purraise
22
What I hate EVEN MORE is when you ask them if they would like to leave a voicemail, and they say, "Oh, just tell So and So blah, blah, blah..." and start giving ME the message - like I am a voicemail system. HELLO?!?
 

luckygirl

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
May 4, 2006
Messages
7,932
Purraise
1
Location
in a pile of open toed shoes!
I hear ya' loud & clear Heidi! I feel like saying, "I don't care who you are where your calling from, who the heck do you want to speak to?!" Don't give me a 90 minute song & dance about info that's completely useless to me!

Or they want "John", uhhhh do you have a last name, they give me their last name, I don't have anyone here by that name, oh no that's my last name, I need a last name for John- John WHO?, oh, I don't know.....well, there's 350 people that work in this bldg alone, many of them named John.

Here's another one, I need to speak to someone working on a project in Bellvieue Michigan, me- do you have a name of the person you'd like to speak to? them, no I do not I was hoping you could tell me who I need to speak to. Me- sir, I'm sorry I don't know who works on every individual project, if you know who you'd like I can transfer you. Them- you tell me who I need to talk to. Me frusterated- sir if you don't know who you want to speak to how the heck am I supposed to know?!?!
 

luckygirl

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
May 4, 2006
Messages
7,932
Purraise
1
Location
in a pile of open toed shoes!
Originally Posted by GingersMom

What I hate EVEN MORE is when you ask them if they would like to leave a voicemail, and they say, "Oh, just tell So and So blah, blah, blah..." and start giving ME the message - like I am a voicemail system. HELLO?!?
I say, no-nono-no, I can't take a message, they say why not? I say I don't even know 1/2 of these people, I couldn't point them out in a line up if I tried!


or how about "can you page that person?!" sure right after I call for a clean up in aisle three! This ain't shoprite!
 

icklemiss21

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Aug 14, 2005
Messages
16,465
Purraise
20
Location
in the land of poutine and ice
We got rid of voicemail and have to take messages because so many people would pick up a name from someone else and call them - but they are not the right person for that type of job so it was getting handed back to us to work out who to get to take care of and taking way too long to get the person a call back. So now we have message books for each of the sales rep and have to write all their calls in a central system and copy them into the books for them as well as call / shout at them and let them know someone called for them!
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #12

valanhb

TCS Member
Thread starter
Veteran
Joined
Mar 2, 2002
Messages
32,530
Purraise
100
Location
Lakewood (Denver suburb), Colorado
Originally Posted by LuckyGirl

I hear ya' loud & clear Heidi! I feel like saying, "I don't care who you are where your calling from, who the heck do you want to speak to?!" Don't give me a 90 minute song & dance about info that's completely useless to me!

Or they want "John", uhhhh do you have a last name, they give me their last name, I don't have anyone here by that name, oh no that's my last name, I need a last name for John- John WHO?, oh, I don't know.....well, there's 350 people that work in this bldg alone, many of them named John.

Here's another one, I need to speak to someone working on a project in Bellvieue Michigan, me- do you have a name of the person you'd like to speak to? them, no I do not I was hoping you could tell me who I need to speak to. Me- sir, I'm sorry I don't know who works on every individual project, if you know who you'd like I can transfer you. Them- you tell me who I need to talk to. Me frusterated- sir if you don't know who you want to speak to how the heck am I supposed to know?!?!
Luckily, we only have 20 people in the office, so I actually do know who worked on which project. Which is good because I get those questions ALL the time. But, I can't help you with an actual engineering question, nor do I actually care WHY you are calling - whether or not they are here and available or not.

The WORST is when someone calls, usually really pissy, on one of our secondary lines:

Them: "Someone just called me. Who was it?"
Me: "I wouldn't know."
Them: "It was on my Caller ID, so someone tried to call me but they didn't leave a message."
Me: "We have 20 people here, and I don't know who dialed your number. It could have been a wrong number." (Me, thinking, "Just how flippin' important do you think you are that you HAVE to call back anyone who didn't leave a message?"
Them: "What do you do there?"
Me: "Mechanical Engineering"
Them: "I don't know any mechanical engineers. Why would they call me?"
Me: "It was probably a wrong number."

...

And I get the third degree because someone misdialed and this person just can't handle it.
 

katachtig

Moderator
Staff Member
Admin
Joined
Jun 25, 2005
Messages
25,289
Purraise
2,892
Location
Colorado
Heidi....Unfortunately, I'm sometimes one of those idiots
. The reason I pause is that I have to figure out if I leave a message, will I be somewhere I can be contacted or do I just want to skip the message and try later... sorry...
 

luckygirl

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
May 4, 2006
Messages
7,932
Purraise
1
Location
in a pile of open toed shoes!
Originally Posted by valanhb

Luckily, we only have 20 people in the office, so I actually do know who worked on which project. Which is good because I get those questions ALL the time. But, I can't help you with an actual engineering question, nor do I actually care WHY you are calling - whether or not they are here and available or not.

The WORST is when someone calls, usually really pissy, on one of our secondary lines:

Them: "Someone just called me. Who was it?"
Me: "I wouldn't know."
Them: "It was on my Caller ID, so someone tried to call me but they didn't leave a message."
Me: "We have 20 people here, and I don't know who dialed your number. It could have been a wrong number." (Me, thinking, "Just how flippin' important do you think you are that you HAVE to call back anyone who didn't leave a message?"
Them: "What do you do there?"
Me: "Mechanical Engineering"
Them: "I don't know any mechanical engineers. Why would they call me?"
Me: "It was probably a wrong number."

...

And I get the third degree because someone misdialed and this person just can't handle it.
ooooh, I get that too! But again, I have 350 ppl here.... and Heidi, I have mechanical engineers too! (all kinds really, we have 2 floors of a 5 story bldg dedicated to engineering!) the other floors are architects, and acct/hr/business dev/marketing/estimating....and we have another bldg down the street with out Interior designers....
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #15

valanhb

TCS Member
Thread starter
Veteran
Joined
Mar 2, 2002
Messages
32,530
Purraise
100
Location
Lakewood (Denver suburb), Colorado
Originally Posted by katachtig

Heidi....Unfortunately, I'm sometimes one of those idiots
. The reason I pause is that I have to figure out if I leave a message, will I be somewhere I can be contacted or do I just want to skip the message and try later... sorry...
That's OK Jana...I know you aren't the one calling my office.


And I'm just irritable today...
 
Top