Telephone Etiquette

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
We used to have a phone line listed in the dog's name back in the old days. He used to get telemarketing calls all the time. We'd call him to the phone, put it on speaker, and then after a bit we'd pick up the tennis ball so he'd bark at them.

We got jumk mail for him too. We nearly got him his own Visa card once, but they called because he had no social security number on his application.

I don't know what they were thinking, we'd correctly listed his age as "5" and his occupation as "security guard." When the bank called, we told them he couldn't come to the phone, but that he probably didn't have a social security number because he was German and that he probably couldn't call back because he had no thumbs and couldn't pick up the phone very well.

We also once got two calls from AT&T within about 10 seconds of each other on our two lines. We conferenced them together and left them that way, and it took about 5 mins before they hung up. We had them on speaker (with our end on mute), each trying to sell the other long distance and then trying to figure out why they were talking to each other. It was hillarious.

Oh my!! I would have died laughing!

 

[Cetawin]

Quote:
bwahahahahaha feels good don't it? Mine lives in Kentucky and I plan on keeping that distance for as long as possible!

 

[Jamsoundsgood]

When my kids were first learning how to answer the phone they would forget to what they were supposed to say ("Hello, this is First Name."). So, more often than not, callers would just hear heavy breathing whenever they called my house. I never really had a problem getting rid of telemarketers.

 

[Dar]

I dont know if this has already been said but:

for you lovely people that answer the phones and put up with so much garbage from the (clears throat) not so smart people that inhabit this planet, please remember this...

1) there are people in this world who are hard of hearing and may not have heard you when you have stated the name of the company and your name

2) you say that line how many hundred times a day, sometimes do you think you may have said it a little to fast?

3) a lot of companies have decided to go the automated route and when you get a real live breathing human being on the other end of the phone it almost makes ppl fall off their chair and may not have had all their notes handy for who they need to speak to, because also now employers are having direct lines set up so that it avoids having to employ a receptionist or pay an IT team for the automated mumbo jumbo

4) in this day and age we have so many people that english is not their native tongue and find it difficult to understand different accents or voice inflections

 

[fowler_chick]

I think the royal bank of canada should give there bank employees in the provence of quebec a lesson on phone etiquette!!! first off you can barley understand the slang french there so proud of, the woman that i ending up talking with heavly in to chewing her gum....(i must of just got her after her smoke break, then it sounded like she turn on the phone and started eating that)...only after telling her my maiden name did she start to address me in a proper manner (sort of).
my father reqired us to work in his office a few times a month and were often put to work at the front desk and yes when you anwser a phone it is....

Smythe and smythe contruction, this is Gill speakng, how my i direct your call?


is any form of etiquette a lost art?

 

[Dar]

and on a different note.......... my children have been taught... DONT TOUCH THE PHONE

my kids even my 12 yr old will come running with a ringing phone in his hand and will not answer it unless he is told to do so or unless he sees that its dads cell or grandma ect. if you dont know that number or the number is withheld then dont answer it

if its important they will leave a message or call back

there is nothing that annoys me more than a child who will answer the phone and decide that s/he wants to talk to you more then anything in the world and refuses to give the phone to the parents

sorry that was a bit of a rant

 

[Eggs4Sale]

When I call a business, most of the time I can't understand their greeting. They say it so quickly, I don't know if they've said "Hello, please shove your phone in your piehole." I have been IN many businesses and witnessed the employee answer the phone, and I have gotten a better understanding of why they're speaking incomprehensibly:
1. They're eating, or chewing gum.
2. The call is interrupting their conversation with a co-worker.
3. They talk too fast on AND off the phone.
4. English is not their strong point.
5. They're applying makeup.
6. They think they are the most important person in the whole world.
7. They are sitting in their boyfriend's lap.

These are just the ones I've seen. I always wonder what the garblers I've called are doing.

I've learned to say "I'm sorry, could you repeat that, please?" when they answer like that.

As for getting upset when it sounds like we're taking your name down, yes, we are, because we're tired of having a problem and being asked "Well who did you talk to?" "Uh, some lady with an Indian accent. ... Hello?" You changed the rules, we're following them, so don't get mad at us.

BTW, I have never been rude to anyone on the phone. I WISH I could, but I'm a giggling, okaying placater, but I have been trashed by rude personnel countless times. There are some people where you can tell they talk to EVERYBODY like that. I wonder how many of them responded on here about how horrible the 'public' is.

 

[Eggs4Sale]

Quote:
Junior is probably on duty while mom and dad get their clothes straightened up a little, if you know what I mean.

 

[Dar]

Quote:
Junior is probably on duty while mom and dad get their clothes straightened up a little, if you know what I mean.

no kiddin

 

[Holly O]

I think People forget that having a phone is a privilege and not a right.

The Telemarketer Companies, is who I am addressing.
They call with no regard to the fact that, you may be busy with more important things in life at hand.

and Manners are a lost Art. which is sad.

I also get upset if I go into a business and am communicating with someone, and they will stop to pick up the phone then proceed with helping that person instead of finishing my my request.
I'm the one that made the effort to come down to be served.