Phones
I answer the phones at work. It is probably the main part of my job. Despite the number of calls I receive, we don't have an automated switchboard in an effort to give the company a small-business feel (even though, in the 5 months I have been here, I have seen us expand to five offices in three different buildings, and nearly double in employees.)
A few weeks back, I kept count of the number of calls I was receiving. I did this for two weeks straight. The lowest, in a 10-day span was 475 calls. The highest went all the way up to 600. That's a lot of phone calls.
Now, I have nearly all of the 250+ extensions memorized, so I can move pretty fast. I like to think I'm pretty good at managing the phones, and direct nearly all the calls to the right place in a very short amount of time.
That being said, there are a few things that people do on the phone that annoy me:
1) Are impatient. As fast as I try to move, sometimes the lines get tied up. Sometimes our printer is painfully jammed, and since I am the receptionist, this of course also means that I must be a printer expert. When you finally do get through to me (whether the lines were busy or I had stepped away for a moment), please don't say something like, "What's wrong with your phone?" It's very rare that you will call a place and get a live receptionist who is willing to help you if you have a problem, so a little gratitude and patience is always appreciated. I realize that this is a production house where things naturally move at a faster pace, but please show a little understanding.
2) Talk really quietly. Hey Dude, your phone sucks, and every time you call I can barely hear you. Please don't get annoyed with me when I ask you to repeat who you are looking for. My office is busy and noisy and I think I may have hearing problems, so give a girl a break!
3) Mumble. If you can't annunciate the name of the person you are looking for, please do not get upset with me if I ask you to repeat yourself. I don't want to put you to the wrong person and force you to call back. I want to get it right the first time. See #2 for further reference.
4) Don't know who they are looking for. When you call, it's nice if you know who it is you are trying to reach. As my office assistant says, it's not pleasant to hear a loud "uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" in your ear while on the phone.
5) Feel the need to tell their life story. I guess I've gotten to a point where I know enough extensions and names that I don't want to wait to hear both told to me. When I have to sit through "Hi. This is so and so from some random place name. I am looking for this person on this production at extension whatever." Really, you can just tell me the extension. I can't think of many reasons why I need to know who you are. Oh, I also have all my other lines lit up, two people waiting for office supplies and someone walking in my door for an audition and a courier who wants me to sign for something. I don't have the time!
6) Assume I am the person they are looking for. The amount of times someone starts into a conversation with me is too numerous to count. Sometimes people talk so long, I almost feel bad going "I'm sorry who can I transfer you to?" It just means they have to start talking all over again when they reach the person!
7) Call back. No matter which phone you pick up in my office, it is the one number. It doesn't matter which office you are calling from, it is the one number. What I'm trying to say is that at my office, 250 SOME-ODD PEOPLE HAVE THE SAME NUMBER. I hate it when people call back and say, "I just got a call from this number" or "Hey. You just called me." At this point I launch into my speech about who we are and could they possibly know anyone who works here? 90% of the time they either know who it might of been or hang up to wait for a message to come through. 10% of the time, they want me to figure it out, and I'm stuck trying to piece clues together to get their call to someone who may have called them.
8) Call back (part II). If I put you to someone and it goes through to their voice-mail, it probably means that they are on the phone. It is useless to call back right away looking for them again, simply because I can't force them to get off the phone. And no, I don't want to take a message for you. That is what their voice-mail is for in the first place.
9) Make me look for someone. This mostly happens with people I work with, who are on set or away from the office. Listen, I want to help you. I really really do. But sometimes, actually physically tracking down a person is difficult. I mean, people move. They go to the bathroom. They disappear into an edit suite. It's not always possible for me to find them in a timely manner, and even if I do, I don't want to interrupt them in the middle of a meeting or phone call they are currently on. And think about it...if even 10% of the people who call make me get up and find who they are looking for, that's upwards of 60 people a day. I have important things to do at my desk. Like answer the phone.
10) Have bad phone etiquette. Chewing, drinking, coughing, and yelling (directly into the phone in most cases) is not pleasant to hear. Even worse is when I have to listen to you finish up a conversation and sit there waiting for you to turn your attention back to me. Gee, I'm sorry, don't let me interrupt whatever you were doing.
Don't get me wrong. I love my job...the people I work with are fantastic (and could make even the worst jobs enjoyable to go to each day.) And a lot of the phone calls I get are perfect. Short, to-the-point, and without problems. It's just the few here and there that, after 600 calls a day, start to grind on my nerves (it's gotten to a point where the amount of times I have almost answered my home phone the way I do at work is too numerous to mention.)
So if you call me on a regular basis, and you happen read this, take this into consideration. I am but a receptionist, who will happily do her best to help you and your phone needs, but also has her pet peeves. Let's work together and make the phone world a happy place to be.
posted by Kyla @ 2:04 PM
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