Thursday, September 07, 2006

Be kind to your call girls

I have worked for all sorts of companies. Brokers, banks, sales and now I work for a university.

Over the years, I have spoken to all types of people and been asked all sorts of questions. (Had my share of heavy breathers too, but thats a blog on it's own) and looking back at some of the things I have been asked it does raise a laugh or two. The funniest though, have been while I have worked here.

Since working here I have realised, that degrees and common sense do not go hand in hand very often. I apologise to that rare breed of you that do have both, but they are very few and far between.

I was once asked by a professor how to remove a divert from his extension, to which I replied
' Lift the handset and press #6 on your keypad'. He promptly telephoned my previous manager, leaving a message on his voicemail repeating what I had told him then said ' I know what the # is, but what is the 6?' Duh! Excuse me? Am I missing something here? That man got paid treble my salary because he had a degree!!!! The other classic was a student ringing and asking in a rather drippy voice.
'Can you help me? I have just received a letter for my graduation ceremony and I don't know why' To which I replied somewhat astounded
'I'm sorry?' So then she said
' I have received a letter for my graduation ceremony and I dont know why. Is it because I took my exams in September?' Well, probably!!! I eventually put her through to the graduation department and let them explain it to her.

I now work on the support and admin side of things and getting an academic to elaborate on 'My phone/voicemail isn't working' is like trying to pull teeth. Some of them are affronted that you even dare to question the judgement. Bless em though, I suppose they are my bread and butter, and how boring my life would be without those humerous little spats from time to time.

Luckily I have an excellent working relationship with my manager and she just loves it when I get a bee in my bonnett and start playing mind chess l. I once had a complaining email from a HR person who worked for a large charity, the grammar and spelling were atrocious but the general theme was, she was a customer, she was right, and I HAD to believe her, despite evidence to the contrary, because she said so! Once she realised I wasn't going to side with her she started threatening me with the data protection act!! Er And? Is that intelligent thinking? Well, it raised a smile and still does, but I make a point of not donating to that particular charity anymore for wasting it's money! (They were paying for the Masters she was taking!!)

Anyway, today is a busy day, I have 3 or 4 'My this and that isn't working' so I will have to go off and try and get an explanation from them I suppose................

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Love the "what's a six" !!

Mind you, if the calls I've made today are representative of most telephonists these days then I'd say "be nice to your callers when they lose their temper in frustration" because each and every one of them had the IQ of a gerbil. Still, only one call was really important so I'll take the others as spice in an otherwise uneventful day.