Phone Call Tales
Hi Dear Readers
My insight for the week,
This week I am taking a little turn west, I am sure you are a little tired of hearing all about my life and my insights, so I asked some of my colleagues to give me some tales. We all come from various back grounds, and it was so heartwarming, hilarious and sometimes tear jerking to read some of these stories.
Taking and making calls and solving other people’s problems for hours on end can become taxing at times. Thankfully, amusing experiences like theses ones make the job worthwhile.
Virtual Receptionists are expected to stay calm when handling stressful or discouraging calls. This is said to be a true test of professionalism. However, one could argue that stifling a giggle during a funny call is way more difficult. Why? Because stress and frustration are feelings that gradually manifest, but laughter, on the other hand, you sometimes just can’t hold.
We are all brilliant receptionists, and we love working for Turnkey Receptionists.
From the desk’s of my awesome colleagues:
Once, a customer was singing when I answered the phone. It took him about five minutes before he finally heard my voice.
@#@
I called a customer to validate some information from the order with him. He answered. We started validating the information and at some point, during the process he said with a very calm voice, “Could you be a darling and hang on for a sec. My wife set fire to our house.”
His wife was screaming in the background. After the man came back on the line, very calmly, he said, “OK sweetie, what else do I need to validate?” I asked him if everything was alright, and his answer was, “My wife tried to cook. She set fire to the kitchen. No need to worry, though. We’re going to order takeout tonight… like every other night. And maybe it’s better this way. I am less likely to get sick.”
@#@
The strangest call I’ve received was a customer who wasn’t aware of why she was calling. She said her manager had told her to call. I asked if she was placing an order and she said yes. I proceeded with the call as usual, except, we got a little held up when I asked what printer they would be ordering. “I don’t know” was the answer.
I instructed the customer on how to find out what machine it is, and she did. I then asked what supplies they needed, and the conversation went a little something like this:
Me: OK, great. What supplies do you need for that?
Customer: I don’t know.
Me: OK, but you called to place an order, right?
Customer: Yes.
Me: All right, perfect, do you know if you need paper or ink?
Customer: I don’t know. My manager just told me to call. I don’t know what we need to order.
Me: OK, no problem. Would you be able to ask your manager what you should order today?
Customer: The manager left.
Me: Oh, OK. Maybe you should consult with your manager and give us a call back. We’d be happy to order what you need.
Customer: OK, thanks. Bye.
To this day, I’m still unsure what she thought was going to happen on that call in the first place.
@#@
I had a grocery store customer call in to complain about the meat department in her local store. She refused to accept the fact that I could not help her with the meat department. She insisted that she found our number on the website and that she knew I was working for corporate. So, she was demanding I correct the issues at her local meat department.
It took a long time to get her to understand that I only supported the store’s photo labs. Before she hung up, she told me that it was not nice to lie to customers and that she would never shop in their meat department again.
@#@
The funniest call I have ever had was at the beginning of this job. The call was going well until I mistakenly said “verificator” instead of “verifier.”
The member on the phone just laughed and said “No, honey, you are the verifier.” I felt embarrassed, but the playful tone of the client member calmed me down and taught me some new lessons about people and human nature in general.
@#@
I took a call from a woman who was asking about a computer system. That woman was my mum and she didn’t recognise me until I started to laugh at her. That was the best and funniest call I had.
@#@
I took a call from a guy that all my peers already knew about. He was linked to a chain of fraud orders. He was calling to re-place an order that was missing. When I informed the customer that he would need to pick up the order, his excuse was that he had no legs.
As I was processing his ticket, I asked for his address and he said to me, “Hold on let me run downstairs to get the mail to confirm my post code.” I’m thinking to myself, “Okay, didn’t he just tell me he had no legs?” The ending of the story was the guy got busted.
@#@
I was guiding an older couple in fixing their dial-up connection. I was speaking with the woman, while her husband was on the computer in another room.
Me: OK, let’s go to Start, and the click RUN.
Wife to her husband in the other room: Earl! Click Start and then RUN!
Then, I heard from the other room: “RUN?!…Run where?”
