Telephone etiquette?
I'm running a bit of a risk here, bigger even than the risk that no body answers, but there's a question here for anyone who will take the trouble to wade through the preamble and get to the point, which I promise I eventually do.
Let's start with a helpful hint for anyone struggling the title; it comes from Webster's because that's what I happen to have to hand - etiquette, et'i.ket, n. [origins/derivation] Conventional forms of ceremony or decorum; the forms which are observed towards particular persons or in particular places; social observances required by good breeding. Well, it is a rather old copy of Websters.
Elsewhere on the web I found this rather more direct definition of etiquette: RULES GOVERNING SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOUR which continues with: Etiquette fundamentally prescribes and restricts the ways in which people interact with each other, and show their respect for other people by conforming to the norms of society.
Now ...
When I call someone, upon my call being answered, how I respond depends on the circumstances ...
If I'm calling my mother and she answers she gets Hi Mum. My sister's lucky to get more than G'day, though I'll usually add 'got a few minutes' because I'm a sensitive, caring older sister and she is a very busy single mother and chaser of men.
My best and closest and longest standing friends don't need a chapter and verse introduction either.
BUT
I have never placed a business call in my life and not started the conversation when the phone is answered with any thing other than "Hello, this is (or its) X." And if I don't get the person I was hoping or expecting to speak with I follow up with "May I speak with...".
In my job, which I've now been in for 10 months, I do quite a bit of telephone answering, just because I'm the one who's most often closest to the phone. I'm answering calls from the general public as well as colleagues from head office, suppliers and other stores and people making personal calls to other members of staff (oh and also jackass cold-calling suppliers of whiz-bang utility/phone/packaging/insurance/penis extension miracle solutions).
99% of these people don't have the decency to identify themselves. Apart from leading to crass misunderstanding when higher life forms from head office trip over themselves and confuse me, because they haven't bothered to tell me who I'm dealing with, I just find this incredibly rude.
Am I making too much of this?
Let's start with a helpful hint for anyone struggling the title; it comes from Webster's because that's what I happen to have to hand - etiquette, et'i.ket, n. [origins/derivation] Conventional forms of ceremony or decorum; the forms which are observed towards particular persons or in particular places; social observances required by good breeding. Well, it is a rather old copy of Websters.
Elsewhere on the web I found this rather more direct definition of etiquette: RULES GOVERNING SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOUR which continues with: Etiquette fundamentally prescribes and restricts the ways in which people interact with each other, and show their respect for other people by conforming to the norms of society.
Now ...
When I call someone, upon my call being answered, how I respond depends on the circumstances ...
If I'm calling my mother and she answers she gets Hi Mum. My sister's lucky to get more than G'day, though I'll usually add 'got a few minutes' because I'm a sensitive, caring older sister and she is a very busy single mother and chaser of men.
My best and closest and longest standing friends don't need a chapter and verse introduction either.
BUT
I have never placed a business call in my life and not started the conversation when the phone is answered with any thing other than "Hello, this is (or its) X." And if I don't get the person I was hoping or expecting to speak with I follow up with "May I speak with...".
In my job, which I've now been in for 10 months, I do quite a bit of telephone answering, just because I'm the one who's most often closest to the phone. I'm answering calls from the general public as well as colleagues from head office, suppliers and other stores and people making personal calls to other members of staff (oh and also jackass cold-calling suppliers of whiz-bang utility/phone/packaging/insurance/penis extension miracle solutions).
99% of these people don't have the decency to identify themselves. Apart from leading to crass misunderstanding when higher life forms from head office trip over themselves and confuse me, because they haven't bothered to tell me who I'm dealing with, I just find this incredibly rude.
Am I making too much of this?
posted by Enyo @ 10:18 am
2 Comments:
At 9:34 pm,
mylifeatfullspeed said…
You are absolutely NOT making too much of this. Despite the fact that people are more and more casual with their communications due to email and IM's (and use that dreaded abbreviated garbage that kids use to communicate) people still need to remember their basic good manners. When you call someone, it's only polite (and gets you where you want to be much faster) to state who you are, where you are calling from and the person you need to speak to clearly. Or if you are calling and don't know where your call should be directed, a brief explanation should be given to the person answering the phone (notice, I said brief, not a full on attack with dates, names, and address...just a "Hi, I'm calling regarding ____. Would you be able to direct me to the correct person to handle that" type of introduction should be good enough.)
I think that anyone who hasn't the decency or respect to provide even a fraction of that information deserves a good old "click" from your end. Even if you have to tell them they must have disconnected themselves when they call back. And if it's from your home office, I'm sure that they'll let you know who they are this time (as it now will be important to make themselves known in order to imply that they were important and you hung up on them, to which you then imply that they hung up on you and get a good and frustrated tone which will no doubt make them either wonder if they didn't hang up on you or if you aren't crazy...but at any rate you will have discovered their name)
*disclaimer: I've taken a few doses of cold medicine so anything I say can't be used against me if anyone should happen to get fired for hanging up on their idiot boss who hasn't the common decency to announce themselves when calling.
:)
At 10:39 pm,
Anonymous said…
Customers calling via the old land line are ruder than in real life. They don't see the person on the other end struggling to meet everyones demands, all they see is their issues and concerns and wo betide anyone who doesn't stop the world on its axis to fix their needs immediately !
Next time anyone rings a call center, give the rep a break, they are just earning a living like anyone else, and trust me they probably have less time for the company than you do LOL
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