Telephones and manners - Page 3

Carmie · ‎10-25-2010

I was a telephone Customer Service representative for a Health insurance Company. I would handle in excess of 100 calls a day. I got to talk to some doozies over the years.

One time I got a call from a man who was speaking very softly into the phone. I couldn't understand what he was saying. I was wearing headphones and around me were a ton of people talking on their lines. So, I politely asked him to speak louder so I could help him, he again said something that I couldn't understand. So, again I asked him to repeat it.

One the third try, I couldn't understand everything he said, but I heard enough to know it was a prank sex call. I just hung up and starting to laugh. I thought the whole thing was funny...especially since I kept asking him to speak up and repeat and promised to help him.

I was laughing so hard that I had tears in my eyes. My coworkers came over to see what was wrong and then I looked up and saw the lady who monitors our phone calls for errors. She heard everything he said and she thought I was crying.

She kept saying I am so sorry you had to take that call. She asked me if I needed to visit the nurse.

No one liked her much because she monitored our calls and reported errors. but we became good friends and bonded over this incident.

She said I got a good review on the call because I was polite in spiteful of it all.

Lindsays Grandma · ‎03-10-2010

@Imaoldhippie wrote:
A few years back I was a cook in a bar. When everyone else was busy I answered the phone. When people would ask do you have a live band tonight, I so wanted to say no they are all dead. But I was polite and gave them the correct answer.

Infuriating I know.

I don't see anything wrong with asking if there is a live band. It is a live band as opposed to a jukebox.

The moving finger writes; And having writ, Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line Nor all your Tears Wash out a Word of it. Omar Khayam

Kalli · ‎03-11-2010

Using good manners and being polite were both given high priority in my family from as far back as I can remember. There was a certain way of interacting with others that was not only expected, but was insisted upon by my parents. And they modeled that behavior every day.

Things are very different now. It seems people don’t place as much importance on manners and politeness. Riding someone’s bumper to bully them to speed up, cutting in front of folks in line, discarding used disposable diapers in parking lots, placing signs on their lawns with words that were once considered curses....Is anyone really surprised when someone gets rude on the phone?

PINKdogWOOD · ‎05-13-2010

@Scooby Doo Speaking of caller ID in these days, a couple of weeks ago he got a new apple phone from his boss for work usage. He came home from work yesterday and told me he got a robo call from Monaco.

MONACO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Who in Monaco is trying to sell him what??????????????? HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!

Lipstickdiva · ‎03-10-2010

@Imaoldhippie wrote:
A few years back I was a cook in a bar. When everyone else was busy I answered the phone. When people would ask do you have a live band tonight, I so wanted to say no they are all dead. But I was polite and gave them the correct answer.

Infuriating I know.

@Imaoldhippie, that's funny but I get the question. Sometimes DH and I go out on a weekend and we want to hear live music, not a DJ. I have asked him if someplace has a live band but I guess now that you put it that way, asking if there is a band would suffice. LOL

Lipstickdiva · ‎03-10-2010

I called our electric company once because there was an obvious meter reading error. I sat on hold for quite a long time and some man finally answered the phone. Except he picked up and said "I have a personal matter, you are going to have to call back" and he hung up on me. I could't do anything but laugh at the absurdity of it and called back and sat on hold again until someone else picked up. LOL

I work at a law firm and luckily, I don't answer the phone often but we get some real gems that call here. We are also on the same campus as a major medical facility and in fact some of their offices are in our building. One day a guy walked in and I answered the window. He set a brown paper bag up on the ledge and proceded to tell me he cut off his finger. He then held up his hand which was all wrapped up but blood was coming through the bandages. He told me he saw on tv that you are supposed to get the body part and put it in ice so that's what was in the bag. His finger on ice. I am not a person who handles blood well and it took me a minute to get myself together because I kept staring at the bloody bandage.

CrazyKittyLvr2 · ‎05-11-2013

In my younger years I worked in a restaurant. One day we had duck soup on the menu. Someone called and wanted to know the specials. I told them what the specials were and the soup was duck soup. He was quiet for a second and ask "is it real duck?". Huh! I so wanted to say no, it's a decoy, but I said yes it's real duck. I think he was still confused. while it didn't sound good to me it was gone by the end of the day. The chef was kinda of a jerk but he could cook.

Imaoldhippie · ‎06-10-2015

@Lipstickdiva ................LOL, they only way I know to ask that question is to just ask if they have a band playing. I understand what they mean, I would probably ask that question too. I just think its a funny.

BE THE PERSON YOUR DOG THINKS YOU ARE! (unknown)

this is my nic · ‎03-30-2010

Phone manners aren't the only type of manners that are nearly extinct.

DH does our grocery shopping for several reasons and I am so grateful. When I do go I see bad manners displayed constantly.

One example is letting the cart in the middle of the aisle while scanning the shelves. Keep the cart as close to the shelves as possible! When the entire family is shopping together allow space for other shoppers to get past. I once needed one item from Walmart which I generally avoid, however, since I only needed one item I thought I could get in and out quickly. Boy was I wrong! I knew exactly where to find what I needed and had my route figured out so I wouldn't have to wander the aisles. Unfortunately, a family got in front if me and took up the whole aisle, no one bothered to move so I could get by. They knew I was there, but that didn't matter.

I'm afraid manners have gone the way of the dinosaurs.

Pqfan · ‎03-09-2010

@this is my nic wrote:
Phone manners aren't the only type of manners that are nearly extinct.

DH does our grocery shopping for several reasons and I am so grateful. When I do go I see bad manners displayed constantly.

One example is letting the cart in the middle of the aisle while scanning the shelves. Keep the cart as close to the shelves as possible! When the entire family is shopping together allow space for other shoppers to get past. I once needed one item from Walmart which I generally avoid, however, since I only needed one item I thought I could get in and out quickly. Boy was I wrong! I knew exactly where to find what I needed and had my route figured out so I wouldn't have to wander the aisles. Unfortunately, a family got in front if me and took up the whole aisle, no one bothered to move so I could get by. They knew I was there, but that didn't matter.

I'm afraid manners have gone the way of the dinosaurs.

@this is my nic This happened to me too. Two ladies were standing in the middle of the aisle gossiping and I said excuse me and they ignored me. So I stood with them and reacted with facial expressions to what they were saying and they moved very fast. 😂