Is phone courtesy dead?
I have a part time job at a dispatch center. As a part-time dispatcher with 4 kids, a husband with an odd work schedule and my own small business, I don’t work all that frequently. So when I answer the phone not everyone knows who I am and vice versa, I can’t recognize everyone’s voice. And since we dispatch for over 20 towns there is no way I could know everyone anyway.
So I have this interesting non-emergency phone call the other day, it goes like this:
Me: I say the name of the agency and my last name
Caller: “Who is this?”
Me: I say the name of the agency again, and then “how can I help you?”
Caller: says the name of their ambulance service and asks for some info
Me: “Hold on while I look that up”
Caller: then begins talking to someone else in the room, WHILE HOLDING THE PHONE IN FRONT OF HER MOUTH, “I don’t know who this is, I don’t recognize her name”
Me: “Hi, Are you talking to me? I’m still here”
Caller: “I’m not talking to you”
So I ignore her, but quite frankly if you’re going to talk about someone you’re on the phone with to someone else in the room common courtesy would be to not speak about them to them. Move the phone away from your mouth. Another important point about phone courtesy is if you don’t know the person you’re speaking with at least identify yourself before asking who they are. If someone called my home and immediately asked who I was I would either ask them to identify themselves first or hand up on them.
What has happened to phone courtesy these days? Is it dead?
So I have this interesting non-emergency phone call the other day, it goes like this:
Me: I say the name of the agency and my last name
Caller: “Who is this?”
Me: I say the name of the agency again, and then “how can I help you?”
Caller: says the name of their ambulance service and asks for some info
Me: “Hold on while I look that up”
Caller: then begins talking to someone else in the room, WHILE HOLDING THE PHONE IN FRONT OF HER MOUTH, “I don’t know who this is, I don’t recognize her name”
Me: “Hi, Are you talking to me? I’m still here”
Caller: “I’m not talking to you”
So I ignore her, but quite frankly if you’re going to talk about someone you’re on the phone with to someone else in the room common courtesy would be to not speak about them to them. Move the phone away from your mouth. Another important point about phone courtesy is if you don’t know the person you’re speaking with at least identify yourself before asking who they are. If someone called my home and immediately asked who I was I would either ask them to identify themselves first or hand up on them.
What has happened to phone courtesy these days? Is it dead?
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