They do it deliberately, I'm sure. They WANT me to snap.
To start, I work for an answering service. Our clients instruct us in how to handle various types of calls, and I follow the rules. I'm polite and as helpful as I'm able, but after the calls end, I do a lot of muttering and shaking my head.
1. If you call your property management company at 11PM about someone being in your parking space, and give them a long and involved story about how you need your parking space and your kids don't like to walk through the lot when it's raining… and the manager on duty tells you it's not an emergency?
Don't call back the next night for the same issue, with the same story. Especially don't call back after you've been connected to the manager on duty this second night and whine to the operator that the MOD got mad at you for being stupid and waking him up AGAIN, and announce in petulant tones that you've parked next to your spot again, and you really hope nobody tows your car.
Dimwit, if nobody would tow the car that's parked in your legitimate spot for you, two nights running, then your car is probably safe. Unless the OTHER person who's now inconvenienced is in possession of enough clue to pay for the tow themselves, which is what you were told by the MOD to do if you're so concerned about your parking space.
And no, I DON'T care if your kids get wet on the way to your car. You JUST TOLD ME you don't have a covered spot, nor is your route to your spot covered. Five extra seconds of rain won't make a difference, and now everyone thinks you're a jackass. Well done, you.
2. Creepy Security Guard: We've been down this road before, and I don't have a sense of humour where you're concerned. This incident is going into a nice little note to your supervisor. Remember when I promised I'd report you for anything? Remember that pep talk they gave you about not sexually harassing anyone or you'd be fired?
Yeah, nobody was joking. Asshole.
3. Slow down. I know you're upset. I caught the words 'flood' and 'basement' in there, but the rest is a bit hard to understand if you're crying hysterically and only halfway speaking English. I don't speak (I think) Portuguese, so please calm down and try to remember the English words for what you want to tell me.
OK, flooded basement in Pleasantville*. That's a start, but it's the name of the neighbourhood, and I need to know your city. No, repeating the local name for your five-block-square area doesn't help. I don't live near there. I don't know where that is. There are about six CITIES in the Lower Mainland with numbered streets, so repeating the street address doesn't help either. No, telling me it's near the 7-Eleven doesn't help. Have you never received a piece of mail? How do you not know your city?
Now you're crying again. Your whole universe is filling with water and nobody will help you. Right. How about you help yourself, just a little bit? Figure out which city you live in. Is it Surrey? Is it Vancouver? Burnaby? New Westminster? North Vancouver? Abbotsford? Is any of this ringing any bells in your head?
Can I ring a bell with your head?
* AFAIK, there's no neighbourhood called Pleasantville in the Lower Mainland, but it sounds nice, doesn't it?
4. Are you KIDDING me?
OK, so we talk a lot. You're a truck driver, and you check in on your company's line regularly. That's what you're supposed to do. I'm supposed to answer the phone in a cheery (or at least not surly) manner, get your ID number, and timestamp your call into the system. Happy days. Good times. Takes about ten seconds.
This is NOT what I do for fun. I'm working. I'm cool with a little bit of chat if the lines are quiet, but not much. If the lines are busy, then yes, I'm going to say hello, get your info, and sign off in a hurry.
That doesn't mean it's appropriate to phone two minutes later to call me rude names because you've had delusions of intimacy. Agreeing that driving in slush is sucky? Not flirting. Asking for your contact number at your first check-in? NOT FLIRTING, IDIOT. It's required. And if a woman tells you she's got a boyfriend and likes him just fine, that's your cue to STFU, not accuse her of being a dyke. Seriously, seek professional help.
WTF is it with lonely men deciding that a not-hostile female voice over the phone is their frigging soulmate? It's like phone sex, guys. They don't actually love or desire you. I don't care about you beyond the limits of whether or not you checked in on time. All I want is your information, and then I want you to go away so I can handle the next call.[/ranty]
1. If you call your property management company at 11PM about someone being in your parking space, and give them a long and involved story about how you need your parking space and your kids don't like to walk through the lot when it's raining… and the manager on duty tells you it's not an emergency?
Don't call back the next night for the same issue, with the same story. Especially don't call back after you've been connected to the manager on duty this second night and whine to the operator that the MOD got mad at you for being stupid and waking him up AGAIN, and announce in petulant tones that you've parked next to your spot again, and you really hope nobody tows your car.
Dimwit, if nobody would tow the car that's parked in your legitimate spot for you, two nights running, then your car is probably safe. Unless the OTHER person who's now inconvenienced is in possession of enough clue to pay for the tow themselves, which is what you were told by the MOD to do if you're so concerned about your parking space.
And no, I DON'T care if your kids get wet on the way to your car. You JUST TOLD ME you don't have a covered spot, nor is your route to your spot covered. Five extra seconds of rain won't make a difference, and now everyone thinks you're a jackass. Well done, you.
2. Creepy Security Guard: We've been down this road before, and I don't have a sense of humour where you're concerned. This incident is going into a nice little note to your supervisor. Remember when I promised I'd report you for anything? Remember that pep talk they gave you about not sexually harassing anyone or you'd be fired?
Yeah, nobody was joking. Asshole.
3. Slow down. I know you're upset. I caught the words 'flood' and 'basement' in there, but the rest is a bit hard to understand if you're crying hysterically and only halfway speaking English. I don't speak (I think) Portuguese, so please calm down and try to remember the English words for what you want to tell me.
OK, flooded basement in Pleasantville*. That's a start, but it's the name of the neighbourhood, and I need to know your city. No, repeating the local name for your five-block-square area doesn't help. I don't live near there. I don't know where that is. There are about six CITIES in the Lower Mainland with numbered streets, so repeating the street address doesn't help either. No, telling me it's near the 7-Eleven doesn't help. Have you never received a piece of mail? How do you not know your city?
Now you're crying again. Your whole universe is filling with water and nobody will help you. Right. How about you help yourself, just a little bit? Figure out which city you live in. Is it Surrey? Is it Vancouver? Burnaby? New Westminster? North Vancouver? Abbotsford? Is any of this ringing any bells in your head?
Can I ring a bell with your head?
* AFAIK, there's no neighbourhood called Pleasantville in the Lower Mainland, but it sounds nice, doesn't it?
4. Are you KIDDING me?
OK, so we talk a lot. You're a truck driver, and you check in on your company's line regularly. That's what you're supposed to do. I'm supposed to answer the phone in a cheery (or at least not surly) manner, get your ID number, and timestamp your call into the system. Happy days. Good times. Takes about ten seconds.
This is NOT what I do for fun. I'm working. I'm cool with a little bit of chat if the lines are quiet, but not much. If the lines are busy, then yes, I'm going to say hello, get your info, and sign off in a hurry.
That doesn't mean it's appropriate to phone two minutes later to call me rude names because you've had delusions of intimacy. Agreeing that driving in slush is sucky? Not flirting. Asking for your contact number at your first check-in? NOT FLIRTING, IDIOT. It's required. And if a woman tells you she's got a boyfriend and likes him just fine, that's your cue to STFU, not accuse her of being a dyke. Seriously, seek professional help.
WTF is it with lonely men deciding that a not-hostile female voice over the phone is their frigging soulmate? It's like phone sex, guys. They don't actually love or desire you. I don't care about you beyond the limits of whether or not you checked in on time. All I want is your information, and then I want you to go away so I can handle the next call.[/ranty]