It's All In How You Ask?

Have you ever answered the phones at the place that you work. It's never a dull moment. If you happen to work a place where there is a "sales counter", the way people ask for it totally cracks me up. I have come up with a few of my favorites, and what I truly would like to answer when they ask.

Is "Bob" on the desk?

No, he isn't. He is probably standing behind the counter.

Can I have "Bob" on the desk?

Well, that is kind of a personal question. But if he wants you to have him, by all means, go for it.

Can I have your parts?

Hell no, you can't have my parts. What parts are you trying to get at anyway?

Can I speak to your desk?

Hmmm, you can but honestly, I don't think it will talk back. I have to admit. One day, I was eating my lunch, and my son, who works at the same place I do, was eating lunch also. The phone rang, I got that exact question. I said, just a moment, put the guy on hold, and sat the receiver of my phone onto my desk. Said out loud, "have at it". My son looked at me like, what in the hell are you doing? I said, well he asked if he could talk to my desk!!!

There are days I just want to page the counter the way they are being asked for. And also, certain people that have different names and the way people butcher them, that would be quite hilarious to page them the way they were asked for. But I am afraid that the guys wouldn't answer the phones because they wouldn't know what or who I was talking about.

One more thing, I have 6 lines coming in to answer. If someone has made an outgoing call, say to your cell phone, please don't call back without seeing if they left a message. I can't tell you how many times I hear this. I just got a call from this number. Well, isn't that nice. I don't have any idea who it was that would have called you. There are 15 people that work here. Guess what? If it's important, the person will leave a message or heaven forbid, call you back. Shocker, I know.