July 20, 2006
Now I almost feel like an employee of a customer service dept or may be still worse.. (pl note I don’t demean the C.S. dept here but just that I am not the best fit for the same.) They atleast don’t get blank calls on the extension.
Such a pain..imagine… you are in the middle of an important conversation with a client/ working on an interesting structure / reading ‘update – your – knowledge –type’ article (I guess I don’t get many now a days.. have my all friends given up on me already?) and tring… goes this phone.. most of the times, I ignore but some times out of guilt or out of feeling of ‘duty – to – answer my – extension’ .. I do answer… and these are the questions I get to answer:
1. “have you received my fax?” (if you could only care to introduce I might even answer!!) With a smile still (forceful) “marked it to whom sir and from where?” Some name is thrown on my face. (everyday I get to hear about a new colleague..) . “sorry sir wrong dept.” “Not a problem, pl connect me to a right person..”darn.. u expect me to leave my work n find out the concerned person out of 20000 employees that our company has? Must be out of his rockers. “Sorry sir I am unable to do that but pl speak with the reception” . smile . Click.
2. “hello, I m calling from pune. I am a director And I want to speak to the top most authority..” (hehehe… you are certainly at wrong extension.. ). I know its not my client but I also know some client wanting to lodge a complaint.. (out of sheer experience of answering these wrong nos.) “well director of which co sir?”…some name thrown at me.. and once again I have no clue as to whose client it is but I have learnt to take educated guesses and take one.i also know how to handle these people now (you certainly cant bang the phone saying wrong extension.. ) I suggest – “highest authority – chairman/ cmd?”.. “no no … not that high”… “sr vp??” “Not really” (I take a note … its time to change the definition of higher authorities ). “Ok.. may be you could spk with ‘her’and here is her no.” “thank you very much maam..instead is it possible for you to resolve the issue?” (what???!!!if I could , why would you think I have gone through the pains of identifying a right person for you?) “No. I have no jurisdiction.” (read high hopes.. I have wasted 5 min already doing customer service job for no reason and I don’t intend to waste any further second. ) “Thank you. It was nice talking to you. Maam what do you handle then?” (is he going to change the business requirement to suit that ?) “well I typically handle business requirements of say 200-10000 cr.” Wow!! That worked!! “Ok Ma’am if you are coming to Pune , do drop in. I will surely meet with you next time I visit Mumbai Office.” (What for?) “Sure Sir” (but I am not bothered any more as he does not even know my name)
3. “hello…hello. Haan.. wo mere shares transfer ho gaye?” (umm..)”whom do u want to speak with sir?) (add on…after a short break of second) “dekhiye maam aise kuch baat nahi karni sirf batayiye mere shares transaction record hua ya nahi.”Well u have reached a wrong dept.” “No I have dialed the right no.. your receptionist has transferred it to u. It could be her mistake and not mine..” (shoot… why does she has to remember my extension at such junctures? My extension is not the easiest to remember after all..) “ok sir may be her mistake but its still a wrong extension.”. “ Ok then tell me the right number” “I would not know that sir, and I could not transfer from this instrument” “ arre.. you youngsters don’t understand the value of time” (guess you are right.. why would I otherwise waste my good 3 –4 minutes talking to you?)
I take a mental note to not to answer my extension again during the day.. I was done with my customer service for the day (or still better for a week ..or so I like to believe).
