I almost forgot, this is one of those things that I wanted to write about.

Yesterday I called to schedule an initial appointment with the surgeon (more on that later – is this getting annoying or what?), they were supposed to call me and didn’t so I initiated the call and it went something like this.

“Hi my name is Jamez and I have a referral to call you.” I said

“What for?” she said in a not to friendly voice

I specify why I’m calling, the referral and that I’d like to schedule an appointment.

“An appointment for what?” she asks “just to see the doctor? surgery? what kind of appointment?”

“I can schedule surgery without first seeing the surgeon?” I inquire

“Why didn’t you say that to begin with?” she barks “which location do you want an appointment?”

“I wasn’t aware you had more than one location what are…” I start

she shoots off the two addresses before I can even begin to understand thats what she’s doing.

This is an example of bad customer service, this is an example of how NOT to answer the phone for your job. She was not the least bit friendly, not the least bit helpful and maybe was having a really, really bad day (it was only 9 how bad could it have gotten by 9?).

When I answer the phone at work (I do this for a living) it’s like this:

“Good morning thank you for calling [insert workplace here], my name is Jamez how can we help you today?” and then I listen… and then I go out of my way to help that person get what they need… sometimes I have to put them on hold to think to myself “had this person just read the email they wouldn’t have had to call” but I don’t tell them that…

My job is to be of service, to be friendly and to make them feel like they were listened to and cared about. If you answer the phone for your job that’s what you’re supposed to do, don’t be all bitchy to them no matter how bad a day you are having… You’ll actually find that when you’re grumpy or not up to the task that faking this kind of thing actually helps you to feel better… because those people sometimes say thank you, those people need to feel like someone is listening and most of the time they’re human..

Remember that golden rule thing… treat them as you would have them treat you. And smile, it helps to make you less grouchy

I’m keeping the doctor appointment, but I might be overly, syrupy cheery when I get to their office!