Thursday, 29 December 2011

treasure: phonecalls with the general public

just a quick amused musing here:

as the one who sits in the office at work i pretty much always get the phone first (mostly after the first ring, if i'm mixing things up i'll let it ring one and a half times) which means i can now sort calls to a thrift store into several categories:

  1. My boss- actually work related
  2. Other employees - call contains something work-related but often also has high percentage of meaningless chat
  3. "What time do you close?" - 6pm every single day of the week, mofo
  4. "I bought some skis yesterday and they're not the right height for me and I know your cashier told me no refunds and I know it also says no refunds on my receipt that I have right in front of me, but like, can I have a refund?" - nup.
  5. "Do you have any size 7 ice skates?" - just hold the line for me one moment while I go and look for you, already knowing the answer is no because it's been winter for a while now and everyone else in town already thought of that
  6. "I have a washer/dryer, can you guys come pick it up right meow?" - here is a number you can call, and good luck with your irrational demands
  7. " .... ..... is this the re-use-it centre?" - surprisingly constant response to my spiel when i answer the phone: "Good morning, Re-Use-It Centre, Helen speaking". Yes it is the re-use-it centre. i apologize for my mumbly australian accent. except that i. don't. mumble.


my favorite is to leave a little pause when someone phones with a particularly stupid question. this causes them to say ".... um, hello?", while you get to sit back enjoying the awkwardness, then responding to them in a very civil and friendly manner (i can't ever bring myself to actually be rude to people on the phone).


i really do not like phonecalls. it's a pity I can't screen the ones at work.


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