Every now and then, the very busy in my office screen calls for the even-busier. That’s what I’ve been doing this week to give one of our owners a chance to completely focus on design and deadlines.
It’s been a long time since I was a receptionist – and even longer since my much-hated summer telemarketing jobs – but I still can sniff out a scam artist with the best of them.
Such was the case with one call that was routed through my office this week:
Me: J’s office. How can I help you?
Caller: I need to speak to J.
Me: He’s in a meeting, Can I help you?
Caller: Well, no. I’m calling for J. so I need to speak to him.
Me: Ok. I can take a message for him.
Caller: No, that’s fine. I’ll call back later.
Me: Sir, you can call back later, but you won’t speak to him without speaking to me. So you might as well leave a message.
Caller: I’m just following up on a call I made to him in late January/early February. He’ll know what it’s about.
Me: That’s interesting – I’d love to know what it’s about. You see, he’s always on sabbatical out of the country at that time of year. So how about you leave a message?
Caller: Actually, this is really just a high-pressure sales call, so I’m not going to bother.
I couldn’t help it – I laughed, out loud. After all, I can appreciate a little honesty!
That's hysterical!
I might have actually be inclined to let the caller through just because they were honest… after I stopped laughing.
That is GREAT. I need to take some notes from your answering strategy to pull the truth from some of the callers that ring-a-ding my phone.