I Was Bad

Or perhaps I should say I am bad, since this is an ongoing thing.

People, as we all know, don’t like being told no. Especially not the people whose duty it is to make those annoying, harassing phone calls. You know the ones I mean. The ones where, once told no, the people calling can become abusive and sometimes downright ugly.

I work in an office. Part of my job involves answering the phone and dealing with such calls. Due to the nature of my employer, I get more than an average share of such calls. I don’t appreciate having strangers swear at me so I’ve developed an alternative to saying no.

There’s a meeting room next to my office which is unoccupied more often than not. As soon as I identify a call as one that could turn nasty, I very pleasantly and politely say, “One moment please,” and proceed to transfer them to the phone in the empty room. You’d be amazed at how long some of those people will wait before giving up. Yes, sometimes they call right back. When that happens I tell them the person they are seeking must have stepped away and cheerfully offer to try again before sending them straight back to the same extension.

This, to me, is the perfect solution. While giving the impression of being very helpful I manage to frustrate them and entertain myself. What could be better than that?