December 18, 2010

Some politeness please!

I know most marketing calls are pesky. And the ones that sound too good to be true almost always have a catch in the end. And the calls mostly come during an office meeting, or when you are doing something worthwhile or waiting for another important call to come in.
Much as i want to scream at the person on the other side for disturbing, i also realize that at the end of the day, it is their job! And a bad one at that in which they often hear a mouthful from the people they call. So if it is something that is of no concern to me, then i directly tell them before they start off their well practiced lines, that i am not interested, thank you. Or else, if it is some offer that i want to hear about, i hear it out, weigh the options and then end up telling them again that i am not interested, thank you for the information.
Of late, it has so happened, that as soon as i say, No ( and before i can say Not interested, thank you!) the person calling just bangs the phone at the opposite end. It is one thing to disconnect the call on a mobile phone. But banging a landline phone has a totally different effect. Makes me want to reach out at the other end and give the person a piece of mind about politeness. I agree i was not interested in the offer, but the least they can do is be civil and let me complete my statement or at least say an "Ok" after i say No. Don't they get taught these things at their training programs? And is graciousness reserved only for people who accept the stuff they have on offer? Is it too much on my part to expect politeness from them? I think not, because i don't go about hanging up on people like that. Maybe they have a pile of frustration from a deadline or after someone shouts at them for disturbing. But letting that show through in the next call is not done. They knew what they were getting into when they took up the job! One person's rudeness does not imply that the next person they call will also be rude. The next time someone slams the phone, I am going to try calling back the number and say thanks and tell them a thing or two about telephone etiquette.

5 comments:

  1. Cause i was asleep when the call came. And i went back to sleep after the person hung up. Realised that i should have called back, after i woke up. Hence the post :) Intend to call back if it happens again!

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  2. But I think even if you call back, it will go to a central hub which does not reach anywhere :D

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  3. Outbound call centres are always like this and if a person has gotten into domestic outbound then he must have had no other option for living .
    As far as the training is concerned , they are definitely trained if its a reputed client / ITeS firm , but after the introduction of digital recorded voices playing instead of real ppl, everyone is too peeved with these calls . Outbound calls are usually from sweet voiced girls and was good to have a conversation for a break . Now the girls have backed out and the place is filled with guys who slam the receivers
    !
    Pathetic state !
    You cannot call the number back as it might be usually a VOIP based call .

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  4. I don't think u can call back..
    and probably they are trained in that way only who knows..!! :P
    In order to cover more ppl or to indicate that calling u was a waste so they might ve just banged the phone..
    or by doing so they wan to indicate that u ve been not loyal to company!!

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