Last week was a real crazy period for me. There were 2 continuous assessments (CA) and an assignment which comprised of 60% of my final marks due last week. I had serious sleep deprivation as a result of numerous nights of burning the midnight oil. After I completed my last CA on Friday, I was excited as I finally got a chance to take an afternoon nap, compensating for the hours of sleep that I was deprived of. Just when I was about to enter slumberland, my sweet nap was disrupted by the ringing of my phone. Despite being very drowsy, I got up and I picked up the phone for the fear of missing any important call. The following is the conversation that I had with an unknown lady (caller):
Unknown lady: Hello, may I know who is this?
Me : Huh? Pardon me?
Unknown lady: I’m asking you, may I know who is the user of this line?
Me : Er…. I’m Miss Loke.
Unknown lady: From which branch?
Me : Huh? (I was very confused.) Excuse me; may I know who is calling me?
Unknown lady: (Speaking in an annoyed tone) I’m Laura from XXX Company. I just
want to ask you who is the user of this line?
Me : Oh. Err… I am Miss Loke.
Unknown lady: Okay, so you’re Miss Loke, right? Thanks. (Hung up)
I was quite confused throughout the entire conversation that I had with this unknown lady (who apparently addressed herself as Laura). This might be due to the inability of my not- so-well- functioning brain to process her speech as I was very drowsy at that moment.
However, when I think back about it, I feel rather mad as I find that the lady was rude to me during the whole conversation. After analyzing the dialogue, I discover a few errors that could have been avoided in order to make the conversation more pleasant. Firstly, the unknown lady should have introduced herself before proceeding to her questions. This step reflects the professionalism of the caller and it is important to ensure that the receiver (who is me) knows the identity of the caller. Secondly, instead of expressing her annoyance in her speech, she should have used a more polite tone when she is speaking with me. Her annoyance made me felt as though I had done or said something wrong which led to her displeasure. Thirdly, the purpose of this call was not mentioned until I asked for her identity. To be honest, I am still clueless as to why she called me and inquired for my name. The conversation would be more sensible if she had taken some time to explain to me about the reason for her call. And last but not least, I was displeased with the way she ended the conversation. In my opinion, hanging up on someone’s call without a proper greeting (i.e. goodbye) is a serious mistake and no one should be doing it especially when you are calling someone on behalf of your company.
As such, I feel that communication skills are very important, be it in our verbal communications such as our daily face- to face and phone conversations and written communications such as letters, emails or blogs. Therefore, as part of the society, we should pay attention to the way we communicate with each other in order to establish or maintain good, healthy relationships with one another.
Thank you, Sau Yeen, for sharing this exchange and the good analysis. I can sympathize with your frustration and anger. Yep, you have to wonder what that was all about. Very weird!
ReplyDeleteHi Sau Yeen, :)
ReplyDeleteSigh. This is one of my pet peeves. Receiving phone calls from inconsiderate/rude individuals just when you are about to enjoy your beauty sleep.
Yes, I agree that no matter how long(or pretty short, in this case)a phone conversation is, the caller should always make an attempt to identify him/herself before anything else. Even more so, if the caller and receiver don't know each other!
Not only is it basic phone etiquette, it also displays a basic degree of professionalism, as you mentioned, and also makes it easier for the receiver to get back to the caller if necessary.
Laura is really not doing her job prospects any good here with her actions. Granted, one of the contributing factors to such brevity in her call(not even identifying herself and the purpose of her call)may be that you are just one of the many people she has to contact and she might want to save time, but somewhere along the way she might receive complaints by disgruntled individuals. Should that happen and her superiors are alerted to this, her career would be in jeopardy.
Hope you don't receive such calls again! Have a good rest, you earned it. :)
Mark
Hello Sauyeen!
ReplyDeleteI wouldn’t want to imagine how cranky you were after the much needed beauty sleep was disturbed by that rude lady! However it was indeed weird, I hate it when I receive calls and the party from the other line starts questioning me who am I. You should scream back at her face: “look dude you called me so quit asking me who am I!” That will definitely catch her by surprise!
Oh one more thing, I don’t really understand this line “After I completed my last CA on Friday, I was excited as I finally got a chance to take an afternoon nap”. Is there another more appropriate way to say that?
Just my 10cent’s worth=)
Shihui
Brad: Thanks for commenting on my blog. Recently, I have been receiving calls from unknown numbers when I am napping. I guess it's best for me to just switch my phone to silent mode so that no one can disturb my sleep. haha
ReplyDeleteMark: What you were saying is quite true. Perhaps I was one of the many people whom she needed to call or maybe she was working under pressure. Thus, she was easily annoyed or frustration when she was calling me. Anyway, I feel that she should have managed her emotions better especially when she is calling clients/ customers to inquire information.
Shi Hui: Thanks for your comment.What I was trying to say is I finally managed to have some time to nap after I have completed all my assignments and CA.So, do tell me if you have a better way to convey my message. :)
Hi Sau Yeen,
ReplyDeleteI can imagine how frustrating it was for you to received such a call from a stranger while we were about to take a nap. It was weird of her to ask who was on the line as she was the one who called you. I think it will be courteous of her to at least introduce herself even before asking you the details that she required. I think it was polite of you not to scream at her or to slam the phone.
I do agree with you that, verbal communication is very important to establish or maintain a healthy relationship with others. In fact, I think communication is the first step to everything. Communication is also required to pick up a fight. I think how we communicate to others depends on the outcome that we want to achieve at the end of the interaction.
Thanks for sharing this interesting cum weird experience of yours.
Ayu :)
Hi Sau Yeen,
ReplyDeleteIt is a great post. Thanks for sharing your experience with us.As both of us taking the same modules, last week was a nightmare for us. I understand how frustrating you were to be disturbed by such a rude call.
I agree with Mark that a caller should always make an attempt to identify him/herself before starting a conversation especially when the caller and receiver don't know each other! This is the basic courtesy that a caller should give to a receiver.Right?
Sista, i will always be with you. Kampateh!
Ayu: Haha. Maybe it's a good idea to scream at her since she interrupted my beauty sleep. haha
ReplyDeleteI was just joking. But anyway, I was too drowsy and confused at the time and my response to her questions was quite slow. Before I could slam the phone, she already hung up without saying goodbye.haha
Cher:Thanks my dear sista/ bestie/ gossip pal/blogging buddy
Hi Sauyeen,
ReplyDeleteI do think that you should be rude to her. I absolutely abhore people who call when I am about to sleep. I think you have been very polite in trying to answer her questions. Maybe you should have told her that this was a personal line right from the start. In this way, you can return to your sleep quickly. :)
Duane
Hi Sau Yeen,
ReplyDeleteI really do hate phone calls just when I am about to enter my well-deserved sleep. On one hand, you really feel like ignoring the call altogehter. On the other hand, you keep asking yourself:" What if it's an emergency?" So you drag yourself up reluctantly and answer it anyway.
If I were you though, I would not have told her who she was speaking with. I would demand that she tell me who she was first before I did, since she was the one who made the call. If her bad attitude persisted, I would have just hung up on her and put the phone on silent mode, lest she calls again. I know it would seem rude on my part as well, but a sleepy sarah isn't a nice sarah.
After my sleep, I would have called the lady back and asked her what the phone call was all about. If she doesn't give a satisfactory explanation and is 'unrepentant'about her attitude on the phone, I would certainly give her an earful.
snll :)
Dear Duane,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your suggestion. However, I have a tendency to be more polite to strangers and I am not sure whether this is a good or a bad quality of mine when it comes to situations like this. Anyway, I think could deal with these situations better in the future with all the wonderful suggestions that you guys have given me.
SY
Dear Sarah,
ReplyDeleteThanks Sarah for your idea. I shall take into consideration if this were to happen again. (Hopefully not). But as I have said earlier, I have a tendency to be more polite to strangers even we are communicating on the phone.
SY