Phone Etiquette

Part of my job at the radio station is answering calls and directing them to the appropriate individual. Not my favorite part of the job because I tend to get tongue-tied and sound like a babbling idiot. And now you're wondering why I'm in radio if I tend to get tongue-tied. Well if you weren't wondering before, now you are because I just mentioned it. And I hate to disappoint you with my lack of an answer, but let's get back on track, shall we?

So I answer the phone a lot. And recently, I've had several calls where I answer as normal, then the person asks for someone who either isn't in the office at the moment or does not even work there at all. Upon hearing my less-than-desired answer, they abruptly hang up on me. How rude!

Instead of calling them back and fussing them out for their rudeness, I'm going to record some of my tips on phone etiquette and hope by some miracle they stumble across this post. You know who you are. Take notes.

First, simply because YOU dialed the wrong number and didn't expect to speak to me does not mean it's ok for you to just hang up! People of decency should apologize and it is super nice if you'd wish the phone answerer a nice day. Only then can you end the call without acting like a jerk muffin.

Before you call, please have in mind exactly what you want to say. Write down a few notes to refer back to if necessary. Because if you're all confused and spouting out "um's" every three or four words, you will be thoughtlessly wasting the time of the person on the other end of the line and probably trying their patience. I generally have a whole dang speech prepared when I call requesting an interview. It goes something like this...

"Hello, my name is Mandy and I'm with the Talk Station in Morehead City, North Carolina. I was calling to see if Congressman Jones would be interested in joining Ben Ball on the morning show Coastal Daybreak to talk about his efforts to increase the North Carolina public beach access with Senators Hagan and Burr. (pause for big breath) Would this possible early next week?"

Normally after the quick spew, I take the next few seconds to really catch my breath as the Congressman's aide responds. It may be a lot of information, but at least I'm prepared and ready to do business, dangit!

Now I must take a couple paragraphs to address teenage phone manners. When you call a home and someone answers, don't just say "Hi" and expect us to know who you are. We are awesome yes, but not psychic, so please introduce yourself. Because when you start asking about the time of the youth event thingy my parents planned, then I'm twice as confused because I don't know what you're talking about in addition to who you are.

Please request to speak with the person you're trying to reach instead of assuming I am my mother. My mom is adorable, so I'm flattered, but still! There are five women in my house and only frequent callers have just recently begun to name us correctly. And sometimes even they have to go down the list of sisters before naming the right one. It's almost like a fun guessing game, but the only clue they get is "Nope, try again!"

So people, PLEASE talk on the phone properly. Ok, rant over. I hope you learned something.