I'm freakin' pissed at people's stupid-ass behavior today, all over the world frankly, but to be specific, I'm pissed at some BS that's going on at work.

So today, most of the office went out for a training and I was left alone to answer phones and run the office, and I got a call for one of my co-workers and they were really, really inquisitive about my co-worker's whereabouts and what their schedule for the night would be, and blah blah blah. So, naturally, I asked who was calling before I started giving out information.

This person had the nerve to start going off on me, telling me I have "attitude" and that I always give them trouble whenever they call! EH?! It turned out to be my co-worker's roommate, and I very humbly apologized and said I was trying to protect my co-worker's privacy, and it was routine procedure. THEN this person insisted on getting a message to my co-worker RIGHT NOW, and I told the person they were in training, and someone would have to walk into training and interrupt to give the message, but I could do that if it were necessary - at which point the person told me they were going to talk to my manager. Then the person hung up.

WTF?!?

AND!!! ANOTHER one of my co-workers told us that if we contacted him at home, only males should call or else his wife would get upset. WHAT?!?!

This personal phone shit is getting out of hand. If it were up to me, I'd have all the phones in the office removed at once. I fucking hate telephones.

I agree and have somewhat of an anger problem, so lets just say I have thrown quite a few of my own cell phones at the wall at about mach5

They are like a big firecracker when they explode into bits of plastic

thanks...yeah, i think i did the right thing, but still it cheeses me off royally. i get caught up in the principle of the matter, and i don't like people telling me i'm a jerk unless of course i just set out to be a jerk on purpose (but that's a different story altogether ). plus, now i have to talk with my co-worker when they get back from training and go into a whole big thing about the incident with their roommate, and although it's fortunate that i get along really well with this person, the whole thing is just one big unnecessary pain in the butt.

and as for the other co-worker and the "males only" call-at-home rule, that's just a load of crap. i just can't believe how much drama there is at my job over personal phone calls - it's like a job duty in and of itself! it's enough that i work in a big office where we deal with wacky, demanding clients all the time. now i have to deal with my co-workers' irate loved ones. KEEP IT AT HOME!!! ugh.

lil1 said:

i used to date someone who collected cheap ceramic and glass candle holders from garage sales, and this person kept them in a basket so that when they got angry, there'd be something not of value to smash against the wall.

Anxiety said:

Now why didn't I think of that, I have spent a fortune on cell phones

About your situation I have a friend who works for the county government and no personal calls are allowed there whatsoever. The only time the are permitted are in extreme emergencies from family members. The only time I can call her is on her lunch break on her cell phone. I see more office buildings taking this stance on personal calls in the future.

I used to sell windows on the phone.....I did nothing but then I realized they tapped my calls so I was out by a week.....sure was fun though!


The co. gave me 0 training and was sleezy as hell.....I'd deliberately phone up people and put on "phoney" accents and stuff

"Prince, prince rogers.....oh yeah I raised (?) him.....all his music is just sex.sex.sex.....

"seems u have a personal problem?"
"no seems u have a personal problem nigger whats wrong with u....."

lil1 said:

really, i tell family and my sweetie and my friends not to call me at work unless it's life or death, just because of this kind of shit. i don't want work life mixing into home life, and i don't want home life mixing into work life. i don't feel comfortable having personal conversations on the phone at work, but that's just because that's how i am. i know my co-workers don't give a crap, just like i don't give a crap about when they're on the phone with their friends. but when it crosses over into me being a part of their personal business - uh-uh, nope, not gonna do it. NAH GAH DAH.

Anxiety said:

My job doesn't allow for personal calls at all, being that I'm a blackjack dealer I think the customers would be shocked if I pulled out my cell phone in the middle of a hand.....and of coarse later get mad and throw it at the wall

i hate having to answer the phone at work. people just don't know how to act and i have to be nice to them even though they don't deserve it. grrr.

JasmineFire said:

oh my god, they SO don't deserve it. there needs to be some seinfeld-ism or some larry david catchphrase that you can say to people on the phone at work, that sounds really professional but is code for "fuck you, ASS."

I work in a call center, so I know how rude and just plain stupid people can be on the phone. Disgusting too, for that matter.

MotoPsycho said:

I used to work at an information desk at a community center in New York City for five years, so I've encountered my fair share of gross, wacky, rude and downright frightening telephone calls. I've also worked as support staff for law firms for the past few years, so I've had my fair share of evil lawyers barking in my ear. But the thing that gets me is when people who actually should UNDERSTAND what we go through - as in, the friends family members of our co-workers - act worse than the people we're paid to be nice to. How is my co-worker's roommate or wife gonna call and treat me like their freakin' underling henchman Naomi Campbell personal assistant pissboy? That shit really just doesn't fly right with me.

Yeah, i noticed that when I worked at one for a week.....I had to have a sense of humour about it though and I did (for the wrong reasons).....but u expect the person to be rude so it cannot be that bad.....but Iam not rude to people like u though!


The people who r rude to call centre people r the type who completely ignore Big issue sellers (homeless people selling magazines on the streets, it's a UK thing!)....I hate those type of people.....just a "no thanx" to them would be fine, but to not even notice them is disgraceful.....infact homeless people r great.....seriously! To survive on the streets is something I could not bear and yet these people do it.....(sorry 4 that little bit)
[Edited 11/30/04 17:10pm]

I think there's such a thing as just plain being rude back to a rude caller, and then there's actually holding someone accountable to the same level of professionalism that they seem to be expecting from you. When someone starts giving me a hard time on the phone, that's the route I always try to take. I try to very politely allude to their irrational behavior ("what can we do to make you less upset?") while killing them with kindness, especially if I can tell my kindness is pissing them off even more.

thesexofit said:

You shouldn't be rude to people like me.. it's an in-bound call center. I don't call people, they call me. I did work for JCPenney, taking catalog orders but now I work for an insurance company.

There's really no reason to be rude to me unless I'm doing a horrible job, which I don't.

I think you may be thinking of people who call your home, telemarketers. I did that too, and it's definitely not a job for everyone. I liked it, having people get angry with me doesn't really bother me too much. I don't do it anymore though.

Anxiety said:

It's really unprofessional to have so many personal calls at work! I can't believe the company you work for allows that kind of stuff to go on. Are you a secretary? That's the only way all that behavior could be understandable. (not right though, mind you.)

As for the wacko's. Now that I work in an insurance in-bound call center, it's not nearly as bad. When I worked for JCPenney Catalog call center, it was awful. I work 3rd shift, and it's true that the freaks come out at night. I got at least 3 calls a night of guys either in the process of getting off or wanting to. Some guy actually tried to talk to me about horses doing the deed.

I work in a law office and today I had a client call me literally screaming in my ear asking me how come she was not told she had to be in court (a letter was sent), demanding to talk to the lawyer, told her he was with a client (which he was),and I was not going to interrupt him. All she could scream is when she could talk to him. Then she started saying that he (the lawyer) is working against her. I explained he is not working against you but he represents you and works for you. Sheesh!!!! Fuck!! I had the phone out to here away from my ear. She just hung up. I think she was on something, my lawyer called her back and straightened her out. Next time I have an abusive client like that is I will tell them that I will hang up and they are to call me back when they are calmed down.