Even though most people have caller I.D. these days, when I call a customer's home from the pharmacy the FIRST thing I do when they answer is identify myself -- who I am, and where I'm calling from. THEN, I ask if I can speak to the person I'm looking for. I figure this is common phone etiquette and they know up front that I am not a telemarketer or some other nuisance call. I got a phone call the other day at home that went:
Me (not recognizing the number but answering anyway): Hello?
Caller: Is Mrs. McGillicuddy there?
Me (pretty sure this is no one I wish to speak to but still don't know who it is): No, she's not.
Can I take a message?
Caller: Well...uh... is Mr. McGillicuddy there?
Okay, at this point I feel under no obligation to answer any more questions till the caller identifies THEMSELF. I find this really obnoxious. People will call the pharmacy and ask for a certain person. When told they are not there, they'll ask for another person. When they are not there either, they'll say "Well, who is there today?" I STILL have no idea who I'm talking to and now I have to give them a rundown of the entire staff? Nuh-uh.
Or sometimes it will go:
Me: Frantic Pharmacy, this is Lucy speaking.
Caller: "WHAT IS YOUR FAX NUMBER?" (or, "DO YOU CARRY OXYCONTIN 60MG?" or, "DID YOU GET A PRESCRIPTION FOR ETHEL MERTZ TODAY?")
Am I not justified in asking ...... WHO ARE YOU ????
(..... sorry about all the CAPITALS.)
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6 comments:
I feel the same way. Even our most annoying customers, that I can identify by voice, I make tell me who they are. They start talking, and then I'm like, WHO AM I SPEAKING WITH? I then make them repeat themselves completely. Maybe they will eventually get they need to identify themselves!
My personal bugbear usually proceeds as follows:
Me: "Hello, Cranky Pharmacy, Mr. Cranky speaking"
Caller: "Is that the pharmacy?"
Me: "Yes, this is Cranky Pharmacy"
Caller: "Will you get my prescription ready? I'll be up in five minutes"
Me: "Yes ok, can I just..."
Caller: "Ok so you'll have that ready so will ya?"
and hangs up
Glad to see it happens elsewhere too and not just in Ireland.
On the same vein, I get messages left on my overnight box.." um yea, I juust left my number on your system and I need it before 1 pm. I will be right in when you open. get it ready will ya?:
UM SURE BUDDY. not only are you rude, but you failed to identify yourself so its not going to be done. you'll be pissed and I'll make you like a dope.
Anyone else get so in to the habit of identifying yourself that you will phone your best friend and say "Hi, this is Jim-bob from the Bigpharmacy"
lol your blog is really funny :) I really enjoy it because it is SO TRUE. only in pharmacy...
One time, filing in for a day at a pharmacy I'd never been before this 'lack of identification' struck my funnybone so badly, that I could hear myself laughing at myself all the while the patient kept droning on and on about her problem. I felt as if I might be on the other end of some kind of a confidential help line or behind the curtain at a confessional. The person never identified themself in the entire exchange and after that call I felt an innocent participant in unrehearsed sit-com and kept waiting for the punchline of the 'You're on Candid Camera'.
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