Wednesday, February 29, 2012

"You Have An Idiot On Line One... Idiot, Line One."

My apologies for the delay, everyone, but life has been busy.  This will be a brief one but I figured it was amusing enough to share with the rest of you and hopefully it’ll tide you all over until a real entry can be written. The other day I had the opening shift in my department and received a call practically first thing in the morning.  Usually, whenever that happens, it’s a pretty big issue that is waiting to be resolved.  I generally prefer not opening right away for that exact reason.  By the time the 2nd person comes in, or the closing person comes in, all of the issues are resolved.  So, I approached the phone with a bit of trepidation.
I picked up the phone and here is how the conversation went (with a few modifications, of course):
“Hello, Home Electronics, Parker speaking.”
“Hi, I need to talk to somebody in Home Electronics.”
D’uh, way to pay attention.
“Okay.  That’s me.”
“Oh, okay, well I had a special order TV that was supposed to be delivered today and I never received a call telling me when it was going to be here.”
“Ah, they didn’t call you last night?”
“No.  Today is the 29th, isn’t it?”
He said this last part with a bit of condescension in his voice.
I looked at my watch.
“No, actually, it’s the 28th.”
A brief pause, presumably to insert his foot into his mouth.
“Oh, well, no wonder they haven’t called!” he laughed.
“Yep.”
That was basically it.  So, just remember, when you think you have an issue with a retail store and are getting yourself jazzed up to pick a fight with them, always make sure you have your facts straight.  Otherwise, you’re going to look like a moron like the guy who decided to call without looking at his phone or a calendar or a watch or a newspaper for the date.  That’s just a little piece of advice from your friendly retail associate.  Needless to say, after a brief laugh after I hung up, it helped to make the day start off on the right foot.  Good times!
More soon from the frontlines...