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Sep. 14th, 2009 09:01 pmEntitled phone calls! Two in one day!
1. AT HOME. A is ASSHOLE WOMAN, T is TUI LATE FOR WORK.
PHONE RINGS. TIME IS 4:30 pm.
T: Kia ora?
A: ... long pause. [I am premeditatively annoyed at this point; you better not have a Kiwi accent and be thrown by "kia ora.]
A, IN A KIWI ACCENT: Hello, may I speak to [my mother's name, redacted]?
T: I'm sorry, she's actually at work right now.
A, EXTREMELY AFFRONTED: Well I tried that, and she didn't answer!
T, WALKING TO WORK 10min LATER: Well golly, I'm really sorry she isn't instantly at your beck and call, it's possible she was e.g. working or in a meeting, you know, the standard things that cause someone to not answer a telephone; why didn't you leave a message on her work phone instead of implying I am a liar? [Lest you think I overreact: I have this conversation all the damn time and sometimes they're way more explicit about it.]
T, IN REAL TIME: Really sorry about that, byebye now.
Take home message: You shouldn't call people who work 9-5 at home during the day; if you do, the person who answered the telephone is not that person's secretary and cannot help you. In fact, she legally can't give out the person your looking for's work number, which is, however, available at the *first* google search for that person's name (true at google.co.nz, .co.uk, and .com.au, I assume if it's true for those it's also true for .com but almost all of the people calling my mother are calling from this country anyway.)
2. AT WORK (night reception at a performing arts tertiary school that I will not identify mostly because I don't want to get stalked). A is ASSHOLE MAN, T is TUI IN A BETTER MOOD ALSO HER TELEPHONE VOICE ON.
PHONE RINGS. TIME IS 9:00 PM, which is a weird time to call reception, but whatevs.
T: Kia ora, *location*, Tui speaking.
A: ... long pause.
T: *mental eyeroll*
A, WITH AN ACCENT OF INDETERMINATE BUT PROBABLY NOT NZ-BORN ORIGIN: Hello, could you give me the direct email of [big name director, one of only two people at the school to whom phone calls cannot be directly transferred]?
T, NOT YET MAD BECAUSE HEY, ACCENT, BUT STILL, THIS PERSON SHOULD HAVE IDENTIFIED THEMSELF: I'm really sorry, we can't give out direct emails. Your best bet is to phone the school in business hours, which are 9-5, and ask to speak to [director].
A: Ah, yes. I have an email [generic sounding email which I don't recognise but is something like "performing.arts.school@ourdomain.ac.nz"], it is on the website, will that email get to him?
T, NO REAL IDEA BUT GOING TO WING IT: Probably not; but it will be checked by our administrator and if it is important will be drawn to his attention.
A: So will he see it?
T, LOSING PATIENCE A LITTLE BIT: That really depends on whether what you have to say is important and needs his direct attention. Someone will definitely see it and we are quite a small school... [There are only 15 staff for this person's branch of the school, at least half of whom will have no possible relation to or interest in this man's email; I should imagine if it was important and did get to him, it would probably only have to be read by one person before he read it.]
A: Ah, yes, this is why I prefer to get direct emails, so I can contact them directly.
T, NOW PISSED OFF, BECAUSE SERIOUSLY, YOU ARE PROBABLY NOT THAT IMPORTANT: Well, that's actually illegal and we cannot do that for you. Call back during business hours and speak to the receptionist or email through that address.
I just!! I actually have no idea if giving out direct emails is illegal, since I imagine that unlike phone numbers they cannot be easily backtracked to a physical address, but man, that's so annoying.
Also annoying: [name redacted], a student here who came up to hire a room at 8:30. Seriously, DO IT IN THE DAY, I don't have the authority to do it, will probably do it anyway if you look pitiful enough, and then get in trouble with my boss. Argh!
1. AT HOME. A is ASSHOLE WOMAN, T is TUI LATE FOR WORK.
PHONE RINGS. TIME IS 4:30 pm.
T: Kia ora?
A: ... long pause. [I am premeditatively annoyed at this point; you better not have a Kiwi accent and be thrown by "kia ora.]
A, IN A KIWI ACCENT: Hello, may I speak to [my mother's name, redacted]?
T: I'm sorry, she's actually at work right now.
A, EXTREMELY AFFRONTED: Well I tried that, and she didn't answer!
T, WALKING TO WORK 10min LATER: Well golly, I'm really sorry she isn't instantly at your beck and call, it's possible she was e.g. working or in a meeting, you know, the standard things that cause someone to not answer a telephone; why didn't you leave a message on her work phone instead of implying I am a liar? [Lest you think I overreact: I have this conversation all the damn time and sometimes they're way more explicit about it.]
T, IN REAL TIME: Really sorry about that, byebye now.
Take home message: You shouldn't call people who work 9-5 at home during the day; if you do, the person who answered the telephone is not that person's secretary and cannot help you. In fact, she legally can't give out the person your looking for's work number, which is, however, available at the *first* google search for that person's name (true at google.co.nz, .co.uk, and .com.au, I assume if it's true for those it's also true for .com but almost all of the people calling my mother are calling from this country anyway.)
2. AT WORK (night reception at a performing arts tertiary school that I will not identify mostly because I don't want to get stalked). A is ASSHOLE MAN, T is TUI IN A BETTER MOOD ALSO HER TELEPHONE VOICE ON.
PHONE RINGS. TIME IS 9:00 PM, which is a weird time to call reception, but whatevs.
T: Kia ora, *location*, Tui speaking.
A: ... long pause.
T: *mental eyeroll*
A, WITH AN ACCENT OF INDETERMINATE BUT PROBABLY NOT NZ-BORN ORIGIN: Hello, could you give me the direct email of [big name director, one of only two people at the school to whom phone calls cannot be directly transferred]?
T, NOT YET MAD BECAUSE HEY, ACCENT, BUT STILL, THIS PERSON SHOULD HAVE IDENTIFIED THEMSELF: I'm really sorry, we can't give out direct emails. Your best bet is to phone the school in business hours, which are 9-5, and ask to speak to [director].
A: Ah, yes. I have an email [generic sounding email which I don't recognise but is something like "performing.arts.school@ourdomain.ac.nz"], it is on the website, will that email get to him?
T, NO REAL IDEA BUT GOING TO WING IT: Probably not; but it will be checked by our administrator and if it is important will be drawn to his attention.
A: So will he see it?
T, LOSING PATIENCE A LITTLE BIT: That really depends on whether what you have to say is important and needs his direct attention. Someone will definitely see it and we are quite a small school... [There are only 15 staff for this person's branch of the school, at least half of whom will have no possible relation to or interest in this man's email; I should imagine if it was important and did get to him, it would probably only have to be read by one person before he read it.]
A: Ah, yes, this is why I prefer to get direct emails, so I can contact them directly.
T, NOW PISSED OFF, BECAUSE SERIOUSLY, YOU ARE PROBABLY NOT THAT IMPORTANT: Well, that's actually illegal and we cannot do that for you. Call back during business hours and speak to the receptionist or email through that address.
I just!! I actually have no idea if giving out direct emails is illegal, since I imagine that unlike phone numbers they cannot be easily backtracked to a physical address, but man, that's so annoying.
Also annoying: [name redacted], a student here who came up to hire a room at 8:30. Seriously, DO IT IN THE DAY, I don't have the authority to do it, will probably do it anyway if you look pitiful enough, and then get in trouble with my boss. Argh!
