I just spoke to the rudest sales person at work. The receptionist stepped out so I picked up the line. Let me preface that since I work for a very small firm (3 employees other than the attorney) my job title is Legal Assistant; however, it includes the role of office manager so decisions related to office equipment and products coming into the office come through me. We have also been instructed to always screen out sales calls since my boss is a very busy attorney. Plus, I’ve been here for seven years and know what he may be interested in versus what he is absolutely not interested in.
The call went like this:
Him: "Is William there?"
Me: "May I ask who’s calling?"
Him: "(A name I didn’t catch) from Cisco Systems"
Me: "And what is this regarding?"
Him: "Is he there?"
Me "I need to know what this call is regarding?"
Him "Well we’re offering equipment to people in your area."
Me: “No thank you. Have a nice day” and then I hung up.
Before I go into what happened next let me ask you guys - was what I said rude? I swear I did not have a tone with the man. We are all just trying to pay our bills and I know he’s just doing his job. now, here’s what happened next:
He called back and I answered:
Him: "Excuse me. Are you the owner there?"
Me: "No. I am Mr. Koontz’ legal assistant"
Him: "I want to talk to William NOW"
Me: "I’m sorry. This sounds like a sales call. Is this a sales call?"
Him: "None of your business"
Me: "You’re rude"
Him: "No you’re rude and you’re not going to have a job soon lady"
Me: “Can I take your num . . .”
and then he hung up on me before I could finish.
I have never, ever had a sales person call me back like that.
Oh boy. He was out of line for sure with that second call. This is just my opinion… Is it your job to screen his calls? I don’t think you did anything wrong, but I don’t think I would have just said “No, thank you. Have a nice day” and hung up. That seems kind of abrupt. Since what he was selling wasn’t entirely clear I would have just taken a message and let the boss deal with it.
What’s done is done though and I would tell the boss the situation from your point of view so if the nut calls back and gets him he will have a clear idea what’s going on.
Actually it is my job to screen his calls, but I did think later that in this particular case I could just take the number (usually they just say 'No thanks. I’ll just call later" anyway). However, even if he left the number my boss wouldn’t have called I figured I would not waste his time by pretending. I know my boss pretty well - small firms tend to wind up a lot like family after as many years as all of have been here.
I was mostly perturbed by the fact that he would call back like that. If he were smart he would have just put our number back in the system to call back in a few days and hope he got someone else. Now everyone knows about him and its even less likely he’ll get a sale.
I did tell my boss and he backs me 100% so I’m not worried about him calling back.
I have been a receptionist in the past and it sounds like you did your job as it needs to be done. The guy (whom your boss does not know, seems to think he has the ability to get you fired) was rude and did not like being shut down by you. Tough…
I had a telemarketer’s SUPERVISOR call back like that once after I had said “No thank you. I’m not interested” and hung up. I was accused of hanging up on the telemarketer and then when I repeated the fact that I was not interessted in whatever it was they were trying to sell, the supervisor hung up on me. It was an interesting call.
I think we all get aggravated with telemarketers. I try to be cordial with them (up to a point), because that’s their job, every day, and I wouldn’t want to have people hang up on me time after time, but when you keep politely trying to say no thanks, and they keep pushing and pushing, it’s very hard not to get a little “testy”.
I recently told a telemarketer, after 3 attempts to sell me something, that I was trying to be polite, but 3 times was enough. He FINALLY got it, and replied with, “Okay, the third time’s the charm” before hanging up on me!!!
I don’t think you were rude at all! I am also responsible for screening all phone calls and it’s irritating to deal with someone like this. Most of the time they say they’ll call back later so then I tell them, “I screen ALL of Mr. White’s calls and if you call back, you’re going to get me again, so may as well tell me what you need.” Most of the time it is a solicitation and I can handle it without bothering the boss. It’s a vicious circle if I hand the phone to Mr. White from someone who’s soliciting…First he gives me that LOOK, then he tells the caller he’s not interested, then he hangs up and CHEWS my arse! NOPE, you weren’t rude! You’d probably lose your job if you handed him the phone everytime someone called.
That guy was most definitely and idiot. To call back like that was bizarre.