[The Phones]

As I stated before, I have held and currently hold various retail positions. To keep the companies private, for both their sakes, mine and the customers I speak of, I will refer to every job in the past tense. I also will begin every entry with the generic title of the place of business. Today’s concerns …

The Phones

Some jobs require you to answer the phones amongst your other duties. Mainly this is when the store itself is not a heavy phone traffic store or has an automatic message (such as a movie theater). Then there are stores where people call and often. That’s when they get a dedicated phone operator and that poor sap has been me. It sounds like a golden job; just sit there and answer the phones. But that is its magical aura, like a siren or other bewitching creature. Once the veil is off, you realize how terrible such a position is and no one, other than your coworkers, understands because they are veiled and jealous. If you are one of these people, please, inspect your grass again because this job is horrendous.

Now I worked for an electronics store when answering the phones. The first fun little quirk is when people call us and ask for the electronics department: such is a standard Wal-Mart or Target customer. I’ve had multiple replies to it, some I have thoroughly enjoyed while other times I end up feeling bad. Here are a few:

“The ELECTRONICS department?”

“Electronics, as in…?”

“Well,  the whole store is TECHNICALLY electronics, so what area in particular?”

“Yeah, I can help you with that.”

This is just a general disregard for common sense; know who you are calling before dialing. I find this as ridiculous as calling up a friend’s cell phone and asking for them when they pick up.

Now for a fun send off with the phones, I will give you a list of names (and pet names) I have been called after introducing myself (my real name is Samantha):

Amanda

Wendy

Molly

Hun

Sweetie

Sarah

Robin (a co-worker)

My favorite is Wendy.