[Info-vax] Writer advice requested

AEF spamsink2001 at yahoo.com
Thu Nov 11 13:28:20 EST 2010


On Nov 11, 1:32 pm, MetaEd <met... at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Nov 10, 9:57 pm, AEF <spamsink2... at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > Several months ago I had a wrap problem with a chat session with
> > Comcast. The tech's lines didn't wrap! I couldn't read anything
> > past the right border of the chat window without horizontal
> > scrolling! I asked him to press the Return key once in a while but
> > he didn't, even after repeated requests and explanations. Where
> > was QA, and what were they on?
>
> Stop explaining. Instead, play dumb.

Easy enough, usually!

>
> When patrons and employees of a restaurant franchise in my area want
> the corporate office, they ask at a restaurant for the number.
> Sometimes the restaurant manager mistakenly gives them my company's
> number. (It's an easy mistake; theirs ends 0888 and ours ends 0088.)
>
> The trouble comes when my kind receptionist gives the caller---who
> has a real and urgent problem such as a missing paycheck or a case
> of food poisoning---the right number. This positively reinforces the
> mistake. Any restaurant manager that makes the mistake gets to know
> the wrong number from memory, and continues to supply it. Over time,
> we get more and more phone calls for the franchise. This represents
> frustration and a waste of time on the part of the callers and my
> receptionist.
>
> The kindest thing to do is never, ever, cooperate with the caller by
> giving the right number. Instead, we play dumb. Callers push the
> problem back on the restaurant manager. The restaurant manager soon
> gets to know and give out the right number. The result is less
> frustration and less waste of time, both ours and future callers.

Great story!

> Having learned this lesson, I would not have scrolled to read the
> tech responses. Instead, I would have played dumb. I would have
> replied to the tech whenever a response was cut off, could he please
> repeat whatever came after the word "My", or "apologize for", or
> whatever. The tech would very quickly tire of repetition, and learn
> on his own to keep his responses short.

But does this really work with someone as clueless as this guy (or
gal)? I'll keep this in mind for next time and see if it works.

Thanks much!

AEF

>
> Cheers, Edward




More information about the Info-vax mailing list