Tales From The Switchboard

Why do people get ticked off at me when they’re the ones who dialed the wrong number?

Working the main switchboard for our company is always amusing. Most of the time, if it’s a legit call, the person has the direct line and doesn’t have to mess with me. Who DOES have to mess with me? Mainly, the sales people and the scammers.

Sales people are easy, I just send them to the voice mail, and if they keep calling back, I kindly inform them that all they’re getting is a voice mail, and they’re normally cool, leave a voice mail, and stop wasting their time. I could say they’re also wasting my time, but what else am I doing here, other than writing a blog post about it?

The scammers crack me up. Have you heard about the Toner scam? I might have written about it before, but I can’t remember and I’m too lazy to review what I’ve done. Essentially, someone calls and asks to update the information on your printer or copier. Once they have the model number, they send you an invoice for the toner needed for that printer, and they hope it slips through and you pay it.

Most of the time, when they call, I don’t even transfer them to our supply purchaser, which is who they often want to talk to. Instead, I let them know that the info is on the paperwork that is on file with the company that is contracted to do our service, and they normally hang up when they realize that I know who they are. However, yesterday I had one that, honestly, sounded like a real thug call in.

Scammer: Yo, let me talk to *****.

Me: Excuse me?

Scammer: Let me talk to *****!

Me: ***** who? We have many people here with that first name.

Scammer: You know, ***** who’s in charge of the Xerox machines.

Me: We don’t have an ***** in charge of the Xerox machines.

Scammer: Well, who’s in charge of your machines? I need to know about your machines.

Me: Well, all that information is on our paperwork…

Scammer, interrupting me: Who the hell do you think you’re talking to, di**head?

Me, starting to laugh: Obviously not you anymore. This call is over. CLICK

Let me see, you’re calling from a blocked number from an unknown location, and you want me to just hand you over information, and you’re calling ME names? Yeah, in retrospect and in joking with supervisors, that’s the point where I should have hit the RECORD button and started really trolling and messing with him, but what’s the point? Needless to say, people like this ARE wasting my time.

And they’re doing it wrong.

Tony