Phone Manner

Ragnarock, that doesn't surprise me at all with QF. You're better off going to their website. http://www.qf.edu.qa

Or, for your knowledge, the 5 (soon to be 6) universities at QF are:

-Weill Cornell Medical College-Qatar

-Georgetown University Qatar

-Virginia Commonwealth University-Qatar

-Carnegie MellonQ-atar

-Texas A & M-Qatar

-Northwestern-Qatar (to begin classes Fall 2008)

And these ill-mannered personnel would not mind how a phone call means to both the his company and the caller.. I have experienced the same for countless times and get so fraustrated. Your right to have posted some example on how do deal with it else It would have been better to say "I don't know how to speak English" rather than pretend to have understood and was infact not understanding correctly or interested to accept a call... As once a call center staff, my blood runs quickly to my head when I am in such situation or anyone would for sure. I hope few appropriate english words will be at least oriented (or made sure known) to all who answers a phone call. I hope...

Me: Hello good morning Mr. ......., this is ...... from .....

Someone: Hello, ... Hello, ... Hello, ...

Me: This is ..... from ...... can i speak to Mr. ......?

Someone: HELLO, who is this? What do you want?

Me: I'm ..... from ....., and you are Mr. ....., am i right?

Someone: Oh yeah ... it's me ... what do u want now?

[Don't ask me after all of this not to be pissed of ...]

Me: Oh nothing, just wanted to say Hi ... and hang up the phone ...

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Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment. (Gautama Buddha)

Namabiru, I can remember once when I was in Korea being on the phone with a girl from the Immigration department for over 2 hours while I looked at my English to Korean translation book and she her Korean to English. LOL. Now THAT was customer service. :D

"How come I can pick my ears but not my nose? Who made up that rule anyway? How come you say that's the way it is, that's just the way it goes, maybe you should decide for yourself what you can do and what you can say." Ani Difranco

It could have been worse. Now imagine those automated phone calls which ask you to 'Push' and push buttons more than those nurses at delivery in hospital. What a relief to hear some voice at other end.

But in the business world, your phone (not to mention email and all commmunications tools) are your lifeline, and if the message you first portray is that of ineptness, rudeness, or laziness, then the damage is irreversible....after all, you only ever get to make a first impression once!

Stay safe all.

Perfection does not exist. The question therefore, is: what level of imperfection are we willing to settle for?

people would prefer you come in and enjoy some chai with them while you chat.

'Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt

Abraham Lincoln

Did it occur to you that she may have "caller ID" and knew it was you.

'Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt

Abraham Lincoln

Which unfortunately is a foreign concept to most companies here =(

Imagine my surprise when I called an information number for QATAR FOUNDATION (from its ENGLISH website), regarding information on the AMERICAN Universities in Qatar, and after I was passed to 4 different people I was told "no one speak english" and they hung up on me.

Shocking.

Stay safe all.

Perfection does not exist. The question therefore, is: what level of imperfection are we willing to settle for?

It took me quite a while to understand the various 'accented english speakers' on the other side of phone. Some speak in a 'sing song' way while some say 'allo' and ofcourse there are others you may not be able to differentiate their 19 from 90. My ears are now tuned to the jingle.

you ARE "in a pretty bad mood today"..lol...

..sure...phone manners, waitress' manners, taxi drivers’ manners, any other services' manners...it is a big big problem here… stuff just has not get trained...Whatsoever...Forget about it.

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Whatever Makes You Happy...

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Yeppo. The least you can do is say 'no English',, or "Sorry, I don't understand you", or put the phone down and go wander to look for someone who can speak to you. Especially if it is an English speaking company and that is how you traditionally do business with the company.

I'd do the same in Japan. Sometimes I'd have to answer the phone at school, and we were strictly Japanese-speaking. I don't mind saying that this was often a terrifying experience, especially when the person went on... and on... and on...

But I could at least tell the person on the phone I would call someone else to the phone, and I would call another teacher to the phone and explain what the person needed, or very apologetically explain that I didn't quite know what they needed and could they please talk to the person. It was no problem.

Not speaking Japanese fluently was no excuse. If I had just hung up, and my kyoto sensei (head teacher) found out I had done so, I would have gotten in severe trouble. I can guarantee that.

I am pm-ing you on this one my friend!

I think someone with good phone manner here is the exception rather then the rule. And I don't want to say which nationality has good phone manners and who doesn't, I beleive it's more a testament to the company if the person does, because obviously they value their customers. After all you can teach anyone good phone manners.

And I'm not fussed if you have a heavy accent or don't speak English at all, I know where I live and I've been living in a non-English speaking country for 4 years now. HOWEVER, if you don't speak English I still expect you to:

A) find someone who does

or

B) hold the line till I find someone who can speak to you

The last thing you should do is hang up, which is what 98% of the time people do here. I HATE that. If I had ever hung up on someone just because I couldn't understand what they were saying I would have been fired long ago!

"How come I can pick my ears but not my nose? Who made up that rule anyway? How come you say that's the way it is, that's just the way it goes, maybe you should decide for yourself what you can do and what you can say." Ani Difranco

Well, for me, it's not so much with gaining manners by speaking to people face-to-face, but the fact that I literally have problems hearing and understanding people on the phone sometimes. So it is far easier for me to get face-to-face with people, as I can almost hear them better when I can see them talking.

But, yeah, you're absolutely right. Answering the phone in the first place. I tried in vain to ring HSBC one day... during their posted business hours... no one would answer their fruitful phone. If I did that at my workplace I'd be canned. It's one thing if you step away from the phone to go to the toilet, or to help someone, but another to not answer for an hour solid.

oh oh oh...another one manner...don't talk on the phone as if you are hiding your boss or something like:

caller: May i speak with ------

receiver: May I know who is this?

caller: Its ---- from (company)

receiver: Oh he is not here at the moment---

it should be:

caller: May i speak with ------

receiver: Im sorry but he is not here at the moment, may i know who is this?

big difference right?..so you will not feel that the sec is trying to hide the boss or just don't want to talk to the caller..

[img_assist|nid=12867|link=none|align=left|width=|height=0]Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.

Mind forwarding me the phone skill guide or booklet of yours.

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Along the same lines - Hamad Medical put a huge ad (written in english) in one of the english papers for the Pediatric Emergency Hotline. So I saved the number and, in a panic, called them the other night only to find - No English. A bit frustrating.

Using the phonetic alphabet to spell out names properly or am I the only person.

phone manners? Where would people get phone manners if they dont have any manners in the first place...you dont get anywhere talking face to face to people here in the first place.let alone the phone! Oh thats presuming people answer the phone in the first place..

Well, not yelling so much-- talking loudly to present a false authoritative front is quite American--, but at least speaking clearly is good.

Then again, my hearing isn't always that good. Phones are a bit tough.

i agree on that...sometimes after putting the phone (as the other end hangs it first, not letting me finish)...there's nothing for me to do but swear..and all my colleagues will just look at me...sometimes during some fits...i would bang the phone..and storm out..just to control myself from calling again the person and curse her/him...

patience sometimes snaps...we are just human..

phone etiquette 101..

-answer the phone after 3 rings

-smile when you talk (please throw out whatever you are chewing while talking on the phone!)

-if you are the one who receives the call, wait till the caller hangs up the phone before you do)

[img_assist|nid=12867|link=none|align=left|width=|height=0]Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.

I have taught business telephone communications/manners as well.

I find however, no matter where you go they will always answer with hello, instead of introducing the business and offering their name and asking in polite and friendly manner for you to wait until they can connect you, then if they can't reach the requested party coming back to you and telling you he/she is not there - hmm no they just connect you or hang up.

Phillipinas generally have a very pleasing manner on the telephone I find. Generalizing of course there are differnces.

Ah yes, phone manners.

I'm sorry you had to deal with that. If I ran the phone like that at work, even here in Doha, I'd be canned, or at least severely reprimanded.

Gypsy, you and I could have a field day with talking about phone manner-- both private time and company time.

ETA-- In fact, Oryx and I just had a brief PM chat about phone manner this morning.

I would personally rather have someone yelling at me then the mouse squeak. I've noted it's especially women who use it.

"How come I can pick my ears but not my nose? Who made up that rule anyway? How come you say that's the way it is, that's just the way it goes, maybe you should decide for yourself what you can do and what you can say." Ani Difranco

I was also taught to use your voice in a medium to low tone (note not volume)as a high tone can also put people off.

Gypsy I teach phone skills

and I have written the course materials

Happy to pass on to you for distribution.

:)

One thing I do is get each student to ring three businesses in Qatar and grade the phone service....

Everywhere from 5 star hotels to banks to supermarkets... its all awful.

Big problem here

a) crappy wages

b) no training

Result

a) customer suffers but is still paying high prices