How do you answer your phone at work?

Good afternoon. <name of department>, <my given name> speaking.


occasionally,

Good afternoon. <name of department>, <my given name> speaking. How can I help you today?

Company protocol is that we're supposed to end calls with "is there anything else I can help you with today?". Since much of my job involves saying "no" (in very long, polite ways) to people, I've told them here that I won't be tacking that sentence onto the end of my calls.

"Good morning (or afternoon), * * * Services, this is Setanta speaking, may i help you?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Jones is not available, may i take your name and number, and ask him to return your call?"

"Well, ma'am, although i am in a position to answer your questions, i'm not going to do so. I am not so foolish as to give out information about our company over the telephone, and neither is Mr. Jones. I am also not so foolish as to wish to purchase from you a service which you would like to convince me we need, although we assuredly do not. Therefore, neither Mr. Jones nor i will be returning your call. Have a good afternoon."

Click ! ! !

ehbeth, then i guess it wouldn't be prudent to conclude with
"is there anything else I can't help you with today?"

Region, there have been times when I've considered saying something like, "let me just tell you what else you're not going to get".

My phone rings differently for inside vs. outside calls.

For inside, I just say "this is <my first name>".

For outside, they get the whole, "<company name>, <department name>, this is <my first name>."

There is no company or department policy here. Everyone does what they (or their boss) want.

ehbeth,

setanta, c'mon -- they're just trying to keep up with the joneses!

mac11, i have the same type of phone.
if i get an outside call at a bizarre hour, i'll drop the formality.

This is "husker - first name" can I help you?

and on my voice mail - just my name.

------ ------ Designs

and wait for the person to speak.

Hello, first name, last name, speaking.

Or Hello, this is first name, last name. - just to mix things up a bit.

Or as I have a spy phone, and I know the person well, I will just answer, "Hi, first name"; if I know them really well, I may just say "What the h*ll do you want now?"

My voicemail has my whole history, including my cell phone number. Stinks that I have a work cell phone so clients and co-workers can harass me on my commute home, while I am in the bathroom and in one case while I was meeting with our CEO. Granted I did not answer while I was with the CEO.

Well, I just say hello here, 'cause it's our house.

But in my last gig, I just said my full name, as (you know) it's rather long. Hard to get anything else in before the other part starts talking.

At the insurance company, we were supposed to give the whole rigamarole of name and department, but saying "<my name (which is 6 syllables long>, Reporting and Analysis Group, Legal Department" takes longer than most calls.

"Hi, you have reached cav at <business name>. Please pick one of the following five options to choose the personality you wish to speak with. Press 1 for friendly, 2 for surly, 3 for completely idiotic, 4 for my feminine side or 5 if you are a creditor, as I am not home."

"What the F*** do you want" - If it is tech partner
"whatever you want, the answer is no" - If it someone from the business (internal)
"you are late" - if it someone from my team
"yr wish is my command" - if it is my boss

"Hello, Swiss Chalet? I'm sorry, we're all out of chicken today."

I let the answer phone take all my calls so I can scan who is phoning. If it's someone I like fine, I'll pick up. If not they can go away.

Ahh OaK, the magic of call display....I couldn't live without it, and I highly recommend it for anyone who can get it.

yeah we have 4 phone lines but the 2 BT lines we don't use. The 2 cable lines have all the bells & whistles available, like call display, but I don't bother with 'em in my advancing years. I figuer if it's that urgent they'll call back.

"Hello! Please hold a sec........(don't return to the phone until the other side disconnects).

that's a good one CI. I bet that pisses people off, specialy those making cold calls trying to sell you some very expensive time share in an igloo or discount one way tickets to Death Vallwy