Humiliation

material girl- I think that you got into this problem because you attempted to go beyond what your job required. The next time that something like that happens, tell the person at the other end, something like, "I will connect you with someone who will be able to answer your question".

As a receptionist, is it not your place to give out information about the business.......your job is to connect callers to the appropriate person in your firm who can answer their question. If that person is not in, you need to take a message.

Another thing. You certainly don't want to give someone information that may not be correct. I am sure that your boss would not be too happy, if you inadvertently gave out incomplete or incorrect information.

Don't worry about that call though. Move on.

Re: Humiliation


Your only mistake was not asking at this point:"What do mean by a "limited company"? There would be nothing wrong with asking and it would have spared you the rest of the conversation. No shame is necessary, just use a little better judgement next time.

Ahh, thanks.
I did ask to take a message, but so many people just ignore me and carry on trying to get info.Seems odd when Ive clearly told them the person they need to talk to isnt available.

I am moving on,I find re-humiliating myself by discussing it with you guys and other employees lessens the feeling of being made to feel 1cm tall.

I really hate feeling stupid and I get annoyed with myself that I should know more, but as you say its beyond my job requirements.
I know lots about other things.

Thank you for being understanding.

Re: Humiliation


Yep I agree, but I didnt realise she was then go on to ask more questions re the limited bit, plus I wanted to delay my own stupidity for as long as possible.

She may have replied in the same way if Id asked what it meant.
I have learned from this.

This is for your information only. In your job, it is not your place, or your responsibility, to give out these sorts of information to callers.

mg,

From what you say, it sounds like the caller is irritated that the accounts lady is not in and she is venting her frustration on you. Because you are the one she got to speak to. Don't take it personally. Take care.

Thanks for the info and kind words.It all helps wit my self esteem issues.

She did sound like a grumpy old cow anyway.
I should have asked her to explain what a limited comapny is and see if she could actually do it.

One thing to take comfort from is that she's confused at this point about whether your company is a limited company or not -- the whole thing sounds like it could've been weaselly/ nefarious, and you certainly stymied her.

Pease tell me what weaselly/naferious and stymied mean!!!???

Your Parliament passed the first Limited Liability Act in 1852 (I think, that's what i recall, without going to look it up). The idea was that people did not want to invest in joint-stock companies because of the possibility that they would be sued and financially ruined if the joint-stock company failed. The Limited Liability Act provided that no share-holder could be held liable for an amount in excess of their investment. So, if you spend 10,000 pounds sterling to buy stock in a company, and it goes belly-up, someone alleging that they have personally lost 250,000 pounds cannot get more than 10,000 pounds out of you personally. The bankers in the City claimed that this would open up more investment capital because people with money to invest would feel more assured that they could not be ruined if the company failed.

There have been subsequent acts of Parliament which have refined the regulations, but basically that is how it still works. So you caller was basically asking if your company is a joint-stock company, a company which sells shares to the general public on the open market. To know whether or not your company is a "limited" company, you need only ask one of the higher-ups if that is so, and then you can more intelligently deal with such a company.

In the United States, there have also been such limited liability laws passed, but joint-stock companies here are just generally referred to as "corporations"--because they are incorporated with the number of shares being specified, and the company officers named at the time that a certificate of incorporation is issued in the state in which the company is based. New limited liability laws were passed in the latter part of the Reagan administration (late 1980s), which extended the liability protection to incorporated bodies. This meant that a corporation's liability would be limited to no more than the real loss which a plaintiff could prove in court. This law has been used by large corporations to protect their assets, usually when purchasing or setting up a holding company (a smaller company which will be owned and run by the larger company). Some newer companies are now set up as limited liability corporations at the very beginning. It is harder to win damages in a law suit against such a company, but it is also different because the amount of stock which any one individual can own is also restricted. Companies in the United States which are founded on those particular terms have the acronym LLC following their name (meaning, of course, limited liability corporation). The practice is different in England, where large joint-stock companies have always been set up as limited liability corporations at the beginning--so that they are identified as "Limited" in the name of the company.

So, US: National Widgets Inc. (incorporated) is a joint-stock company with no restrictions on the amount of stock one individual can own; American Poobah, LLC is a joint-stock company with limited liability, and restrictions on the amount of stock which any one individual can own. UK: Harrington Flea Baths, Limited is an ordinary joint-stock company with limited liability and no restrictions on stock ownership.

I think soz means she was trying to get information out of you that she might not have been entitled to. Sales people often do this. So do people who are trying to get information in order to breach a company's security, though I'm not suggesting that's what she was doing.

I have a great idea for you. Go to:

http://www.answers.com/main/product_info.jsp

I have downloaded the 1 click answer bar. It is great, and free. The program puts a very small tab on the side of your desktop. You can look up any word, by hitting the tab. A search bar comes out. You type in the word that you want, and you get the definition, without messing up what you had been doing (like writing on A2K). You can also alt-click on any word, and the definition will appear. Great program!

Heh, sorry for the weird words.

What FreeDuck said, yeah. She (the person who called you) might have been hoping to get some info she was not actually supposed to have, and at the end of the conversation she didn't know anything more than when she started. (Which, in this scenario, would be a good thing.)

Also not saying that IS what happened, just a stray thought.

Ahh, I have a dictionary in my drop down thingy.I shall have a look.

I have dictionaried those words and, she was and I did.Hoorah!

Next time you get a question like that reply "F*ck you and the horse you rode in on!" and slam down the phone. When they call back, deny it was you. This will provide endless hours of hilarity until you get fired.

Believe me Ive wanted to.
I had a call from a customer about an hour ago.I
t was the 3rd time he'd called.Id passed on the message to the appropriate person both times but they hadnt called back.
Ive got the guy on the phone saying 'Ive called 3 times now and no ones got back to me,when will X call me?'
I made it clear Id passed on teh messages and he kept saying 'WHEN will I get a reply'?
I calmly said 'Well, when I put the phone down, I can call the appropriate person and ask them to call you again'.

I think he got the message that I had to actually end the call with him before I could progress the situation.

material girl- Just remember that you are being paid to channel the calls to the proper person, and present a "smiling voice" to callers, so that they will have a positive experience with your company.

There is no doubt that some callers are pains in the asses. They are not your friends, and you don't need to take anything that they say to heart. I think that the difficulty that you are having is personalizing some of the negative things that are happening during your work day, Hey MG, that's your job..........................to "field" idiotic questions, so that the callers hang up feeling good about your company.

Thats fine by me but I just get so confused as I assume everybody is more clever than me so.
In the case of my original post, fair enough she is more intelligent but if I say X isnt in then surely it means leave a message as I suggested.
The second person just needed to put the phone down.