My department just got a new phone system, and everyone has caller ID now. Used to be, I’d answer the phone, “[department], this is Black Sunshine.” Used to be, I’d give the full greeting in case it was someone from outside our department, so they would know who they were talking to.
Now that I can see who is calling, what do I say when it’s one of my coworkers? “Hello” seems too informal. But, I have my own office, and I’m the only one who answers this phone number, so if it’s someone within the department, they know who they are calling. We’ve got few enough people that they can tell by my voice that it’s me.
Of course, if it’s my husband, or my mom, I’ll answer “Hey, Sweetass,” or “I told you to stop calling me at work!” (You can decide for yourself which one goes with whom.)
But, if it’s one of my coworkers, how should I answer?
If it’s someone you actually know, I’d go with “Hi, FirstName”. If you don’t recognize the name, feel free to continue to answer the phone “Black Sunshine”, skipping the company/department.
I’d probably answer either “Widgets Department, Black Sunshine speaking”, or “This is Black Sunshine”, or “Hi, (theirname)”. All depending on how well you know the person and your level of formality with that person.
Or, if it’s a person you don’t enjoy speaking with, see my first suggetion
Also, now that I have caller ID, am I expected to call someone back if I see his or her number on my “missed calls” list, even if there is no message on my voice mail? Assuming it’s someone in my department, they would know that I saw the call. My first thought is that with no message, there’s no reason to call back, but I can see this situation developing;
Boss: I called you this morning.
Me: I know.
Boss: Why didn’t you call me back, then?
or
Boss: I called you this morning.
Me: Oh? I must have missed it.
Boss: How did you miss that big red blinking “Missed Calls” light?
Of course, in my head, my response would be, “Why the fuck didn’t you leave me a message if it was so important, shithead!” But, it’s my boss.
Just use your first name. I would say “TheMad here” or “Hi, it’s TheMad” and you would say “Hi, it’s Black”
Don’t try to assume you know who they are exactly, because people often use any nearby phone, so if you say “How’s it hangin’, Otter!” they might say “I’m not Otter, I’m Dean Vernon Wormer, and you’re on double secret probation!”
My phone at work also displays the caller. How I answer the phone depends on who it is. If it’s someone I work closely with and have a casual relationship with, I might answer in a range of replies suitable to the relationship such as “Hi X, how are you today?”, “Hey, how’s it going”, or “What do you want?”. Otherwise, I answer, “Good morning/afternoon, PastAllReason speaking.”
No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no.
And stab anyone who suggests that you are supposed to in the head with the nearest sharp object you can lay your hands on. This is absolutely the most idiotic thing people ever decided to start doing. Ask yourself how stupid you need to be to utter the following sentence:
“Hi, I have no idea who you are but you or someone from this number called me and it wasn’t important enough to leave a message over, but I’m calling to insist that you tell me who called me and why.”
Before you get too comfortable with Caller ID, you might want to check out a couple of possibilities:
If someone blind-transfers a call to you, do you get the Caller ID of the person who transferred the call, or the person being transferred?
If someone conferences you in to another call already in progress, do you know whether there’s a third party on the line? And if so, who?
As for the “missed calls” list, if I see several missed calls from the same co-worker, I might buzz them back, just to say, “Hey, were you looking for me?” But that’s about it.
Your idea is fine, except for the fact that it’s your boss. You will have to say something like “Oh, I figured that you would have left a message if it was important or urgent” with a smile.
I vastly prefer email, myself. This way I can attach Cute Kitten Photos if needed. Or possibly the Hello Kitty Darth Vader. I recently sent that to my sister, who was gobsmacked by it, and she wants to know where I get all this stuff.
If it’s someone I’m more friendly with I might just go “good morning” or some other common greeting but with some sort of inflection.
For whatever reason my job uses a lot of IM so I’ve grown accustomed to that over the past few months. Problem is, unless I actively save the discussion, everything gets lost when I close it.
If I know the number, I just answer “Hello, this is Maverick”. I do this at both home and work. Before it would just be “Hello”
Caller: “Hi, is Maverick there?”. I would say, “Let me go and get him”, fake footsteps. “Hi, this is Maverick”. I am the only male in the house and I have my own work number.
If I don’t know the number and I am at home, I just make stuff up. My favorite is (said with a strong lisp) “Rawhide bar and grill”.
Caller: “Um, is Maverick there?”.
Me: “I don’t know that name but we are having a hot bun double sandwich special tonight, would you like me to reserve you a top spot?”
If I don’t leave a message it’s because I don’t want a callback, EXCEPT if I’ve called my boss.
But that’s because she screens all her calls, even with caller ID telling her it’s one of us other managers, which I find rude. So I let her curiosity work on her to call back. Maybe next time she’ll realize it’s easier just to take my calls the first time.
Agree with others about not calling back missed numbers.
But I have to say, when I call someone and they pick up the phone and say, “Hey, Purple, what’s up?” I get this vague unsettled feeling. Even if I KNOW they have caller ID. I don’t like it, though I don’t know why. And that’s in the context of casual calls among friends - I would imagine the business world would prefer just the slightest touch of formality. So picking up the phone by saying, “Hello, Black speaking,” or something along those lines would be a bit more appropriate.
Although I suppose if you’re having an ongoing issue and a series of back-and-forth calls to the same person, after a while I’d drop even that and just answer with “Hi again, Bob, did it work this time?”
[Realizes she just embraced stuffy formality, used the word “appropriate,” *and *criticized someone else’s phone manners … goes crawling off into a corner, whimpering about “feeling old.”]
Ours shows number but not name, so rather than rely on my faulty memory, I say “This is Gwen” to every call. If I’m sure it’s someone I know, it’s :)This is Gwen:) rather than the usual serious tone, but other than that I hate to take any chances.
I was a PBX manager and we had this issue all the time. It was for a hotel and we were required to use the guest’s name. But as often as not, if Joe Smith registerd for the room and appeared on the ID, it was Mrs Joe Smith who was calling. So the PBX operator says “Good Morning Mr Smith.” “Do I sound like a MAN?” was the response more often than not.
But that was the rule.
As for inside calls our GM said “Ignore the ID, you don’t absoulutely know who’s calling, so you don’t assume.”
The real way out of this issue is very easy. Simply issue a question email (or memo) to everyone.
“It’s come to my attention with caller ID we are now able to recognize the extension but not necessarily the person, calling. Due to the change in the phone system, I would like to ask the person in charge of such things, is there a standardized way we should be answering our phones. Should we be returning all calls on our “missed call” list? Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.”
That’s what I do. I generally know from the phone number who’s calling, so I say,
“Hi (co-worker).” If I don’t recognize the number, then I answer “X Department, (ivylass) speaking.” However, my extension is one digit away from the front desk receptionist, so when I get a call that was obviously not meant for me but for the receptionist I just transfer the call to the front desk and let them direct it.
We don’t have a missed calls list but we do have caller id.
Anyone internal, I usually just say ‘Hello’. If it’s from the Foyer (after they tossed our reception they locked the front doors, now I get the calls for deliveries because they kindly put my name on the door as who to call…) I say “Hello, Flutterby speaking.” and same with transfer calls (I often see the transfer as it rings as someone internal, then either the front line or their ID/phone number).
If it’s anything else they get the “Good morning/afternoon Company Name Flutterby speaking.”
Most people who call for me know my direct line and what I do, so I don’t need to elaborate. If I’m standing in for someone else I throw the department in.
