Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: bcsaic!carroll@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Jeff Carroll) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Crank Calls Message-ID: <11298@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 23 Aug 90 18:22:55 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Organization: Boeing Computer Services AI Center, Seattle Lines: 36 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 592, Message 4 of 12 In article <10984@accuvax.nwu.edu> cmoore@brl.mil (VLD/VMB) writes: >Henry Troup writes that in >UK he was taught to answer the phone with the number, but that in >North America this is not done. I usually answer the phone this way at the office. Since at least half my calls at the office come from other Boeing-owned phones, it's kind of silly to say "Boeing Company, may I help you?". To most callers from outside, the name of my department is meaningless, especially since it was designed to be that way, so that doesn't make sense either. Almost all the phones here are shared by two to four people, most of whom get calls from people who have no idea who the other person(s) assigned to that line are; so it doesn't make sense to answer with one's name, as if one expected to be recognized by the caller. But most of all, it's very consistent with Boeing corporate culture for engineers to pick up the phone and say in an irritated tone, "6349. Carroll." So that's what I do. It makes Boeing people feel at home, and if it makes salesmen slightly uncomfortable, so much the better. >If there is a problem with a wrong number, you might ask the caller >what number he/she is trying to reach. Also, I have had at least one >or two cases where I reached an answering machine which announced the >number I had reached (in lieu of giving out a person's name?). We do this at home. Some of us *like* our anonymity. If the caller doesn't know who he's calling, it's none of his business. Wrong numbers are easily rectified anyway. Jeff Carroll carroll@atc.boeing.com