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From: psrc@mtunq.att.com (Paul S. R. Chisholm)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Answering Phrase
Message-ID: <11408@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 25 Aug 90 03:09:59 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 600, Message 7 of 9


At the office, I always answer with the name of the company and my
name.  It has just the right effect on wrong number callers; if
they're expecting to reach someone at the Labs, they ask if I know how
I can reach someone (and I can usually transfer them); if not, they
apologize and hang up.

My wife treats this as a barometer.  If I answer, "Hello," I'm having
a rough day.  If I answer, "What???," I'm having a *really* bad day!

My wife's sister and her family live with us.  Her husband (my
brother- in-law) runs a small steel fabrication business, and forwards
calls to the house when he's out of the office.  My six and seven year
old nephews had been taught to answer the phone, "Hello, this is
Christian [or Shane], how can I help you?"  This only lasted a little
while; apparently, the contractors couldn't handle calling a steel
fabricator and getting an answer, no matter how professional, from a
little kid!

We grown ups usually answer line two, "Hello, Edison National, how can
I help you?"  It throws the telemarketers for a loop!  It's also
confused some of our friends; they *think* they recognize my wife's
voice, but they thought they were calling a residence.  If we get,
"Sorry, I think I have the wrong (click!)," and we're called back a
minute later, I answer the phone, "Hello?"

My mom's answering machine starts off, "Hello, you've reached three
one four one."  Nice; it confirms the essential part of her number,
but not enough to call it back if you reached it blindly.


Paul S. R. Chisholm, att!mtunq!psrc, psrc@mtunq.att.com