hello?

[dragonlady7]

Had to call the corporate headquarters in Philly just now.
Dialed the number. We don't have speed dial, I had to key it in manually, and I'm bad at numbers so I'm prone to mis-dialing.
Phone rings a whole bunch of times and a guy picks up. "Hello?" he says.
Shit, I think. "Uh..." I said. "This is [myname] from [storename] in Buffalo. Is this [corporate storename]?"
"Uh," the guy says, sounding genuinely confused.
"I must have the wrong number," I said. "Sorry."
"No," he says, "no no, this is-- uhhh, yeah, this is [corporate storename]."
"Okay," I said. "Well, can I talk to [boss]?"
"Sure, sure, hold on, who is it?" he says.
I pause a moment, then replay the earlier autopilot. "It's [myname] from [storename]. In Buffalo?"
"Oh, oh yeah," the guy says, and I think I recognize his voice, he's a guy who's worked there about twenty years, during which I've been calling for about twelve years, about once or twice a day. "Ah, hold on."

For real bro, for real. Twenty years in retail and you answer the phone "hello".

No, it's not the first time this has happened, but I never fail to assume I've dialed wrong.

Comments

[toujours_nigel]

*g*

[dragonlady7]

I've no idea how typical that entire crew of jokers is but I gotta tell you, it's given me ingrained reflexes about the Philly accent (think NYC only somehow more unattractive) and a really dim view of what manners must be like in that cursed city.

This is in no way fair, and in fact I've been there and had a lovely time, but I think there's gotta be something to it beyond my company's ability to pick real winners.

[redstapler]

Oh god I'm barely two days in a retail job before I start answering any landline "Thank you for calling [Store], this is Jill, how may I help you?"