06/23/01 - I was asked the question three times last night ... are you the answering machine? Hmmm, I have a lot of patience, thank goodness. The weather has been hot and the week has been long. Many of my on call people have been very crabby. I have a lot of patience. I don't take it personally, though sometimes I find it a bit disappointing. Many times it catches me unaware when these people decide to fly off the handle. Other times, I can almost anticipate it. I was apologized to twice this week. They called me back just for that reason. I can't believe they were feeling guilty about their behavior, but then maybe they were. I'm grateful that I shall probably never meet any of these people in person. Most of the people I talk to are customers of my customers. I like remaining anonymous. I'm sure these people would act differently face to face. The telephone gives them a lot of courage. It's a challenge for me at times. I have found that by hanging in there and letting a person rant a bit, actually calms them down. I try to focus on their problem and with a little luck, they may even end up thanking me for my help. It's just part of a day's work and usually when I leave the job, I forget it all. But I'm thinking about this today because of one of my gentleman callers. He started out so defensive and was armed and ready for me like I was going to be the enemy. He was in the midst of an emergency. I could hear his desperation. I explained what I could do for him and got some informaiton to relay to my on call person. He was relieved, and he was sorry for exploding. He apologized over and over again. I told him it wasn't a problem. He called back later. He wanted me to know that the problem was under control and to thank me for my help. I appreciated that, it's nice to know how things end up.
So, another week over.
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