AIBU to think someone answering the phone for a business should say more than just "Hello"

[JeewizzJen]

Is it just me who gets annoyed when a call isn't answered with some indication that you've called the place you think you have? When someone just says "hello" I then panic thinking I've misdialled and called some residential number! And then I have to ask them if I've called the right place and they sound all "well, duh, yeah!"

A minor annoyance perhaps, but it just bugs me! Anyone else?

Dparents say the town name (two syllables) then the whole 6 digit number, slowly and clearly, aarghh.

Chinup I didn't know that, thank you I will certainly be looking into that.

Answering the phone in the 1940s and 50s:

www.1900s.org.uk/1940s50s-domestic-phones.htm

Yanbu and whilst we're on tthe subject.....does anyone else find that more and more telephone operators are asking how to spell simple surnames? I DON'T mean non-English speakers either....I have a surname which is a well known bird...not complex at all....nobody ever used to ask how to spell it and now they invariably do!

They usually say "Is that with a blah de blah?" (insert ridiculous suggestion for the first letter of name.

And I say NO. It's just like the BIRD!

desert that drives me MAD too! "Hello is Albert there?" WHO IS SPEAKING PLEASE??

Or "Hello can I speak to Mrs Mushroom please?"

WHO IS IT????

oh here it's [answer phone]

'hello maam'.

[Hello who is speaking please?]

'hello is that maam desert'

[yes, who is speaking please?]

at that point you might find out.....

My home telephone number is almost the same as a local Lettings agency.( The last two numbers are transposed). I am forever getting their calls. I just give them the proper number now. Thinking of asking for a fee for re-directing their calls!
Evidently, the girl in that office has the same name as me.
I answer "Hello?"
"Is that jamdonut?"
"Yes"
"Hello, it's ,ringing to ask about the two bedroom flat in Nowhere Road"
"I'm sorry,I think you have the wrong number..."
"But...that IS jamdonut?"
"Yes, but I think you want ABC Lettings! This is their number...."
"Oh (confused voice)...OK then....sorry" [hmmm]

That should be

We have a friend who is totally weird when he phones you up. Something like this.

Me (answering phone) : Hello Mark
Him : Oh, hello, it's Mark here
Me : Yes, hello Mark.
Him : ...............................................
Me : Mark, you've just phoned me. What can I do for you?
Him : erm, well, yes

It's a standing joke with all of our friends

I always thought it was normal (as a caller) to say straight away who you are when it's someone you know, eg friend or family member, but not if it's a stranger, unless they answer with their name or company name, so you know you've got the right person.

So, if they answer with their name/business name I would say, hello, my name is WhoKnows, I'm calling to enquire about xyz.

If they just say Hello, I would usually say "Could I speak to Mr X please" rather than plough in with my name is x and I'm calling about Y, which often results in the person interrupting me with, hold on you need to speak to my dad and being handed over to start again. If the person asks who I am or what I'm calling about I obviously tell them.

A lot of the people I ring are private individuals on their home numbers who are the organisers of children's activities (football, scouts, guides, swimming club etc) so get this quite a lot.

I think i might start doing a Hyacinth bucket - the socka residence- lady of the house speaking...

I think i might start doing a Hyacinth bucket - the socka residence- lady of the house speaking...

Another thing - if you have caller ID or are on a mobile, when you answer do you say "Hello Name" or just say hello and wait for the caller to speak? I still tend to do the latter, but DH phones me from his work or mobile most days and it feels silly saying "Hello?" as if I don't know it's him, but it's just a habit.

YANBU

I worked in a customer facing role 12 years ago and I still find myself answering my home phone on occasions with 'good morning, Ragwort Surname, how may I help you'

While that isn't how I answer my phone I will say this. I work in restructuring and often the company lines are transferred when the staff are laid off. It is my policy that the lines are always transferred when winding up the business as it enables us to continue collecting information about the liabilities such as employees not being paid in full and other creditor information.

It sounds like you got through to someone who is 'green'. They are probably billing 60+ hours a week in what is a very stressful job. They also probably don't want to give their name away because of the threatening behaviour that can come their way from people affected by a business going under. It isn't right but having worked in the field I can understand why you would answer the phone with a 'Hello'.

That seems an odd assumption.

I think it is absolutely fine not to give your name when answering a business call for privacy/security reasons, but you should at least give the company name. I can see that might be complicated where a business has been taken over or in administration or similar though.

I agree that it's good to answer professionally but I think we've all had days where we were swallowing a sandwich/finishing a chat to a colleague and been distracted into a simple HELLO.

DH says his full name to me sometimes when I call his mobile during work hours - he's just in the "work zone".

My parents still say their number when they answer the phone.

Ugh hate it when that happens to be honest I have put the phone down before now.

I answer my mobile by saying "Hey dude"

As I said, it isn't how I answer my phone. The difficulty comes in when I am working on 4 different engagements and all four are going through a wind up. I can't answer and say 'xxx on behalf of Jessops' because they might be calling with regards to another company.

I spend as much time trainging associates on client management as I do on developing their techinical skills. FWIW - I answer the phone with 'Good morning/afternoon, 'Name of Accounting firm' administration team.' I have added the 'team' as too many people assumed I was the secretary when I am running a team of up to 150 people.