How to Properly Answer the phone

I feel, as someone who has to make outbound calls occationally, this is an issue that needs to be addressed for the british population, particularly housewives.   I have nothing against housewives, my mother was one up until my little bro went into full time grade school.  The only time it's a problem is in this scenario I am about to decribe to you:

 1.When picking up the phone, you do not scream "f*ck off!" into the receiver and hang up again.  Contrary to what you may think, its not a telemarketing call.  And what If |I was the nurse, at the hospital? What if your husband lay dying and you are hanging up the phone?  Not only that, the call is for your husband, as such you dont have the right to judge whether or not that call is to be taken or not.  Also, you are not above answering the call in a clear and friendly manner.

2.When a financial sector employee says they cannot discuss your husband's account with you, its for a reason.  You dont have 3rd party access, as your spouse has not granted it. Stop pressing the issue with "you can talk to me.  Well if you wont talk to me you cant talk to him then."  I find it amazing how often I find myself in a verbal, childish tug of war with the non working party in a relationship over discussing account details.  I use housewife here because in most cases, that's the non working party (in my job, field, location, etc) although it does happen with idignant husbands as well. 

rant over. thanks for listening.

Geez, I've never encountered that one (although been tempted to do myself from time to time  )  How crude!
What took me some time to get used to was the custom of answering the phone by rattling off one's phone number.  This always was so fast I never caught it so had no idea whether it was the number I tried to dial or not!

2.When a financial sector employee says they cannot discuss your husband's account with you, its for a reason.  You dont have 3rd party access, as your spouse has not granted it. Stop pressing the issue with "you can talk to me.  Well if you wont talk to me you cant talk to him then."  I find it amazing how often I find myself in a verbal, childish tug of war with the non working party in a relationship over discussing account details.  I use housewife here because in most cases, that's the non working party (in my job, field, location, etc) although it does happen with idignant husbands as well. 

My answer at work for that is:  'Sorry, it's just a personal business call.  We'll pop a letter into the post instead.  Thank you.  Goodbye.'

My answer at work for that is:  'Sorry, it's just a personal business call.  We'll pop a letter into the post instead.  Thank you.  Goodbye.'

uhhg, and you know... I know that SHOULD be my response, but I get caught up in "its the principle of the matter" mentality.

uhhg, and you know... I know that SHOULD be my response, but I get caught up in "its the principle of the matter" mentality.

Waste of time.  Keep it short and sweet. 

It's ok, my own sis-in-law hung up on me when I called my MIL a while back, I said "how are you today?" and she just said "we don't want any" and hung up in my face!     LOL....

I deal with customer research for a financial services company, and I am quite surprised by the number of people who become angry when they are told that they can't take care of their spouse's finances over the phone.

Personally, I would be very upset if my husband took it upon himself to handle accounts that were in my name only.


 

Wow! DH and I simply say, "s/he isn't in at the moment. May I give her/him a message?" They either do or they don't; makes no difference to us. If they do, it gets passed on.

What I take exception to is if they go on to say, "what time will s/he be in?" Well, now, that's noneyabizness!!!

My Mexican friends always answer the phone with Bueno (good) That always throw me off. What exactly is the proper response to that?

I usually just say Bueno back, but I'm always unsure of how exactly to respond. I can't imagine answering the phone in English and just saying "Good!" instead of hello. 

I was the 'houseperson' in the UK, and I just wish people had told us we needed  pre-approval for me to deal with stuff.  First, my husband is never home during business hours.  Or even 'social' ones.  Second, his English is crap.. and special crap when trying to understand various accents on the phone.  I had trouble!

I found that some people calling from the Council/banks were quite rude when I asked them HOW to set me up as a contact.  They seemed to assume I was some sort of criminal..

My Mexican friends always answer the phone with Bueno (good) That always throw me off. What exactly is the proper response to that?

I usually just say Bueno back, but I'm always unsure of how exactly to respond. I can't imagine answering the phone in English and just saying "Good!" instead of hello. 

This is the traditional way to answer a phone in many Spanish-speaking countries.  It is used kind of like a question asking if you are well (but nobody really answers the question). It is just the same as someone saying "hello."  It would probably sound funny to answer "bueno" to them after they said it.  They are just expecting you to go on just like you would in English and say "hi, this is . . . Is Carlos home?"

It's ok, my own sis-in-law hung up on me when I called my MIL a while back, I said "how are you today?" and she just said "we don't want any" and hung up in my face!     LOL....

LOL this happens when we call DH's granddad occationally.

I was the 'houseperson' in the UK, and I just wish people had told us we needed  pre-approval for me to deal with stuff.  First, my husband is never home during business hours.  Or even 'social' ones.  Second, his English is crap.. and special crap when trying to understand various accents on the phone.  I had trouble!

I found that some people calling from the Council/banks were quite rude when I asked them HOW to set me up as a contact.  They seemed to assume I was some sort of criminal..

I hate that.  I have had issues with the bank and council, and the people could not get it into their heads that I was asking how to go about doing things, I'm not stupid enough to think I can walk into a bank and be added to any account I ask for!

My aunt used to answer with a bright and cheery 'HI!' I don't know if she still does.

Often you find though that they know full well what the issue is. After working yonks in retail, you get to know the ''non payers'' and their litany of excuses 
Sad to say, but eventually you stop caring and send the stinkin letter.