More cases for a phone-free world

I've mentioned in past blogs several examples of times that I have truly wished that I did not have a phone. Most of those examples involved my family. But not today, friends. Not today.

Today involves the work phone. The work phone that NEVER STOPS RINGING. You know how when you call someone and you get either a busy signal or their voice mail and you say "Hmmm....I guess I'll call back later?" Well, apparently none of those thoughts occur to people calling the store. Voice mail means nothing. They will keep calling back - and yes I know they do because we have caller ID and I can SEE who is calling over and over again. Yesterday, the phone rang with 60 phone calls. SIXTY!!! And that was just while I was here in my 5 hour shift! I was able to physically answer about half of them and each time I was on the phone, at least two more calls would come in. And keep coming in until it was like having the phone permanently plastered to my ear and just a constant stream of conversation.

The real problem here is that we are a mom and pop operation and that there is normally only one person here at any given time - well, one worker here at a time, the place can be swarming with customers. It is not humanly possible to answer each and every call (politely) and some of the calls are with questions that are not even for our store but for information that people can look up themselves on the internet but just don't want to. I'm griping, I know. Sorry. But in the last two days, both Michelle and I have been near tears by the end of the day because there is no end in sight to the madness.

Now, I am all for customer service - I've worked in it my whole life between the deli's, the catering and the retail management, but there are days where it is just not possible to keep the Stepford Wife smile on my face and have the perky voice to answer every single question that comes over the phone lines. I JUST CAN'T DO IT!

Now, I really must go...the phone is ringing.