Episode 2: HR Training 101: Annoying Small Talk
Scene II
Event: Calling the PC help desk (which surprisingly is not in some call center in Bangalore!)
Characters: The Help Desk man and Me
Location: My desk
Time: Friday afternoon
Mood: Frustrated (with my stupid computer program) and so ready for the weekend to begin
Narrator: Payal has to call the PC help desk because her password for a particular application is not working.
Man: Hi. May I have your name please?
Me: Payal Shah. P-A-Y-A-L. S-H-A-H. (spelling it out real nice and slow)
Man: ( in a very curious, "What did you just say, I've never heard of such a thing before, Are you sure that's your name?" voice) Excuse me. Could you repeat that?
Me: (A little loudly and with more emphasis) Payal Shah. P-A-Y-A-L. (pause) S-H-A-H.
Man: Hmm..that's an interesting name. (awkward pause, as if he's trying to think if such a name actually exists and what "exotic" place it comes from) I've never heard of that before. Where's that from?
Me: (Going through my head, but restraining from speaking out loud) DEAR GOD! I don't ask you what kind of name Mike or Robert or whatever other stupid name out there is, and I certainly don't care to ask you "where that's from!" Why do you even CARE! Just do your job! GEEZ! Dude, its Friday afternoon and I want to go HOME! There is no time for small talk when freedom is so near!
Me: (saying it kinda quickly) Um... my name is Payal Shah, and its Indian, Any questions? (praying silently: for the love of god (my hindi god;). Please don't ask any questions, please don't ask questions. I promise I'll tell you all about the meaning of my name and its roots, and all about this so-called "exotic" land in East the next time I call but, please, can you just fix my password? pretty please?
Man: Oh..no. (still astonished that such a name would exist and someone might actually name his or her child that) It's just such an interesting name. (not realizing he had just said this ) Never heard of it before. Cool..Cool.
Me: Yeah.....so um, Bob (randomly pulling it out of thin air, totally forgetting what he said his name was at the beginning of the call. Come on. After all, how could you expect me to remember such an uncool, common, "American" name ?) What's the deal with my password? I mean, this is really not cool. I've never heard of such a problem like this before.
Man: Ok..yeah...(realizing the whole purpose of the call and well, his job!). Let me check on that.
End of Scene.
So yeah, maybe this is just a little:) exaggerated or mean, but he really did say those things, in that tone of voice. And of course, you can never truly tell what someone is thinking just over the phone. But man, people NEED to stop asking that in a tone of complete astonishment, especially over the phone. It's different when you meet somebody and you're just interested in learning more about them and you ask kindly and curiously. But, this was not like that. This really sounded like, "Huh? Payal? What is that?" Seriously, I should have just said, "It's a "terrorist name", any questions?" I kid. I kid. Remember, we don't condone violence or evilness(but bitchiness is ok) on this blog;)
Event: Calling the PC help desk (which surprisingly is not in some call center in Bangalore!)
Characters: The Help Desk man and Me
Location: My desk
Time: Friday afternoon
Mood: Frustrated (with my stupid computer program) and so ready for the weekend to begin
Narrator: Payal has to call the PC help desk because her password for a particular application is not working.
Man: Hi. May I have your name please?
Me: Payal Shah. P-A-Y-A-L. S-H-A-H. (spelling it out real nice and slow)
Man: ( in a very curious, "What did you just say, I've never heard of such a thing before, Are you sure that's your name?" voice) Excuse me. Could you repeat that?
Me: (A little loudly and with more emphasis) Payal Shah. P-A-Y-A-L. (pause) S-H-A-H.
Man: Hmm..that's an interesting name. (awkward pause, as if he's trying to think if such a name actually exists and what "exotic" place it comes from) I've never heard of that before. Where's that from?
Me: (Going through my head, but restraining from speaking out loud) DEAR GOD! I don't ask you what kind of name Mike or Robert or whatever other stupid name out there is, and I certainly don't care to ask you "where that's from!" Why do you even CARE! Just do your job! GEEZ! Dude, its Friday afternoon and I want to go HOME! There is no time for small talk when freedom is so near!
Me: (saying it kinda quickly) Um... my name is Payal Shah, and its Indian, Any questions? (praying silently: for the love of god (my hindi god;). Please don't ask any questions, please don't ask questions. I promise I'll tell you all about the meaning of my name and its roots, and all about this so-called "exotic" land in East the next time I call but, please, can you just fix my password? pretty please?
Man: Oh..no. (still astonished that such a name would exist and someone might actually name his or her child that) It's just such an interesting name. (not realizing he had just said this ) Never heard of it before. Cool..Cool.
Me: Yeah.....so um, Bob (randomly pulling it out of thin air, totally forgetting what he said his name was at the beginning of the call. Come on. After all, how could you expect me to remember such an uncool, common, "American" name ?) What's the deal with my password? I mean, this is really not cool. I've never heard of such a problem like this before.
Man: Ok..yeah...(realizing the whole purpose of the call and well, his job!). Let me check on that.
End of Scene.
So yeah, maybe this is just a little:) exaggerated or mean, but he really did say those things, in that tone of voice. And of course, you can never truly tell what someone is thinking just over the phone. But man, people NEED to stop asking that in a tone of complete astonishment, especially over the phone. It's different when you meet somebody and you're just interested in learning more about them and you ask kindly and curiously. But, this was not like that. This really sounded like, "Huh? Payal? What is that?" Seriously, I should have just said, "It's a "terrorist name", any questions?" I kid. I kid. Remember, we don't condone violence or evilness(but bitchiness is ok) on this blog;)
posted by payal @ 2:11 PM
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