The new automated phone system is turning out to be more trouble than it's worth.
Monday: AJ called us together for the morning meeting and said he'd decided over the weekend to implement an "immediate answer" policy. He said now we had the automated phone system we shouldn't rely on it, and no phone should ring for longer than three rings without being answered. I said the automation picked up after four rings, but he said it wasn't very friendly for people ringing in to be answered by a machine, so the only time we should allow the automation to pick up was in the evenings and at weekends.
I had seventeen phone calls, mainly people asking me did we have the automated phone system working yet. My reflexes are getting pretty fast. Donna had problems when she missed a call and it went to her voicemail - she tried to stop it and get it back, but couldn't. She had to wait until it was done, then go in and pick up the message and ring them straight back. She said afterwards it was OK, it was just one of Carly's friends.
Tuesday: AJ came in and told me to take the on-hold music tape off - someone told him Santana isn't classical at all. I said it's a classic for sure, but apparently that's not the same thing. I said OK, how about the Corrs tape Donna brought in, but that's not classical either. He said it has to be Mozart or Beethoven or someone classical, but I said I hadn't got anything like that. AJ told Fiona to buy a classical tape, so she said they made tapes especially for on-hold systems and she'd order one for tomorrow. AJ said we had to have something on now, we couldn't have silence. She said that was the fastest she could get it so he told her to give me some money out of the petty cash and I'd have to go out right now and get something classical to play until it came. LeeAnn said could she come too, but he said no.
I went out to the nearest music store and got a Mozart tape, then came back and put that on. AJ said wait a minute and I'll call in, and Amy you put me on hold so I can hear it. It must have been OK because he spent the next twenty-five minutes on hold listening to it. He came out and said he'd been waiting for a break, but apparently I'd got a concert tape and there isn't one.
Wednesday: LeeAnn came in 7 minutes late - her door jammed shut just as she was leaving to come in.
The classical tape Fiona ordered didn't come, so AJ said we couldn't have it go silent, and we'd just play the Mozart tape until it got here. I have to monitor it to make sure it never stops.
The big printer wasn't working after the lunchbreak again. Walked over, pulled Mike's mobile charger, plugged the printer back in.
James' PC jammed shut while he was entering a whole column of figures, so he called me in to try to save as much as possible. I said how much of it have you saved so far and he went a little pink and said he'd just been about to. So I copied and saved the table into Word, closed and rebooted the PC, and pasted it back.
Thursday: LeeAnn came in 7 minutes late again. It looks like the the relationship with the latest boyfriend is falling apart - it's lasted a good while too.
Amy had a panic moment when she'd finished some typing for AJ and had to take it into his office, as she didn't want to go in and have the Killer Plant jump her. Donna said here give it to me and I'll take it in, but then she wasn't sure either so I said I would. I went in, put the file down in his in-tray and walked out again. AJ looked a little odd at me, but he didn't ask. Fiona said we shouldn't have, as it was better for Amy to face up to her fears and overcome them. Amy said it was alright for Fiona to say that, but she hadn't been nearly attacked like she'd been.
Friday: The morning meeting broke up pretty quick today as James started off by asking AJ why Head Office had their automated phone system taking calls when we couldn't have ours doing it but had to pick up every time. AJ said oh surely not, but Mike said yes, they did and what was supposed to happen to any calls for him if they came through in the morning when he was out. AJ said surely Mike could work something out and why did we all expect him to sort out minor little details like that when he was busy looking at the bigger picture, and was that the time, and he had to go.
The classical tape for the on-hold function finally came this afternoon. It turned out to be even more Mozart, but it wouldn't play so I tried to take it out to put the other one back on. It wouldn't come. We all had a go at trying to get it out, and finally I gave in and let Mike have a go. He got the top part off and the tape inside started boiling over, so he said over to you and left it for me to get the bottom part out. Fiona wrestled the tape back into the bag and said she'd return it as faulty for a free replacement, and I put the first Mozart tape back on for the weekend.
read 00/10/23-27 or read 00/11/06-10 