[Publib] 50 things...

[~M~]

Way back in my 20s (maybe it just seems like a loooooong time ago) I
worked for 2 years at the reception desk and switchboard of the
corporate headquarters of a huge international consumer products
corporation. Many of you would be familiar with their products. It was
not unheard of for me to take hundreds of calls a day though luckily
it was rare i had to listen to a long customer monologue. I usually
just needed to get them where they wanted to go. At the same time I
would have dozens of packages going in and out and many many visitors
who were there to see someone in the building. And of course sometimes
someone on the phone launched into a long story about how their
cordless drill just broke and where can they get it fixed and blah
blah blah while I have 5 people coming in for meetings with 5
different departments and all waiting for my attention and a pile of
packages all waiting for various messenger services.

So I'm thinking I might end up being good at the reference desk thing.
I learned many hand signals and pantomimes that all humans seem to
understand. I also learned real quick what to do when the switchboard
lights up with 10 calls at once yet you've got a person standing in
front of you needing special help and 3 more coming up the front
steps. There's a way to juggle it all. But it's not easy!

--Michelle, student


On Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 12:02 PM, Tom Cooper <tcooper at wgpl.org> wrote:
> This discussion reminds me of a customer service seminar I attended years
> ago, in which the facilitator spoke of the ‘rule of 65.’ What she meant was
> the tendency of librarians always to give priority to how things were done
> in 1965. So patrons standing at the desk always get priority over those on
> the telephone. She had other examples, though I can’t recollect any now. She
> had a commonsensical approach; the caller just entered the queue, the same
> as people standing in front of you. That’s really the only workable way to
> do it. Of course someone approaching the desk and thinking they’re next in
> line may be upset to see you turn and take a waiting call first, but that’s
> when we need to simply acknowledge them and politely say, ‘Excuse me, I have
> someone on hold.’
>