Especially on the phone – people call my direct dial at work and the first thing out of their mouths is “Who’s that”. For me this really gets us off on the wrong foot. Better to say – “Hi, it’s Mike, who am I talking to please?”.
Especially on the phone – people call my direct dial at work and the first thing out of their mouths is “Who’s that”. For me this really gets us off on the wrong foot. Better to say – “Hi, it’s Mike, who am I talking to please?”.
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In a similar vein I answer the phone by saying “This is birdbrainedphoenix.” Saves the whole song and dance where whoever it is asks to speak to me, and sets them up to respond with who they are.
Never let the debt collectors know they have the correct phone number. Never play your hand first.
Or not as it may be a phishing call to validate the number with a name or begin a social engineering exercise.
Always let the caller identify before you validate your own name.
This is a good suggestion but note, you don’t actually have to be telling the truth.
Anyone starting a phone call with “who is this?” Is getting immediately hung up on.
I wish this worked for my team project. I went on camera and shared my personal phone number. No one reciprocated and it’s been the worst school project of my life. F those ass-hats
I habitually introduce myself as the first thing after „hello” since I was taught how to use a landline phone 30+ years ago. I noticed that older people do that as well, but amongst younger gens that never happens.
I guess the reason is that they grew up with cell phones/smartphones where you can see who’s calling before you take it as opposed to landline where every phonecall was a mystery until the other side said something.
This can be useful in face to face de-escalation. If you need to insert yourself into a conflict, I’ve found if you extend a hand to shake, offer your name and ask theirs, a significant amount of the time, people will fall into the social habit. Not shaking the hand of a neutral party is a big taboo, and by offering your own name first you’re showing your request is in good faith, an equal exchange. Very good odds of derailing whatever train of thought was upsetting them. It’s not perfect, but I’ve always had a pretty good strike rate with the technique.
What if my name isn’t Mike?
Being polite with a neutral tone of voice goes a long way, and the person who placed the call should be the first person to introduce themselves. Quite the red flag if they don’t.
They call and then ask who they called?
I expect people who call me to know who they’re calling.
If they don’t – not interested!
Yeah, if you start with questions without introducing yourself, all you get is “Not interested, thanks, bye”.
I once gave almost this same lecture to a wrong number caller.
She started off “who’s this?” with sooo much attitude and I was like “excuse me? That is NOT how this goes. You called MY number so you ask if the person you were expecting is available and I’ll let you know”
Then she politely asked if her friend was available, and in a similarly polite tone I let her know she had the wrong number, wished her a good day, and hung up
People still use phones?