Erratic behavior.

[klytus]

Hey,

Now this definitely is off-topic, but for some reason beyond my comprehension most people, especially secretaries, react to my words as if they were personal insults, no matter what I say.

Just like a couple of minutes ago. I was trying to contact by phone a teacher who allegedly was in the staff room, but couldn't get through because the line was busy. So, there were two possibilities - it was him talking, or it was another teacher talking. If it was the latter option, then the teacher I wanted to talk to either was present in said room or was not. Best solution: Call the school's secretary, who is in a room two steps away. That was what I did. The conversation between the secretary and me:

Her: "<standard greetings>"
Me: "Hello, this is <name>."
Her: "Yes, <my first name>, what is it?"
Me: "Sorry for bothering you, but the line to the staff room is busy, and I urgently need certain information from a teacher who, as I have been told, is in the staff room. I kindly ask you to check if it's him talking, and if not, whether he is in the room, for only then it makes sense to continue calling." - doing that is part of her job -
Her: "Er..."
- A moment of silence, she is still on the phone, decides to just yell to a teacher (the deputy principal, in fact) passing by her open door, it still can be heard on my side of the line -
Her: "It's <my name>, he wants to talk to <teacher>, and if he's having a phone call, <my name> wants him to stop having it to answer to his."
- silence -
Her: "No, it's not him talking, and he is not there. He <something unintelligible>"
Me: "All right, thanks. Do you know where he might be?"
Her: -yelling to me- "I just said he's down in the atrium."
Me: "Okay. I will try it la-" -she interrupts me-
Her: "Bye." -line is dead-

Well, it often goes like this. Sometimes even with certain teachers, and definitely with almost all secretaries or similar personnel. Not just with the school, but other institutions and places, too. Later, I called her back. The relevant part:

- irrelevant start of the conversation -
Me: "Is he still down in the atrium?"
Her: "He is in the principal's office and I won't interrupt them. Who do you think you are? We don't drop everything we are working on just to answer your questions - we have better things to do."
- Now she did piss me off -
Me: "I am well aware of the limited amount of time people have available; And I didn't ask you to interrupt them; Nor was I asking you to make the teacher stop having the phonecall before - I hope this is understood."
- irrelevant end of the conversation -

It must be my voice or something. Even if I were to come across as arrogant or aloof, where did basic interpersonal respect go? Classmates bullying and ridiculing me is different to adults in working life behaving like that. With these useless A-levels of mine I have achieved more than the secretary ever will.

Apparently someone told the teacher that I was trying to contact him, because he called me back and was very friendly - albeit stressed out, but that's understandable. Eventually I got my questions answered. They were vital to Thursday's final exam, hence my strong interest in getting the relevant information today.

Thanks for listening.

Cheers,
Klytus.

 

[Ashiene]

Your sentences are too long. Be simple. Not everyone has time to listen to you form perfect sentences.

Instead of:

"Sorry for bothering you, but the line to the staff room is busy, and I urgently need certain information from a teacher who, as I have been told, is in the staff room. I kindly ask you to check if it's him talking, and if not, whether he is in the room, for only then it makes sense to continue calling."

Say this:
I cannot call staff room, busy; urgent talk to teacher there, let me know he talking anot, in room anot, kthx.

 

[klytus]

Her problem was that she thought I would command her do stuff for me, apparently. Shorter sentences, with insufficient explanation would make that worse.