Name: David Wolter
Background: Wolter, 36, is a senior telephone answering service secretary for General Tele-Communications in Morton Grove. After his high school graduation he worked for several years as a musician before looking for a steadier paycheck. Wolter lives in suburban Round Lake Park with his wife and 4-year-old son.
Years in present position: 12
When I first started in this job, the telephone system wasn`t computerized. I was working a switchboard. So I`ve seen the change, and I know this can be and is a much better system. Some clients were not happy when we switched over to the computer. They thought it wouldn`t be as personal as the switchboard because of the fact that the calls randomly go to operators and the callers don`t always talk to the same person. We`re trying to change that, to make it more personalized.
I start work at 4 in the afternoon and work till midnight. When I get here, there are certain things I do before I sit down, such as checking schedules and checking the office in general to see if there`s anything special going on that I should know about.
Then, usually from 5 until 6, while the staff changes over, I will do what is called dispatch. This is making calls for particular clients who require that service, often for doctors. When it`s busy, we don`t have time to take calls and also call out. Probably 35 to 45 percent of the time we`re making the calls.
Anytime after 6 or 6:30 it begins to slow down, and I work on whatever projects are going on, such as book work or putting information into the computer, when I`m not taking calls. Four times a day we search through all the accounts for undelivered messages, messages that may have been missed. Then we try and reach the client again with the message.
I have to get up and walk around sometimes; the sitting gets to me a little bit. But so far I haven`t had any problems with my eyes from looking at the computer screens. Sometimes I`ll get a headache if something particularly stressful happens, such as the system going down for a while. Then we get clients calling in and asking, ”What`s happening with my phones?”
When we get a call, the necessary information comes up on the computer screen. It tells us who is calling so we know how to answer. It might be a call for a doctor or a lawyer or an air-conditioning service, so we need to use some judgment in the way we speak to the caller. The screen tells us what questions to ask and what to do with the call-whether or not we should refer it and, if so, where. We also have a place where we can type in the message. In addition to these calls, which are coming in constantly, we also have clients calling in to find out whether they have any messages.
On a busy day there would be anywhere from 2,500 to 3,000 calls that could come into the office, with a staff of five, six or seven people at different times.
Evening calls are more often of an emergency nature than during the day, so more thought is needed in responding to them. The big decision we usually have to make is, can it wait till the next day? I`ve had calls on mental-health lines from people who were threatening suicide. They often say if we hang up on them they`re going to do it right now. All we can do is pass the call along, and we`re not supposed to give any kind of advice to them. I`ll worry afterwards about whether I`ve done the right thing. But you can`t worry too much about it.
In some instances we`ll ask what happened to one of these callers, or the doctor will just call and tell us because we`ve done an exceptional job of getting help to them. We know of several suicide threats where we got help to the person in time.
We answer for just about any kind of business you can imagine. Besides doctors, we have emergency lines for battered women, pharmacies, towing services, heating and air-conditioning services, medical supplies. We have clients selling products on TV, and when the advertisements appear, the phones start ringing off the wall. They tell us when that`s going to happen so we can be prepared. Those are aspirin nights.
We have catalogue services, including one for intimate apparel for ladies. We get some pretty strange calls from that. Some of the callers will ask the answering secretaries if they`ve worn any of the items in the catalogue, but, being a man, I`ve never had that happen to me.
We do get calls from children, sometimes little children looking for their parents who are our clients. I try to treat them as I would my own son. I ask them what they want, who they`re looking for and, hopefully, get some kind of answer that we can transfer on to the client. It depends on how old they are and how much they understand about why they`re not talking to Mommy or Daddy.
The only thing I don`t like about the job is that you can get caught in between the customer and the client a lot of times. The customer is desperate to reach the client, and sometimes we can`t get through right away. Then you have to face the wrath of the customer. Or the client may be upset because you didn`t reach him fast enough in some kind of emergency. Many clients want us to run interference for them; they don`t want to be disturbed. That can get a little sticky sometimes.
When people call and realize they have the service, ideally, we`d like them to be considerate and know that we are taking calls for more than just one client so we can`t sit and listen to them exclusively. It would also help if they`d let us ask the questions that the client has instructed us to ask. This is the information the client wants, and if we can get that from them, then afterwards we can give them a chance to explain what they want to tell us.
Sometimes when people have a bad day, they vent their anger on the service. They say things to us that they wouldn`t say to someone in person. I hope they will remember that we`re human beings and we have feelings, too. There really is a person behind that voice.
