Called to arrange a colonoscopy.
Got a five limb phone tree.

Push this to do that and so on and so on.

Five different messages.

All mentioned calling nine one one if this was an emergency.

After listening to 4.5 minutes of options and directions,
Guess what .

I had to leave a message.

Five instructional/ options is a new world record for me.

All five recordings mentioned using this system to expedite efficiency and accuracy .

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bendable,

Should've told them you got concrete bird balls with evaporation issues.

And every one of them probably said, "Please listen carefully because our menu has changed." There must be some kind of 'Menu Epidemic' going around because every one I get stuck on has the same lame message.

quote:

Originally posted by Redleg06:

"Please listen carefully because our menu has changed."

That message was hard-wired into the phone system the day before the first version was released. There is no way to bypass it.

The whole "if this is an emergency..." thing is annoying, but the amount of morons who call urgent care or their PCP for life threatening emergencies is 2nd only to the morons who call 911 for things they could have gone to urgent care of their PCP for.

At my old department, some woman out of state messaged the department's Facebook page because her son was choking, not realizing it wasn't the same town. Luckily the guy who managed the page was on duty and able to get in touch with the other fire department and get them started.

When I was running things IT, communications and such, the phone greetings were like this.

For the Corp Office and Management.
"Thank you for calling (us), if you know the extension to your party, dial at anytime.
To speak to the Receptionist, press 0."

For Department Extension listing press 1.

We had a couple "Receptionists" on failover.
Primary, (her main function) secondary, and so on were three book keepers.
(I had a "template" 1, 2, 3 and automated it to rotate everyday [123][231][312][123] so it spread any overflow)

The only time you would get a "recorded menu" was if all "receptionists" were on the phone or their phone "parked" for Bathroom, lunch, away from desk. Otherwise you reached a person.

After hours/weekends no "Reception", just "We are closed, to leave a message/if you know the extension, or department" option.

Did this for all our Properties, Hotels, Restaurant, Service, Commercial Sales, Real Estate, Development and Construction.

I loath "phone menus", and it took very little conversation with the CEO/CFO (maybe 5 minutes) to do away with the "phone tree" crap when I came on board.

There was a little pushback from the ladies that had to answer phones until they realized it was faster to handle a call to the correct person, than to constantly deal with messages and many times trying to figure out what someone wanted, or rambling messages that ended with no idea who to send it to, or no phone number, and then an irate person calling back when no one contacted them.

(and all sort of stupid IT things people do that make things worse than if they did not exist in the first place.) Bad IT can be IT's greatest enemy...

I found a way to circumvent the tree.

Ask the person you finally get to talk to for her direct number .


Imagine being so busy scoping colons that you require seven assistants and!
You are booked a month out for procedures.

My GP phone tree is so convoluted. That just rather drive 15 miles to request a medication refill.

quote:

Medical telephone trees

Any telephone tree.