Pet Peeve #356

We live in a manse. Our home number is listed in some phone books as the church office number, for some odd reason!#@&^! We get A LOT of calls for the church. On our answering machine I have recorded "if you wish to talk to Trinity United Presbyterian Church please call..." And some days I end up letting the machine pick up the phone so as to avoid answering questions or giving out the church number 678 times a day! (not really that many but when you home-school they do cause several interruptions)

My pet peeve is the way people call. No hello. No greeting. No announcing themselves. I answer with a "Hello" and get:

"I need money, can you pay my heating bill?"

"Do you have a food bank?"

"Where's so-and-so?"

Who's in charge of...?"

I can count on one finger how many times people have introduced themselves, "Hello, my name is so-and-so and ..." 99% of the they callers just state their request and wait for my response. 99% of the time people don't even ask, "Is this Trinity Church?" which I think is odd since I answer the phone with a hello and not, "Hello, Trinity Church. How may I help you?" No, I answer the phone as if it is a private residence.

So, please, please, please, when you call someone, a business, whatever, say, "Hello, my name is....could you help me with..."