Questions

One of my pet peeves is when people won't let me finish with an answer or an explanation before they start asking me questions. If they would just let me complete my thoughts, their questions may be answered before they even realize it. All they would have to do is pay attention.

Case in point is this conversation from work yesterday. A man from Alabama had called in requesting availability and pricing for three different parts. I garnered the information for him and called him back only to find that he was out of the store at the time. I was then forced to leave the information with the man that answered the phone. Here's a paraphrase of the following conversation...

Me: "OK. Here is the information that he requested."

Man: "OK."

Me: "The first two parts (here I actually supplied him with the part numbers) are available in Pennsylvania and cost $9.19 each. The..."

Man: "What was the first part number?"

Me. I repeated the number.

Man: "And they were how much?"

Me: "$9.19. The third number..."

Man: "The first two are the same price?"

Me: "Yes. The third number is $18.71 and is also in Pennsylvania"

Man: "All three are in Pennsylvania?"

By this time, I wanted to reach through the phone and give him a genuine backhand across both sides. He was a infuriatingly frustrating man. And to top off this lovely conversation, I receive a call from the original man 2 hours later. He was upset because no one had called him back with his information. I minced no words and told him in no uncertain terms that I had left the message over and hour and a half ago with "Joe". He quickly got off the phone.

When you are listening to someone speak, actually listen to them and don't try to interrupt with questions until the speaker is finished. Not only is that common courtesy, but one will be surprised to find that many of those questions would have already been answered