OT: "How's it going?" ... "Oh, not much"

[bluejeangirl76]

People don't listen. Furthermore, people are on autopilot with common greetings and replies, so much so that it contributes in large part to the 'not listening' thing.

This just happened... I walked past another employee who I hadn't seen much of today, and I said "Hey! How's it going?"

She said, "Oh not much." (Don't offer "maybe she heard you wrong"... she didn't. She was 3 feet from me and the place was quiet and I was loud...)

I get this on the phone pretty much daily... once I answer the phone and do the greeting I'm supposed to do, the caller will say "Hi, this is so & so from X company..."

I say, "Hi, what can I do for you..." and 4 out of every 5 will say, "I'm good, thanks! I was calling to find out...."

People are so set in expecting a certain thing to be said that they respond to it whether you say it or not. Are we just too damn lazy to actually listen to people anymore?

[SusieP]

People don't listen. Furthermore, people are on autopilot with common greetings and replies, so much so that it contributes in large part to the 'not listening' thing.

This just happened... I walked past another employee who I hadn't seen much of today, and I said "Hey! How's it going?"

She said, "Oh not much." (Don't offer "maybe she heard you wrong"... she didn't. She was 3 feet from me and the place was quiet and I was loud...)

I get this on the phone pretty much daily... once I answer the phone and do the greeting I'm supposed to do, the caller will say "Hi, this is so & so from X company..."

I say, "Hi, what can I do for you..." and 4 out of every 5 will say, "I'm good, thanks! I was calling to find out...."

People are so set in expecting a certain thing to be said that they respond to it whether you say it or not. Are we just too damn lazy to actually listen to people anymore?

I'm fine thanks.

[Rhiannon]

This is my own personal automated response... the source of it I guess is anyone's bet.

A lot of times, more often than not, if I'm out at a restaurant, drive thru, or store, anywhere that I'm being waited upon. At the end of the transaction if the person says, "Have a great night, please come back." I'll 99% of the time respond with, "You too." Which sounds like I'm telling them to please come back to work, redundant. But I'm really answering to the "Have a great night/morning/day" whatever part.

Still cringe when I do it.

[Rick]

People don't listen. Furthermore, people are on autopilot with common greetings and replies, so much so that it contributes in large part to the 'not listening' thing.

This just happened... I walked past another employee who I hadn't seen much of today, and I said "Hey! How's it going?"

She said, "Oh not much." (Don't offer "maybe she heard you wrong"... she didn't. She was 3 feet from me and the place was quiet and I was loud...)

I get this on the phone pretty much daily... once I answer the phone and do the greeting I'm supposed to do, the caller will say "Hi, this is so & so from X company..."

I say, "Hi, what can I do for you..." and 4 out of every 5 will say, "I'm good, thanks! I was calling to find out...."

People are so set in expecting a certain thing to be said that they respond to it whether you say it or not. Are we just too damn lazy to actually listen to people anymore?

I know exactly what you're saying, as it happens all the time where I work. People are just not paying attention, or have something else on their minds. Or, as you said, are just too damn lazy to listen. Too damn lazy. That's my problem with S2M's "New Game" thread, as you well know.

You never start threads. wtf?

[Jubilee]

Hmmm? Oh, none for me thanks, I'm fine...

[bluejeangirl76]

if the person says, "Have a great night, please come back." I'll 99% of the time respond with, "You too." Which sounds like I'm telling them to please come back to work, redundant. But I'm really answering to the "Have a great night/morning/day" whatever part.

I think most people understand with part we're saying the "you too" for in that case. I do that too.

You ever get (or catch yourself saying) a "you too" for something completely not a "you too" situation? Because of being in hospitality, I am quite often dealing with people regarding events, parties, weddings, etc... at the end of a call or meeting I might say something along the way of "Enjoy your event!" or "Good luck with the fundraiser" and they go "You too!"

[bluejeangirl76]

You never start threads. wtf?

I know. I only do it when I feel I have a topic that we can all participate in and get a good conversation (and hopefully not a fight) going.

But if you'd like, I can be one of those people who starts a thread every time they so much as hear the words Journey, Steve, San Francisco, cobalt blue, nose, Sherrie, Neal or Portuguese. Your call.

[Rick]

You never start threads. wtf?

I know. I only do it when I feel I have a topic that we can all participate in and get a good conversation (and hopefully not a fight) going.

But if you'd like, I can be one of those people who starts a thread every time they so much as hear the words Journey, Steve, San Francisco, cobalt blue, nose, Sherrie, Neal or Portuguese. Your call.

It just struck me that I don't remember you starting a thread. I'm sure you have, but I don't pay attention.

[Don]

I'm such the Social Butterfly at work and always use names when I speak so that people are usually jarred from the autopilot response mode.

[Deb]

People don't listen. Furthermore, people are on autopilot with common greetings and replies, so much so that it contributes in large part to the 'not listening' thing.

This just happened... I walked past another employee who I hadn't seen much of today, and I said "Hey! How's it going?"

She said, "Oh not much." (Don't offer "maybe she heard you wrong"... she didn't. She was 3 feet from me and the place was quiet and I was loud...)

I get this on the phone pretty much daily... once I answer the phone and do the greeting I'm supposed to do, the caller will say "Hi, this is so & so from X company..."

I say, "Hi, what can I do for you..." and 4 out of every 5 will say, "I'm good, thanks! I was calling to find out...."

People are so set in expecting a certain thing to be said that they respond to it whether you say it or not. Are we just too damn lazy to actually listen to people anymore?

Did you say something?

I hear ya about the autopilot. When I took my daughter through a drive thru last year I inadvertantly said "to go" when I ordered her stuff. My daughter cracked up, "Mom, we are in a drive-thru!" She hasn't let me forget about it. Any time we hit a drive thru, even the bank, she says "make sure it's to go".

[artist4perry]

I think sometimes we get so little sleep, and we are running on autopilot. Many times through the day, depending on your job you have several things to juggle at once. You end up just answering out of politeness, and nost so much because you hear.

But in my case, I have 20+ students wanting to ask me things all at once! I am in rooms with all these children a maddening schedule, the teachers forget to tell me where things are, or leave no work for the students to do at all. I learn quickly to fly by the seat of my pants and deal with Kaos.

I had a wild Kind. class today. If you asked me a question I would say....Hmmmmmm........no honey you cannot go potty right now.

[bluejeangirl76]

I had a wild Kind. class today. If you asked me a question I would say....Hmmmmmm........no honey you cannot go potty right now.

Note to self: do not call Ginger's house tonight because she will tell me I'm not allowed to go potty.

[artist4perry]

I had a wild Kind. class today. If you asked me a question I would say....Hmmmmmm........no honey you cannot go potty right now.

Note to self: do not call Ginger's house tonight because she will tell me I'm not allowed to go potty.

Also keep your hands to yourself.

If you say that once you say it 100 times a day.

(Trust me bluejeangirl they get lots of potty breaks, many are notorious to want to go when math, english, or any other subject is being taught so they can play in the bathroom)

[Rhiannon]

"You too!"

Your mom.

[epresley]

People don't listen. Furthermore, people are on autopilot with common greetings and replies, so much so that it contributes in large part to the 'not listening' thing.

This just happened... I walked past another employee who I hadn't seen much of today, and I said "Hey! How's it going?"

She said, "Oh not much." (Don't offer "maybe she heard you wrong"... she didn't. She was 3 feet from me and the place was quiet and I was loud...)

I get this on the phone pretty much daily... once I answer the phone and do the greeting I'm supposed to do, the caller will say "Hi, this is so & so from X company..."

I say, "Hi, what can I do for you..." and 4 out of every 5 will say, "I'm good, thanks! I was calling to find out...."

People are so set in expecting a certain thing to be said that they respond to it whether you say it or not. Are we just too damn lazy to actually listen to people anymore?

I'm fine thanks.

You do and you'll clean it up!

[JustMyStyle]

This is my own personal automated response... the source of it I guess is anyone's bet.

A lot of times, more often than not, if I'm out at a restaurant, drive thru, or store, anywhere that I'm being waited upon. At the end of the transaction if the person says, "Have a great night, please come back." I'll 99% of the time respond with, "You too." Which sounds like I'm telling them to please come back to work, redundant. But I'm really answering to the "Have a great night/morning/day" whatever part.

Still cringe when I do it.

I've done that too.... also I have said "your welcome" when the person hasn't said "thank you"
My brother use to have fun with people by saying at the end of a conversation.."cat shit later" and the person would usually respond..."ya Ok see ya later' "

[YoungJRNY]

One time, I had a looong day at work. We worked o.t for some Hawaii thing our school was doing. I was starved, so decided to graba value meal at Mick D's.

The lady said something I didn't want, I think it was like a apple pie or something. I responded with "No, please." Me and my bro friggin' died and they wondered what we were laughing at when we grabbed the food. "No, please." lmao hahaha.

[AlteredDNA]

This is my own personal automated response... the source of it I guess is anyone's bet.

A lot of times, more often than not, if I'm out at a restaurant, drive thru, or store, anywhere that I'm being waited upon. At the end of the transaction if the person says, "Have a great night, please come back." I'll 99% of the time respond with, "You too." Which sounds like I'm telling them to please come back to work, redundant. But I'm really answering to the "Have a great night/morning/day" whatever part.

Still cringe when I do it.

Brian Regan - You Too (classic)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAZXQItJs0M

[YoungJRNY]

This is my own personal automated response... the source of it I guess is anyone's bet.

A lot of times, more often than not, if I'm out at a restaurant, drive thru, or store, anywhere that I'm being waited upon. At the end of the transaction if the person says, "Have a great night, please come back." I'll 99% of the time respond with, "You too." Which sounds like I'm telling them to please come back to work, redundant. But I'm really answering to the "Have a great night/morning/day" whatever part.

Still cringe when I do it.

Brian Regan - You Too (classic)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAZXQItJs0M

Rhi's (personal) favorite band:

[FishinMagician]

i always get a kick out of that. people are tools i tell you

[Voyager]

Here's my favorite when I walk into a restaurant (before the Illinois smoking ban that is):

"Hello sir, and welcome to Denny's. What is your smoking preference?"

"Easy on the Columbian, and go heavy on the Panama Red."

[Michigan Girl]

People don't listen. Furthermore, people are on autopilot with common greetings and replies, so much so that it contributes in large part to the 'not listening' thing.

This just happened... I walked past another employee who I hadn't seen much of today, and I said "Hey! How's it going?"

She said, "Oh not much." (Don't offer "maybe she heard you wrong"... she didn't. She was 3 feet from me and the place was quiet and I was loud...)

I get this on the phone pretty much daily... once I answer the phone and do the greeting I'm supposed to do, the caller will say "Hi, this is so & so from X company..."

I say, "Hi, what can I do for you..." and 4 out of every 5 will say, "I'm good, thanks! I was calling to find out...."

People are so set in expecting a certain thing to be said that they respond to it whether you say it or not. Are we just too damn lazy to actually listen to people anymore?

Oh gosh I hope not!!! I am so guilty of this on occasion. I think my mind is so full sometimes that
I am not fully in the conversation!!! I am going to make a conscience effort to keep my mouth shut
when I don't know what I'm saying!!!

[Arianddu]

My Dad used to teach med school graduates who wanted to become GPs. He said the hardest thing to train them to do was not to greet patients with "Hi, how are you?" because almost everyone automatically responds with "fine thanks," and then has to say, "well, actually no, I've come in because..."

[Suzanne]

My work phone number is one digit off from a Chevy dealership and apparently some BMW place. When I go through my "(insert work place here), this is Kelli" I'll get some tool on the other end asking about his BMW or "Is this Blah Blah Chevrolet?" I've been so tempted to say, "Why yes it is, that's why I answered with a completely diff. company name". Mind you, I work for a place that makes and services cranes and hoists, nothing that sounds like Chevrolet. The other day, the guy said,"I'm sorry did you say blah blah Chevrolet?" I said no and repeated my company's name and the guy ACTUALLY asked me when we changed our name. I had to nicely - without cracking up- tell him it had always been that name, and told him he was calling a crane & hoist place, not a Chevy dealer. He says, "Oh, I must have the wrong number." YA THINK??!!! Most of the time they just start talking about there car. One day I'm going to hold it together enough to continue the conversation and tell him yes, his car IS ready. Wish I could be a fly on the wall when he goes to retrieve his car and it's NOT ready.

[bluejeangirl76]

"Is this Blah Blah Chevrolet?" I've been so tempted to say, "Why yes it is, that's why I answered with a completely diff. company name".

Oh yeah... I could talk for hours about this one. The best one was a company I worked at several years ago... it was a magazine, and somehow, there was a typo and our 800 number went out on hundreds, maybe thousands of collection letters from Walmart. The name of my company was NOTHING anywhere close to sounding like Walmart, yet we would answer the phone and people would launch off on us about their bills. One time I had a woman whom I could barely understand ranting about her son and jail. From what I could puzzle together, the kid had stolen merchandise and was being held financially responsible for it, or something.

It went something like this:

Me: "I'm sorry, but this isn't Walmart. You number you have isn't right."
Woman: "Dis da numba it say to call! How you gonna think a boy gonna pay dis bill!! He already been to da POH-leece! He a good boy!"

(I apologize if that sounds bad.. but this was the actual phone call, and this was really what she said )

Me: "I'm sorry, but we are a magazine, not Walmart. We receive their calls pretty often, there's been in error in their letter."
Woman: (completely unaware that I've now said twice that she isn't talking to the right person) "Dis the number I got, now what'choo gonna do about dis? He a good boy."

Me: (by this time figuring 'she's not MY customer, so I can take off my customer service hat...") "Ma'am, there isn't anything I can do about it. YOu really need to try to call Walmart in Bentonville, Arkansas."

Woman: "I am already IN Arkansas!!"
Me: "Ok, well, you'll have to contact Walmart. This phone number isn't right and I CAN'T help you."
Woman: "He not goin' back to jail, that's fo shure!"

(By this point, I'm just DONE. She's not listening and she's interupting my day)

Me: "Ma'am, really, I don't know any more ways to explain it. This number is NOT right. Goodbye."

Would you believe she called back?! TWICE MORE.

Me: "Ma'am, no matter how many times you call this number, you're going to get me, and at this point, you are really interfering with my day, and I can't help you with your problem because you are calling a magazine in Arizona, not Walmart, so you need to stop dialing the number on that letter and find a way to contact Walmart directly." (then she asked me for the number to call!! )

That finally did it.

[Arianddu]

I always gritted my teeth when I would answer the phone with the standard "Hello this is {Company Name} 'Ari' speaking, how can I help you" and the first thing the person would say is "Is this {Same Company Name}?"

I always wanted to respond with "No, sorry, this is {Competitor's Name}, we just use that company name when we answer the phones to try and steal their business."

[Suzanne]

I've had one or two people that always start out with that same greeting, "Hi, Kelli, this is Mr. Tool how are you?" and I've actually not had time to respond because they immediately say "Good" and continue to babble along. I once worked for a friend who said people don't REALLY want to know how you are, it's only an opening line and most times when you ask them first, they won't ask you back after they answer you because they don't care. I always ask back and answer with "good" when the person says they are doing fine. People have lost the common courtesy these days. I don't really think it takes much effort to be nice but it apparently bothers most folks these days.

Something else I find disturbing and it's totally off subject but it happened yesterday and I need to vent: the growing number of people (mostly men with big pickup trucks or teenage girls where I am) that go road rage on my ass because I go around them if they are going to slow. Why do you speed up suddenly so I can't get around you or ride my ass and then gun your truck/car, go around me, cut me off and then slow down again? I always get around them again and usually work it so traffic traps them way behind me so I can get away from the crazy f*ckers. Grow a pair, huh?