长条地砖贴图:电话礼仪

2011年10月22日

Have you noticed that as dress codes eroded over the past few years, telephone manners have deteriorated as well? One of the telltale signs of rudeness is made by someone who does not respond after a reasonable length of time to a phone message awaiting a reply. This usually indicates how important or unimportant the recipient feels about the caller. This would rarely happen in a person-to-person meeting, which would be considered a snub. Bad form.

       你有没有注意到过去的数年里，像着装规范变了一样，电话礼仪也变了呢？粗蛮无礼的一个迹象征兆是，有人不在合理的时间里回应等待回复的电话留言。这常常表明打电话的人对接电话的人的重要性。在个人对个人会议中极为少见，这种现象可能叫做怠慢。不合礼貌。

Another bad habit has developed. A secretary or a receptionist, when asking you," Who is calling?" and you respond with your name, replies, "One moment, please," using your first name. When that occurs, I ask the receptionist or the secretary, "Do I know you?" the usual reply is a hesitant "Sorry," or some other weak excuse, as he or she likely has not been trained properly or doesn't know any better.

      另一种坏习惯养成了。一个秘书或者接待员问你“您是哪位？”时，你回答你的名字，然后对方回复“请等一会，”直呼你的名。当那样的时候，我问接待员或者秘书，“我认识你吗？”通常的回答是犹豫。“对不齐，”或者其他一些蹩脚的借口，好像他或者她培训没培好，或者不识时务。

As progress moves far ahead, Alexander Graham Bell would never have dreamed of cell phones or the misuse of them when he made that first, famous phone call to Mr. Watson. There is no question cell phones are as necessary for communication as cars are to transportation. However, it is bad form, and in some cities, illegal, to blow the car horn, annoying other drivers, pedestrians, and neighborhoods. Again, using a cell phone in an area disturbing to others telegraphs a lack of manners, possibly reflecting a poor upbringing, and displaying indifference to the immediate surroundings.

     随着发展越来越先进， 亚历山大·格雷厄姆·贝尔发明电话初次打给沃森的时候，可能怎么也想不到手机或者手机的使用不当。毋庸置疑，电话用于沟通交流十分必要，就像汽车之于交通运输一样。可是，现在变得无礼貌了，在一些城市，甚至不合法，骚扰其他司机、行人以及邻居。另外，在某区域使用手机如果缺少礼仪会干扰其他电报，可能反映出没有教养，或者对当时环境漠不关心。

No one wants to be thought of as having a poor upbringing. However, there are those who show that lack loud and clear (no pun intended) by displaying little or no consideration for the people within their hearing range.

      没人会想让别人想成是没有教养的人。但是，总有人大声而清晰地表现出不足缺乏，对他们听力范围之内的人只有点点或者完全没有顾虑。

Possibly not considered bad telephone manners, but just as irritating, is hearing the answering machine at the other end requiring the caller to "Press one, two, three," and so on to reach the designated party. It would seem that successful businesspeople of yore understood the importance of their customers by employing telephone operators making connections to people or departments in that business. Today, unfortunately, too many financial people wield their influence by cutting costs and salaries by having computer programs and computer-generated voices do the work. Thus, the disconnect to customers many times over. In the process, not only did the professional salespeople disappear but courteous telephone operators also became a vanished breed as well.

     可能不是恶劣的电话礼仪，只是像是恼火，在听着另一端的回答机器，要求打电话的人“按1、2、3”，然后到达指定的聚会。看起来像昔日成功的商业人士知道客户的重要性，雇佣电话接线员联系业务上的个人或者部门。今天，非常不幸地，太多的金融人士发挥其影响靠的是削减成本和薪资，用电脑程序和电脑生成的声音来做那些事。因此，多次失去客户联系。在这个过程中，不仅专业的销售人员消失了，连礼貌的电话接线员也成了消失的品种。

It is puzzling that successful businesses spend millions and millions of advertising dollars to develop favorable and identifiable images. They then throw much of that away, frustrating and angering their customers by forcing them to run through an endless loop of pushing buttons to discourage them from speaking with a person and the company harboring the added "expense" that entails.

      真让人疑惑，成功的企业花数亿广告金额去塑造良好的能识别的形象。大部分都白白流失了，强逼他们的顾客陷入无限循环的按按钮中，让其沮丧并且气氛，气馁着不再跟他们交谈，公司须承受这带来的额外“开支”。

Customers who are valued assets should be greeted by a person at the other end who reflects the company's desired image.

     重视资产的顾客应该受到欢迎，而电话另一端的工作人员应该表现出公司期望的形象。

Lessons Learned:

学习的课程：

To greet customers by their (proper) name has many advantages.

      致意顾客用他们的名字（合适的）有很多的好处

In the past and today, most people in our society attempt to show considerations in social situations. However, there are those among us who unfortunately have not been taught at home or at school that certain social situations require good manners. The same applies to businesses that have forgotten the importance of the human touch.

      过去到现在，社会中的大多数人都试图考虑社会状况。可是，我们中有些人很不幸在家里或者学校里没被教过，特定的社会情境需要良好的礼仪。已经遗忘人类接触重要的企业中也一样。