"Oh"

"Oh." I love that word in regards to customer service. I love that word in regards to work. When you make someone say "Oh" you win.

"Oh" is them waving the white flag.
"Oh" is them shutting up.
"Oh" is them realizing you are right, they are wrong, and them being in your face is unnecessary.

I love when someone gives me their "Oh" face.

Guest: I had a terrible night. The AC doesn't work in the room and I was burning up all night. I turned the thermostat to the lowest number on the dial and it never worked!
Working Girl: Did you press ON first?
Guest: Oh.

Working Girl: Your total is 10 cents.
Customer: The machine says copies are nine cents! Why are you telling me 10!?
Working Girl: This is California, there are taxes. It is a penny more.
Customer: Oh

Guest: Your website says there is a Mexican restaurant across the street. There is no Mexican restaurant across the street. The only thing I see is Subway sandwiches.
Working Girl: That's the wrong street. Look out the front door and turn your head a quarter of an inch to the left.
Guest: Oh.

Now my absolute favorite "Oh" comes from my boss. My boss, Sandy, is a micro manager. He recognizes it and he chooses not to change it. If you've never been micromanaged the gist of it is your boss is constantly hovering over you, telling you how to do the job that you already know how to do. My boss does that times 10.

Because my boss is a micro manager he intercepts my emails. He is the Rod Woodson of my team. Every email I get he sees because he owns the domain name. The funny thing about it is when he replies to the emails, he doesn't reply to the person sending me the email. He replies to me to tell me what he thinks. This is not something I've asked for and it's something I have told him to stop doing. Most of the time he is too late and the situation has already been resolved so he is not only wasting my time by sending me an email I have to read, he is wasting his by writing it.

Email: Hi, I need a receipt emailed over to me, blah, blah, blah...
Working Girl: Okay, I went ahead and sent over a receipt.
Sandy (to me): Can you please email this person a receipt.
Working: I ALREADY DID THAT.
Sandy: Oh.

Email: Hi, I need to know if you guys have a shuttle service?
Working Girl: Unfortunately no, we do not have a shuttle service.
Sandy (To me): Can you please tell the guest we do not have a shuttle service.
Working Girl: I ALREADY DID THAT!!
Sandy: Oh.

This is daily. I like my boss and my job is alright but the reason I go into work is to get him to say "Oh." My day is accomplished if I have made him say "Oh," go back to his office and leave me the hell alone for a few hours.

Sometimes it's not always through email. A good chunk of the time his "Oh" is right in my face.

Recently one of my front desk agents was extremely sick. She didn't show up for work in the morning and the Night Auditor she was to relieve was trying to get in contact with me. She could not. My phone had turned off during the iOS 7 update over night and due to the fact that I was asleep, I had no way of knowing my cell phone was off. When I woke up in the morning I realized my phone had shut off and I turned it back on.

I had text messages from both my Night Auditor and my boss. I had a total of seven text messages. Only one of them was from my Night Auditor. The Night Auditor was actually pretty calm seeing as how she had been at work for over 8 hours. My boss on the other hand was pulling out his hair, freaking out. His text messages went like this:

"She didn't show up to work"
"Can you please answer your phone?"
"Hello"
"Is your home phone on? I'll try calling there."
"Your home phone isn't on"
"I told Amles to go into relieve her."

I laughed. It was 7:15am on a Friday morning and he was giving himself a heart attack.

When he got into work I sat down with him.

Working Girl: We obviously need to discuss this. Firstly, I told you not to call my home phone number because I disconnected it. I said to never call that number again and what did you do? Called it. Did you think I was going to answer the number that I told you I would no longer answer again. I disconnected it. As I told you when it happened.
Sandy: Oh.
Working Girl: Secondly, my phone's software was updating so my phone turned itself off which is why my phone was off. I also should not be expected to answer phone calls between the hours of midnight and 8 am whether or not my phone is off. I leave my phone on at all times because I know you spin off into another dimension if it is off but due to the update, my phone was off.
Sandy: Oh.
Working Girl: Lastly, normally when you call someone and it goes straight to voicemail, their phone is off. Why would you continue to call my cell phone if my phone if it was going straight to voicemail? And then why would you text my phone if I clearly wasn't answering your calls? Therefore if you call anyone and it doesn't ring and goes directly to voicemail, the phone is off. Which you know.
Sandy: Oh.... Well um try to keep your phone on.
Working Girl: AGAIN, not intentional.
Sandy: Oh.

That was 4 "Ohs" in a 10 minute conversation. Goal = Met.