Conversations with vendors, part 725

Remember when I said honesty gets vendors a long way with me?  Witness the conversation I just had..

Me: This is Shabbir, may I help you? (it doesn’t matter how important you think you are, if you’re in a service firm you should start every interaction with the idea of helping people)

Guy: I don’t know if I have the right number or not, but I was looking for the person in charge of advertising new positions.

Me: Well if you knew what number you were trying to call, you’d know if you had it correct or not, or are you just fishing?

Guy: (defensively) I’m not fishing…..this is the first call I’ve made to you.

Me: (laughing) Ok, give me your information and I’ll pass it onto our HR person.  If she wants to talk to you, she’ll call you back.

Guy: sure, my name is Mike from Monster.com.

Me: (laughing) Oh monster.com, like we haven’t heard of you.  Ok what’s your number?

Guy: Buddy, I’m done talking to you. 

You know, if you’re gonna have a thin skin, you shouldn’t be doing cold calls.