Communication Skills / Business Etiquette

[Nicole_Ramirez]

My husband calsl to order take out every week & you never know if the phone is going to answer at his house or the business. Working for big corporations I totally agree with you & see so mmany things they could do to improve things here, but like my husband says " they like it this way". One day while waiting in line at Chanogmas I watched the manager come in for work & walk up to & kiss each & every cashier & other person he passed. In the States you would be written up for wasting the companys time. For example, I think if the cops actually pulled over all the bad drivers & gave them tickets they would make a whole load of money.

 

[AngelinBA]

I do think that they should announce the business name but then again we have one of those automated answer messages "hello, you have reached (x company), our office hours are ... if you want 'a' press 1, 'b' press 2, and people still get to me after listening to all of that and ask 'hello, is that x company?'
Even after 10 years here, my real peev is with complaint handling. I worked in call centres in NZ and we were given training on how to deal with complaints. Here their first reaction is to get very defensive, followed by phrases that basically translate as "it's not my fault" and "what do you want me to do about it?"

 

[Davidglen77]

The kiss and greet think is definitely cultural but it can be really annoying. Once I was in the bank and saw a cashier counting money. A coworker entered the teller area and kissed every cashier. The one counting the money had to start all over again because he interrupted her and it was a lot of bills. The customer waiting in front of the cashier was furious. When I worked at a company here, not only did the people in my immediate area kiss and greet but people from other departments spent a good 30 minutes kissing 40 - 50 people, and preparing mate and cookies before starting work. And when the copier repair guy, fedex, building maintenance guys, plumber, tech support came to the office they kissed everyone as well. It was so bizarre at first until I got used to it and just waited to be constantly kissed by people I had minimal relationships with.

 

[Celia]

Banks are the worst. At least if you call Telefonica you get through to someone. Several bank execs have made a point of giving me their business cards with direct lines and emails and in urgent situations have never ever returned my attempts to contact them....a nightmare. Especially when the general switchboard also doesn't answer or puts you through to dud lines...

 

[fifs2]

....taking pride in your work and being diligent here doesn't mean a thing, ...

Too much David...maybe you´ve had a very abd day but I´ve had a really good one and am seeing the labor glass half full argument. I think we agree on previous posts that the payment to be fired system promotes flakiness, greed, and employer exploitation in some individuals..but payment system and all, I have met and employ(ed) some of the most diligent, responsible, professional and wonderful individuals in my life here in Bsas. I´ve managed staff in 11 countries and there are just some really bright stars here that make up for the other b++ggers I had the misfortune to run into.
FYI re voicemail you got me right on re changing business voicemail during the day...my mother used to cal my office to figure out what I was up to I was that diligent on the updates...anal with a capital A!

 

[andebobandy]

Sorry to hear about your bad experience, but I am not surprised, taking pride in your work and being diligent here doesn't mean a thing, I mean if you're going to get paid anyway and if they dare to let you go you get a handsome payout, why should they make the effort. What a system!

I had a friend whose father was raised in Russia, and he said they had a saying in Russia when he was a boy, "We pretend to work, and they pretend to pay us." I can feel that sentiment here.

 

[Davidglen77]

....taking pride in your work and being diligent here doesn't mean a thing, ...

Too much David...maybe you´ve had a very abd day but I´ve had a really good one and am seeing the labor glass half full argument. I think we agree on previous posts that the payment to be fired system promotes flakiness, greed, and employer exploitation in some individuals..but payment system and all, I have met and employ(ed) some of the most diligent, responsible, professional and wonderful individuals in my life here in Bsas. I´ve managed staff in 11 countries and there are just some really bright stars here that make up for the other b++ggers I had the misfortune to run into.
FYI re voicemail you got me right on re changing business voicemail during the day...my mother used to cal my office to figure out what I was up to I was that diligent on the updates...anal with a capital A!

That's totally cool if you don't agree with my statement, I respect that. It's based on the majority (not every single) one of my personal experiences. I've only managed people in the US and Argentina, and while I will state that some of my co-workers and direct reports were and are highly intelligent people, the majority's work ethic / standard was / is sub par in my opinon. Out of th 40 something people in my former office, about 10 of them were worth keeping. Most of the others you could have eliminated and the company would have worked just fine. They were dead weight. Another thing is that Argentines are always complaining about foreigners, Paraguayos, Peruanos, Bolivianos, etc, but I see them doing the most and hardest jobs and have better attitudes. Again just my opinion.

 

[cruizes]

I love it when two policemen greet each other by kissing!!!

 

[jp]

Whenever I hear people recite a corporate slogan as they introduce themselves, I imagine a little part of their soul dies...