I had just started a new job for a printing company and noticed that the very young receptionist was rude to people both internally and on the phone. Being the new guy I waited and watched before I was going to say anything to my new boss, the owner of the company. On my third day she was drinking coffee at her desk next to her computer and the switchboard. I suggested that she move the coffee away from the computer and the phone, she looked at me as if I had two or maybe even three heads. At that point I went to my boss to speak about her. Before I got to his office I heard a scream from the front office and saw that the coffee cup spilled on the phone and her computer. The phones went dead as did her keyboard. My boss comes out of his office looked at me and said “that’s what I get for hiring my daughter.”

Why do people ask questions and not listen to answers? I just received a call asking for our hours. The woman said she saw on our web site we were open 8-5, M-F. When I said that was correct she asked me if anyone would be there after 6:00 or on the weekend.

I was working at a large printing company in Broward county several years ago when we bought a new paper cutter. It was state of the art with computer controls to plan the positions and make the cuts. It had a screen that you program and it told you what was the next step as you went forward. The screen was programmable in several languages. The weekend after we had it installed my boss brought in his family to show off the new equipment. He had his parents, in-laws an aunt as well as his wife and children. He turned on the cutter and the screen comes up in Spanish, which he didn’t speak or read. As he turned beat red in anger and embarrassment his wife looked at him and said let me try since I can read Spanish. His wife proceeded to set up and cut an entire job without really knowing what she was doing. With pride my boss declared he planned it all along to show how great the new cutter was. Monday he stormed into the bindery and demanded to have the cutter reset in English. It was at that point we found out the man that did all of our cutting could not read English.

I had been working with a customer on a job that required proofs. She insisted on only working by e-mail. The problem arose when we sent the first proof and it was returned because the email address was incorrect. I called and got a second email address. By the fourth try she said we could fax the proofs since her email was not working properly. We faxed and her number was disconnected. She gave us a second number but that did not work either. I had my design department print out a hard copy for all the pieces and brought them to her. So much for technology.

How important is using the right name? I was working at a printing company about 15 years ago when they hired a new bindery manager. The first morning I came in and called out good morning Bill and there was no response. After three days of good morning Bill without a response I went to the plant manager and said that the new guy Bill is very unfriendly. He looked at me with a very quizzical look and said who’s Bill. I answered the bindery manager; he responded his name is Steve. The next morning I came with a big good morning Steve and he responded with a big “good morning Bill”.

After faxing a quote to a customer I called to see if she had any questions. Her only question to me was “is this a good price?” For someone that is never at a loss of words I was only able to come up with “sure.” She said OK and gave me the work.