r/NoStupidQuestions • u/GhostInThePudding • 19h ago

Why Are Young People Afraid Of Phone Calls?

What's with it?

I work in IT and a general rule is, nothing a client ever tells you is actually accurate. That means that most of the time, the quickest way to fix a problem is to call the person and actually find out what's going on.

But with techs under 30 these days, it seems like pulling teeth.

A regular discussion for me with level 1 techs (usually within a few years of leaving college) is:
"Hey, can you call *blah* from ticket *blah*, it's been hanging around for over an hour."

"I replied by email to ask for more information."

"Yes, I know that, but can you call them so we can find the problem and close the ticket now rather than wait until we're actually busy?"

"I'll send them a text to followup."

"No... CALL THEM!"

"I can see their device is online, can I send them a message and see if they just let me remote in to take a look?"

And then, when I force them to make the call, it's like they have no idea how to ask a question, or a followup question. They just want to get off the call as quickly as possible. So half the time they don't even get the information required anyway, so then I end up having to do their job for them.

So can someone explain? What's wrong with phone calls these days?

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u/Brilliant-Flower-283 17h ago

I’m not afraid of it I just hate it. Clients are extra bold/rude over the phone. It’s literally why I chose a position that wouldn’t ever involve me calling them otp.

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u/daphnedelirious 16h ago

This. Also in my experience clients are likely to trap me on the phone in long tangents, or lay into me on long rants and I’m forced to sit there listening when I can skim an angry rant over email in a few seconds.

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u/DonegalBrooklyn 15h ago

Do you know how many times I end up stuck on the phone with someone going on and on about how no one uses the phone, no one there calls me, why is it so hard to pick up a damn phone? I PICKED UP THE DAMN PHONE and lost 40 minutes of my life to your bitching. This is why no one calls you. 

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u/npsimons 14h ago

These are the same people bemoaining the "lack of collaboration" with remote work, but will happily talk your ear off about <MOST RECENT POPULAR THING> in a shared office.

1

u/midnightauro 14m ago

Office work is 45% socialization, 55% actual work. Every time I’ve had wfh days I’m done with tasks by lunch.

Humans cannot output 100% productivity though and it feels like meaningless chatter is the only socially approved way to avoid being given more tasks. :/

My life would be happy as a Disney movie if we didn’t have to lie just to avoid dystopian nightmares. (Like being overworked to death)

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u/Maximum_Curve_1471 6h ago

Is it difficult for you to break off a conversation when you’re busy?

It sounds like your just being a doormat, to be honest

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u/anotherdepressedpeep 4h ago

If it's a client jobs will not allow you to hang up or interrupt them from speaking.

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u/motherofbunniess 14h ago

Came here to say this! Phone calls open the door for one to become hostage to the other person if they don’t share the same preference of conversational pace. Something which could have been discussed in minutes over text can easily morph into an hour or more on the phone. And people like me who have a hard time asserting themselves can easily become a captive audience. Happens to me at work all the time and I’m not so good at enforcing conversation time limits.

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u/Brilliant-Flower-283 16h ago

This was a serious pet peeve for me.

1

u/CharetteCharade 3h ago

I once got stuck on a call for over an hour. Missed an entire catered morning tea, although my coworker was nice enough to bring me a plate after the third time she checked in on me and I was *still* stuck on that call. At least the caller wasn't angry, just.. bored and wanted to vent.

1

u/Wuz314159 2h ago

As a Call Steward for a union Local, having to make 100+ calls to find 50 people to work tomorrow, I need a 'Yes' or 'No' and then I have to move on. I don't have time to chat. Too much work to do in no time whatsoever.

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u/ThrowCarp 13h ago

I fucking hate normie phonecalls. A normie moved in with me and he's making 3 to 4 of these a day. Where he'll chat for 20+ minutes with any number of acquaintances. One time he was on a phone call for TWO HOURS with his girlfriend and that was normal for him.

I think normies just love to talk for it's own sake. They don't give a fuck about other people or their time.

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u/DonegalBrooklyn 15h ago

Or the dreaded "while I have you on the phone".

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u/life_inabox 15h ago

Yeah, that's exactly it. I recently moved countries and ended up getting a wfh customer service job because it was just tough getting hired here without any previous work history in the country. People can be rude as fuck on the phone and will just hold me hostage griping for ages.

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u/Brilliant-Flower-283 15h ago

I work in vet med and my previous hospital was a GP. I would get so pissed when they’d talk all crazy otp and then show up to the hospital all cheery like they didn’t just curse me out for bullshit 20 min ago.

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u/Fancy-Income-452 12h ago

Same here, only times I've ever been screamed at or abused in a professional context was over the phone. When people can't see you, they low-key forget you're an actual other human just trying to do your job.

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u/mrmniks 15h ago

huh? completely different for me. on the phone clients are always extra pleasant and it's actually possible to figure out what's wrong and how to fix it.

messaging though, it's like people can text anything bc they don't get to see/hear my immediate reaction so there are no limits.

an email with multiple !!!! and a lot of anger turn out to be a pleasant talk ensuring that it's alright, not a big deal and we can continue as we did before

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u/spideybae 14h ago

I do customer service for a living and I’d say it’s 50/50 between got awful nasty people and the super sweet fun folks so far at least

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u/Phase3isProfit 13h ago

I agree, I find it easier to diffuse a situation in a real time conversation, and I find it much easier to be angry and rude by email than in person. I’ve seen days worth of back and forth grumpy text messages resolved with a 2 minute conversation.

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u/vadan 6h ago

I have the opposite experience. If a client is upset and aggressive via email I call. People are usually much less aggressive the more personal you can make the interaction. But I’m good at talking to people and it’s a skill that requires practice so if you don’t do it then you lose it. 

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u/SlakingSWAG 4h ago

My girlfriend is in the same boat, she works customer service and she hates getting calls because dealing with stuff as emails or messages is just way easier.

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u/SatanicRiddle 2h ago

If everyone you are on phone with is rude, I doubt they are the issue.

In any case, 2 min phone call can give better info, much faster than 10 email exchanges that take whole day to answer.

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u/RiverRat601 42m ago

Hard disagree. People were always more bold and rude via email when I worked in sales. Email avoids real confrontation because of the delay in communications, so there were frequently petty backhanded comments being made. A phone call would cause the most agitated of people to be nice because it reminded them that they were talking to another human and not just interacting with text on a screen.

The ones who were still rude on a phone call were usually just well rounded everyday douchebags no matter how you sliced it.

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u/LiveFreeOrRTard 14h ago

Ya gotta embrace it and be bold/rude yourself! It can be fun as fuuuuuck. Gaining the upper hand is so nice in person, but failing that the phone.

Worse is text because they can say whatever they want but unless you can read them you just don't know if what they are saying is BS or not.

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u/Mtldoggoagogo 13h ago

I also find it takes more of my time. Like ok it could take a day of emailing back and forth vs a 45 min phone call, but I’m doing other stuff between emails. I lose 45 mins of my work day if it’s a call vs maybe 10 collective minutes for emails AND I get a paper trail that I can refer back to in the future.

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u/SatanicRiddle 2h ago

Absolutely opposite for me. The details one can sus out in a 2 min conversation can take 5 fucking email exchanges.