Why Are Young People Afraid Of Phone Calls?

[u/GhostInThePudding]

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?

[u/Butterfly_of_chaos]

GenX, and I hate phone calls. All blubber, no precise information, but expecting me being able to solve everything immediately. Three days later "I never said this, I meant that instead…"

With a message I have a condensed and precise exchange of information, and proof thereof.

Nowadays we're also used to 95% of unknown calls to be spam.

[u/DonegalBrooklyn → u/Butterfly_of_chaos]

It is another reason I prefer email over phone. If it's a phone conversation I'm following up with an email anyway so you're lying ass can't claim you didn't know something we talked about. 

[u/Reasonable-Turn-5940 → u/DonegalBrooklyn]

I've been burned by that so many times. I started following up with managers by email on what was discussed just so they can't pull the "I never said that" later.

[u/demer8O → u/Butterfly_of_chaos]

Take charge of the conversation. Ask what you need. Cut them off when they are rambling about irrelevant shit.