On Confident Calling Overseas and Authorities On The Phone - memories and thoughts for a speech

My old mobile phone. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
 

i recall the stress of visitng a police station in Prague where nobody spoke English and we had to return the next day when an English speaking Czech person would be present. Speaking to authority, whether in your own language or another, can be stressful. When you are dealing with the emergency sevices, there is another layer of stress. You do not want to distract them and waste their time. They are often stressed by stressed customers. Signs in passport control on arrival in the UK, In UK hospitals and railway stations in the UK, warn you not to be aggressive to staff, who obviously have to deal with stressed customers, which means the staff themselves could be stressed from their customer's anxiety or agression. 

However, the phone is your friend. You have friends on the phone. You can make friends with strangers on the phone. Don't be afraid to phone. You can clea up a problem. Thank your helper. They will feel rewarded and greet the next customer happily. 

So long as you are calling in daytime in their zone!  I once rang from London to California in the USA, to tell a lady who had sent a Christmas card to my late uncle, that he had died. My mind was on what to say to her, not the time zone.

 I vividly recall her saying, "I'm very sorry to hear about your uncle. Sorry to not be more responsive when I answered the phone. It's 4 a.m. here."

I gasped, "Oh - I'm so sorry. Shall I call you back, later?"

"No,." she replied. "I can talk now. Please tell me about your uncle now. I'm widee awake now!"

Calling To Correct A Hosptial's Mistake In Paperwork - The Problem

Recently, I returned from Northwick Park hospital after an x-ray with a paper which had a mistake. I needed to correct it. 

The number I needed to call was the Accident and Emergency Department. I hesitated to phone. I worried. Did I dare to call them? My correction to my discharge paperwork was not an emergency. Not for me, nor anybody else.

The Solution

I thought, I would say quickly, 'I'm just asking the correct number to call to correct this mistake.' 

However, when I rang, the man at the other end said, "This is the right number." He happily changed it. He said they would post me a copy of the corrected version.

Problem solved. My stress over.

I thought afterwards of two other occasions when I had worried unnecessarily about making phone calls.

1 I called to check the editor's name. I rang her number. I rhearsed all kinds of apologies. When I phoned I got a secretary. No problem 

2 Then I phoned another editor. I assumed I had reached a secretary. I asked if she was sue of the name spelling She said yes. 

I asked, how can you be sure. 

She siad, 'It's my name.' 

I was through to the editor.

The moral for you is sinple. Don't invent problems for minor issues.

My husband says, it's not a problem, It's a task.