PLSO Oregon Surveyor Nov/Dec 2019

22 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 42, No. 6 “Are you calling me a liar???” came a hys- terical shriek from what sounded like a teenage boy. “Of course not, but I have employed the crew chief of that crew for fifteen years and I trust him without reservation. If I didn’t trust him, I wouldn’t have hired him, and in surveying, we rely on the ab- solute honesty of our crew members. If they were dishonest, I would have known about it within a few days of hiring him. Perhaps you misunderstood the circum- stances of what happened.” “I could have been killed!!!! You don’t know what happened!” shrieked Acorn. “That is true, I don’t know what happened, but I do know my field crew would never break into anyone’s house. Not under any circumstances.” I tried to remain calm. “EAT GRITS AND DIE!!” SLAM went the re- ceiver on the other end. At least I think he said eat grits and die. Telephone receivers can only take so much sound pressure before they begin to distort. All in all, I think that went pret- ty well. Perhaps that is the end of all of this and I can try to finish some projects on my desk... Nope. Two hours later the phone rings again and this time the ring is angry, omi- nous and vengeful. Caller ID confirms the phone number is once again from Canby. “Township Surveys, may I help you?” I ask with so much positive energy that I drain all cheer out of a three-block radius. “You had better. This is Oak Lattimer and you can tell me just what type of busi- ness you are running there?” This was the same phone number but the voice was the voice of a perturbed adult male. I answered, “A land surveying business?” knowing full well that the person on the other side of the phone had no real in- terest in what type of business we do. “Oh really? Are you sure you are not the type of business who has rogue crew- men who break into people’s houses with an axe and attempt to murder their offspring? And then when you get called on it, you call my son a liar? Are you that kind of business?” “I am really sure we aren’t that type of business. What can I do for you?” Warning—Educational Material is com- ing up: A tried and true customer relations tech- nique is to not allow the customer to come up with a laundry list of complaints and work themselves into an even greater anger. Furthermore, many angry peo- ple have rehearsed a mental script of how their complaint is going to go. If you break the script and get to the bottom line, it can confound the customer and get them off script, allowing you to steer the conversation towards an actual reso- lution instead of a 45-minute complaint session. Ask the complainer what they want and most times the conversation ends up being civil and productive. Most times. Not all times. This wasn’t one of those times. “Are you the type of business who is so shady they aren’t registeredwith the CCB?” he asked, thinking he got me on this one. “Land Surveyors are a profession and not a trade. No surveyors register with the CCB. We have our own professional board who have oversight over land surveyors.” “You’re a liar!! You must have a CCB num- ber to be a surveyor.” “If you want, I can get you the number for the CCB and you can phone them and ask them yourself.” “I already phoned them and they said sur- veyors need to get a CCB number, and what is the name of the state board for land surveyors?” I guess that means he didn’t actually phone the CCB. It’s prob- ably not the best tactic to point out his obvious contradiction. De-escalation is the order of the day. “OSBEELS is the land surveyor’s govern- ing board.” Great. Now this guy is going to phone OSBEELS and file a complaint against me. How wonderful. Now I will probably have to write a response to the complaint. (And I am doing it right now.) “Well, you aren’t a good business because you hired some rogue yahoo who broke into my home with an axe,” the Oak said. “I give you my personal guarantee that no one on our crew tried to break into continued from previous page T Featured Article Contact us today! www.llmpubs.com | 800-647-1511 Advertise to Support Your Association! Make your company stand out while supporting your association so they can change your industry for the better! • Speak to your entire association’s member base • Complimentary graphic design services • Modify an existing ad or have a new one created • Multi-publication discounts