small talk

[ebtb.livejournal.com]

How do you all combat useless and often irritating small talk from your (L)users?

i.e. (L)user calls in and while I am resetting his registration key decides to talk about the weather.... which is fine. But I've learned to lie about the weather my area is currently experiencing.  What? Lie about the weather? Why?! Here's why:

(L)user: You guys are in Florida, right?
Me: Yep.
(L)user: How's the weather down there in sunny Florida? I'm up here in (insert state or province here) and it's raining.
Me: Oh, it's lovely outside... not a cloud in the sky.
(L)user: Oh, yeah, I'm sure it's nice until you get a hurricane!
Me: *sighs*
(L)user: Yeah, I'd rather deal with snow instead of all those hurricanes! I wouldn't want to have to worry about this, that, the other thing and this and that and blah, blah, blah....

Why? Why? Why is it always about the hurricanes? Like we get them every week or something.

So NOW when they ask I just tell them that it's pouring outside.  At first my co-workers looked at me like I was crazy when we can see clearly see how nice it is outside and then I explained why. Now they do it, too! Now conversations are like this:

(L)user: How's the weather down there in sunny Florida?
Me: Actually, it's pouring outside right now. It's not so sunny.
(L)user: Oh.

For those of you keeping score at home, that's (L)users - 0 / Me - 1.

Comments

[nachoha.livejournal.com]

Best trick I've learned is always end your replys with a question.

How's the weather out there?

Oh it's lovely, What can tech support help you with today?

Lets you redirect the conversation to where you want it.

[conglacio.livejournal.com]

Better to end replies with a dial tone.

[aylinn.livejournal.com]

What you're saying isn't far from the truth, though - My grandad's place in sarasota would get rain every day.

the question angle mentioned above works. I've also used the fact that I'm a dispatcher quite well - my phone is usually going nuts so after being put on hold a few times while I pick up another call usually convinces them to tell me what the problem is.

[susano-otter.livejournal.com]

I live in sunny southern California, where we'd much rather deal with earthquakes than hurricanes :D

[captain-jester.livejournal.com]

Dude, you outsmarted an end user.

It's like bragging about those crippled kids you beat up to show how strong you are.

[redqueenmeg.livejournal.com]

I used to get that a lot.

How is the weather down there in sunny Florida?
How should I know? I've been here for the past nine hours and there are no windows.

[katyism.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I have no window either and I tell them. They get to the point rather quickly, probably out of feeling sorry for me :)

[jeffreyatw.livejournal.com]

I get it. (L)user, like "loser."

You really thought this through.

*adjusts tie*

[ebtb.livejournal.com]

tough crowd

*coughs nervously*

[twistedsyx.livejournal.com]

I do support in Seattle. so you could imagine I get the opposite question. The cool part is, my office mate came up with this great thing.

Them: Oh seattle, how's the weather (snicker) [no seriously they always snicker]
Me: Oh fantastic, it's sunny out, like 80 degrees, not a cloud to be seen.
Them: But oh I thought...
Me: Well I just told you Seattle's biggest secret. 90% of the year it's nice.
Them: Oh, I never knew.
Me: No one does... it's ok.

[duality.livejournal.com]

yeah i enjoy informing people that we get more rain than seattle. they never believe me.

as far as seattle weather being nice, i don't know personally, but i know someone who's moved there recently who's about ready to slit her wrists it's so f'n depressing weatherwise out there. i imagine that's more due to different perseptions on what constitutes "nice".

[adamjaskie.livejournal.com]

I actually LIKE snow. And Michigan has no hurricanes, or earthquakes (well, at least none that actually DO anything other than cause ripples in a glass of water), and while there have been a few tornado warnings where I live, I have never actually seen one, or even a funnel cloud.

Sundry is pretty rare, too. We get plenty of rain most of the time. /me ducks

[brotherflounder]

Isn't Florida about 20 inches below normal on the rainfall right now too, unlike the rest of the 49 states? Please, take some of our rain!