THE ANSWER MAN

“And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say:
for the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say. (Luke 12:11-12)

I guess I just never expected to find myself in the position of looking for a full-time secular job, but with the closing of First Assembly of God of Framingham and with the Assemblies of God hierarchy’s reluctance for me to go right into a pastorate or associate pastorate until I’ve had “time to heal”, that’s where I’ve found myself. When you’ve been in full-time ministry for over 28 years and pretty much been your own boss for 23 years, that’s quite a culture shock. In looking at the jobs that are “out there”, there are not too many I’m qualified for.

I DO have a job pending, however. It’s a job at a local telephone answering service company. Listen, I have a whole new respect for people who do that job! I guess I used to think, “Well, ANYBODY can answer the phone!” That’s true. But working at a telephone answering service is a whole lot more than just answering the phone. In order to qualify to even be trained for the job, I had to pass a computer test. No joke- that test was HARD! There were several parts of the test and initially I did not pass one part of it. I was able to do a retake of the part I failed, and I’m pleased to say I brought my grade up from a 58 to an 82!

Today, I spent two hours in training for the job, and I’m scheduled to go in there at 8 a.m. Tuesday to continue my training. I also had to read their policy handbook this afternoon. Today, I sat in on actual calls with my trainer. Over 90% of the calls are to doctor’s offices, clinics, or hospitals. Many close down their offices during lunch hour and I can attest that between 12 and 1 the calls poured in. Some offices and clinics were closed due to flooding and that brought in calls. There are many different categories of HOW you answer a call and how you respond to it. In some cases, you record the messages and the doctor’s offices calls in for them. In other cases, you FAX the messages, or send a page to the doctor. Some clients have their account marked “DO NOT TAKE A MESSAGE!” They just want the answering service operator to tell the caller to call back. Of course, in the event that somebody’s kid is choking to death or something, they’d want to call 911!

The answering service operators need to be very calm and very professional. One caller was frustrated that she’d been calling and calling a doctor’s office and was unable to get through to book an appointment. My trainer just had to remain calm and relay the information on her computer screen.

I also learned that this answering service has HIGH standards of cleanliness and that there’s a whole cleaning procedure you do when you’re done with your shift.
A 55-year-old learns a whole lot slower than does an 18-year-old so this is challenging for me. I hope I’m able to learn all that I need to learn and that I will be able to do this job properly and professionally.

I have a whole new respect for people who answer the phone!