A Script For New Employees

This post was intended for publication on December 30th.

One of the duties to be performed at [my] bookstore is to call customers when an item they ordered arrives. When new employees start to make these calls, they may get flustered, not knowing exactly what to say. I thought it would be beneficial to all those future new employees if I wrote up a general 'script' to follow when calling customers. I hope it helps. (For this demonstration, 'C' will denote 'Customer', 'E' will denote 'Employee', and 'O' will denote 'Other'.)

[E] "Hi, can I please speak with (Insert Customer's Name)?"
[C] (in a rather jovial tone) "Why yes, let me go get (him/her/it)!"
[C] (cont., yelling, but away from the phone) "Mom!/Dad!/You!...phone for you!"
[O] (speaking to customer) "Who is it?"
[C] "I don't know."
[O] "Well find out!"
[C] (speaking to employee) "Who's calling please?"
[E] "This is (State Your Name) with [Business Name Omitted] in [City Omitted]."
[C] (yelling, but away from the phone) "It's (Employee's Name) with [Business Omitted]!"
[O] "Oh! Ask them if my book(s) came in yet!"
[C] "Did (his/her/its) book(s)/item(s) come in?"
[E] (in a pleasant tone) "Why, yes it/they did. And we'll hold..."
[C] (interrupting, and yelling away from the phone) "They have it/them!"
[O] "How long will they hold it?"
[C] "How long will you hold it for?"
[E] "We'll hold it for up to ten days, and you can pick it up at the cashier when you come in."
[C] "Okay, thanks, bye." (abrupt click...followed by dial tone).

And scene.