A little something about nothing

Dealing with "special" people

There is a woman I deal with on a regular basis for work purposes. Each time my phone rings and I see her company name appear on the caller ID I have to take a deep breath and make sure I smile before answering the phone...they say they can hear if you are or are not smiling when talking!

Today I had absolutely no patience for her, which seems to be becoming more frequent. I had went to lunch and when I returned, which was just shy of me being gone for 1 hour, I hear my co-worker on the phone with my boss (he's out of town this week). Not fully paying attention until I hear my name mentioned. When she hangs up she tells us how this woman called my boss saying he has been trying to get a hold of me all day. WHAT?! I looked at my phone to see if I had any messages, which it showed one. I listened to it and as you guessed it was her. She left the message at 1:17pm...I listened to the message at 1:32pm. Apparently in her little world "all day" refers to 10 minutes!!! FREAK!

Even though I had absolutely no desire to call this woman back...I typically try to deal with her through email, but she hasn't caught on to this yet...she loves the phone...I do it anyway. She is in a panic because both me and another co-worker were out of the office at the same time...darn those 10 minutes!! She needed confirmation of what was needed to terminate a plan. For the average person I'd have no problem explaining this to; however, this is not the first or even the second time she has asked me, which today was worse because I was already annoyed that she called my boss looking for me.

So I started telling her, but was stopped because she was taking shorthand to make sure she wrote down every stinkin' word I said. UGH! She then asked me if an Adoption Agreement would have to be completed and signed. Okay, I'm not claiming I'm the brightest star in the sky; however, in any line of business would someone complete something with the word "Adoption" in it if they are TERMINATING???? Then she started asking me all these questions about fees and documents, which she knew I'd have to look up and couldn't just tell her from memory. So she asked that I call her back. Nope, didn't do it! I typed a very detailed email and copied my boss on it. Phew! I am done with her! So I thought anyway!

My phone rings about 15 minutes after sending the email and it was her. She wanted to tell me that everything had already been approved through her boss and my boss and that the letter she'd be sending me would only refer to one thing and not the other. Then she asks me if I found the information she was waiting for. I asked if she checked her email and she said no. I don't know about you, but I think that is a phone call that could have never happened and life would have moved on like normal!

Would it be rude if I asked my boss to make it where she can no longer call me only send me emails or faxes? Or, if she does feel the need to use that phone of her to only call my boss?? Hmmm, I like the theory, but I'm thinking my boss won't really go for it!!