I think I need to screen all calls!

[cledry]

It was my turn to be on call this week. I was kept busy, had to install a Roton and a Trident at 2 PM. Three trips to a bank to replace Rixson center hung pivots on a 12 foot flipper door. Plus the usual emergency calls for Detex locks not sounding etc.

Then Saturday I had 28 phone calls, all of them were calls like:
customer - "I'm standing outside your shop and it is closed"
me - "Sorry but we aren't open on the weekend"
customer - "Can you come down and open up?"
me - "Certainly but there will be a service call charge."
customer - "That's why I bought the locks to you, to save a service call."
me - "Well, you can bring them in Monday after 8:30 AM and save the service call."
customer - "I can't wait, I need it done today."

Then Sunday at 3:30 AM
me - "Locksmith may I help you?"
customer - "Oh good, you are open."
me - "No."
customer - "Oh, I thought you were open because you answered the phone"
me - "No."
customer - "I need a key for a storage cabinet, how much?"
me - "$150"
customer - "Huh????"
me - "$150 if you need it done now"
customer - "Oh, no I am bringing it to you on Monday, I just wanted a price."
me - "$25 at the shop Monday after 8:30 in the morning."

Sunday 3:47 AM
me - "Locksmith may I help you?"
customer - "It is me again"
me - "Yeah"
customer - "It says here you are at 6004 S. Orange Avenue is that correct"
me - "Yeah"
customer - "Where is that?"
me - "One block south of Oak Ridge Rd."
customer - "Is that near Old Dixie Fried Chicken, 'cause that is on South Orange just south of Oak Ridge."
me- "Yeah"

[1mrchristopher]

Woah! You'd think it had been a full moon or something!

[billdeserthills]

I fixed those after-hours calls years ago. Now when I go to bed I just turn my phone off. I was never very comfortable unlocking vehicles for drunk drivers and they have about 28 bars in my little town.

[1mrchristopher]

Eh, when I get a drunk caller who can't find their keys and needs me to get them into their car, I tell them to call me in the morning and I'll be happy to come get them in. Usually they sober up, the bartender returns their keys the next day, and I never hear from them again. In the event that they get verbally abusive, I hang up. Most of my after hours unlocks so far have been trade or service persons who lock the door out of habit as they climb out of their running vehicle (when it's cold here, it's really cold).

[cledry]

I fixed those after-hours calls years ago. Now when I go to bed I just turn my phone off. I was never very comfortable unlocking vehicles for drunk drivers and they have about 28 bars in my little town.

Not an option for us, we are contracted to answer 24/7 with several NSPs. They give us so much business it is a price we have to pay. Usually they don't call past 11 PM and most often it is before 9 PM.

[billdeserthills]

My shop is open 6 days a week, but only from 10am to 10:45 am. I get lots of those "I'm standing outside your shop..." calls. I think they are the funniest yet, as my hours are clearly posted and have been the same for over 20 years. From what You wrote Cledry, it seems like all the folks who are standing outside the shop have the same syntax. I know i have heard evefry one You posted, over and over again. I love your 3am call, where they are all "Good, then you are open!" Like for sure, sitting all alone in the shop at 3am is a personal fav...

[cledry]

Back when we used to do automotive, I would often have this sort of conversation.

me- "Locksmith may I help you"
customer - "I need a copy of my key"
me - "Bring it on down and I'll be happy to make a duplicate"
customer - "I Don't have a key, that's why I am calling"
me - "OK, what do you need a key to?"
customer - "My car"
me "What kind of car do you have?"
customer - "I think it is a Hyundai"
me - "What year?"
customer - (yelling to someone else in the room) "Hey, what year is that car?" ... "2002"
me - "Where is the car?"
customer - "On my driveway."

So when I had one of these sort of calls I would get a little mischievous and ask all sorts of questions such as , colour of the car, did it it have a cassette or CD, alloy wheels, 2 or 4 door etc....

My latest bit of fun is when I get a telemarketing call from India (several times a day)and they say hello my name is Billy Bob, Joe, or some other westernized name I say hello my name is Deepak Patel and the resulting silence is deafening!

[hjlocks]

You guys are making me glad I'm entirely mobile. Most of my late night calls are either people leaving work at 2am, or insurance companies who's customers are leaving work at 2am.

I did have to spend 10 minutes explaining to one of my neighbors that I couldn't make a key for their car because I don't have the equipment to program the transponder. And then explain what a transponder is. And then explain why I don't have the equipment. And then explain that he does in fact need the transponder to start the car. All while holding 3 bags of groceries.

That telemarketer line is comedy gold though.

[1mrchristopher]

Did an unlock at 11:30PM last Sunday, at a local hotel. When I pulled up, the guy told me: "I'm so glad you came, I didn't think anyone would be open." I raised my eyebrow and told him, I wasn't "open," I'd been in bed asleep when he called. He was shocked that I would get out of bed to come help him, which flabberghasted me. Do these people think that locksmiths just sit around doing nothing but waiting for their call?

[billdeserthills]

Did an unlock at 11:30PM last Sunday, at a local hotel. When I pulled up, the guy told me: "I'm so glad you came, I didn't think anyone would be open." I raised my eyebrow and told him, I wasn't "open," I'd been in bed asleep when he called. He was shocked that I would get out of bed to come help him, which flabberghasted me. Do these people think that locksmiths just sit around doing nothing but waiting for their call?

This here is the thing though 1Mrchristopher,
If You didn't get a big tip outta this guy You said it Wrong

[billdeserthills]

I know I get about 5 calls a day that are just marketing ploys. They seem designed to waste my time and I noticed that many of them keep on calling back, trying to piss me off. I started a new file on my phone and anyone who calls and is not a client instantly gets their number put into my BS file. Now when the phone rings it is often times one of these BS numbers and I don't even need to answer. Saves me a lot of frustration and I haven't felt the need to throw my phone for a couple of weeks now, so it is saving me money too

[YouLuckyFox]

Fun thing to do when you are bugged by people on the phone:
Whatever they say, respond with something like "I appreciate your offer, but I'm really not interested in a relationship right now" or "really, I'm flattered, but I'm already in a relationship." Anyway, I should be more patient, but it's a fun way of reacting to unwanted phone calls.

[Steelbacks]

I'm sort of 'between jobs'... sort of. Anyway, I sometimes think it would be great fun to work with a locksmith, letting people into their homes by picking their locks and getting paid for it too! Getting calls at 3 in the morning, drunks unable to string a coherent sentence together, idiots yanking your chain... yeah, maybe not. Posts like the above kinda put me off. Great hobby. Not so great as a career... maybe.

[bembel]

Not long ago I woke up when a furious girl called which apparently thought I was her ex.
I was still drowsy when I answered the phone (she even blamed me for that, on a late Saturday morning) and when I tried to explain that she dialed the wrong number it made her even more furious. So she finally passed the phone over to a guy who told me that he will come over and beat me up.