Being the receptionist and phone answerer at a local HVAC company meant that I had a lot of responsibility.
I didn’t mind answering the phone, but some people wanted me to give them information about how to make the repair themselves.
Other people wanted me to diagnose what is going on with their HVAC system, but I’m not an HVAC technician. I was trained to ask questions so the technicians had an idea on what types of tools and parts to take with them, but that didn’t mean I was trained to know everything. When one person started off the conversation with the statement that they had a gas furnace, I offered to get an HVAC technician for them. The woman seemed frantic and I really wanted to help, but she just kept talking. I pressed the hold button and called for an HVAC technician. I was gone for a couple seconds, and she was still talking. I was glad I had already gotten all of her information, because she was too far gone to be able to answer any other questions. The owner of the HVAC company was able to calm her down enough to know there was a problem with her furnace. She was so concerned about it being a gas furnace, and the possibility of carbon monoxide leaks, that she panicked. Once Bill talked to her, he got all the information we needed to send a technician to her house. He thought it could be an emergency, even if the emergency was to calm the customer down.