WOW Doug....sounds like you must be friends with Bill or something because if you were treated the way he has treat at least 3 of us at the company I work at....you would feel the same way we do!!!  I have answered his calls on NUMEROUS occasions and asked his name, company and reason for the call and he has been RUDE every single time he has called.  I told him that we do not have a Maintenance Supervisor the first time he called and he flipped out because he couldn't understand how a company doesn't have someone in charge of maintenance!  That was my first clue that Bill was a JERK!  He has called us at least 10 times, including the fact that he called again this morning and asked for a specific person this time, because I gave him our shop foreman's name last time he called and when I told him that they were on vacation (which they are), he blew up at me and said I told him that last week!!  It has been at least a month since the last time he called, so....in my opinion.....this man is either just an ANGRY person in general or gets his "jollies' acting like an a$$hole to people on the phone!  He should never be allowed to use a phone for business purposes, until he learns how to be PROFESSIONAL!!!  When we tried to call back the number he called from...there was no answer and every number that he has had, since all of these calls started....have been disconnected!  Now Doug....you tell me what to make of all of this because apparently call screening the Correct way doesn't work, in fact...no way works with this man!  Please tell your friend Bill to stop using the phone until he learns MANNERS!

This man has called our company so many times (10+), that I recognize his voice from the get go!  He has NEVER been nice, nor has he stated the reason for his call....specifically.  He tells me every time he calls that I told him the last time that our maintenance man was on vacation.....We Don't Even Have A Maintenance Supervisor and he certainly isn't on vacation!  This man is one of the RUDEST people I have EVER talked to on the phone and he called AGAIN just 5 minutes ago and when I told him the same thing as last time..."We don't have a maintenance supervisor", he said that I was a LIAR!!!  I have HAD IT WITH HIM!  I told him to not ever call here again and hung up on him!   So....while you say he isn't sexist or is just "not soft spoken".....think how you would feel if he called you an outright LIAR!!!!!!!  I hope he does call again because I am going to give him this website, so that he can read for himself...just how big of an A$$HOLE he is and what people really think of him!!  And as far as I am concerned....ANYONE that defends this man or even comes close to "playing" his actions down....is probably a relative, works with "Bill" or a just jerk themselves!   VERY SINCERELY....LMB~

So does he hang when the person he asks for is not there or does he get mad? How do you know he is mad after he hangs up the phone? Call screening is good, but let me give you a scenario: Someone calls and asks for an individual, your "screening process" should be: what is your name? Do you represent a company? What is the call about? This person answers all your screening questions, but then you send him/her to VM anyway so they have to repeat everything again. This man is not selling anything, so just to assume that is ridiculous. I know when I call for someone, I actually like to talk to them, not leave a voice mail. If you are in a bad mood and do not like your job, perhaps you should do something else for a living.

This guy has called our facility several times, and in my opinion very rude. He hangs up on me everytime I tell him the manger is not available. I also ask him if I can take a message or get him to voicemail he gets mad. I dont know what he is so angry about, but it is annoying dealing with him. And it def ruins the mood for a couple of seconds. I am here to screen all calls for everyone in this facility, and we get alot of sales/junk calls. I will send many calls to voicemail and feel that if the person on the receiving end is interested he/she will return the car. This guy just called this morning, so I was curious about this and began looking.

I received a call from him and he asked to speak with the facility maintenance manager, I asked him who was calling and he told me his name and who he calling on behalf of, then I transferred him, he came back to me as he probably received voicemail, he asked me to page and said please, he is a nice man!

So what did he say that was so rude? And if he was rude, why do you feel sorry for him? DETAILS DETAILS please, or do not post!

Rude guy, must have problems lots of places. Feel sorry for him, but wouldn't do business with him.

I have been in office management for 20+ years and spend alot of time answering the phone at the company I work at, I will tell that I have never heard someone immediately say "I need to speak with..." in the demanding tone you are inferring to. If you work at a switchboard and can only transfer calls if the person calling has a first and last name of the person they are calling for AND that person is on your list that is a current employee that is how it goes. Since this seems to be the only function of your job when you answer calls, telling people that you do not know what anyone does at your company, (which may be true, but since you have been there for two years, then most likely you do know but want to play games and play stupid), I get it, then when he gives you the info required to transfer a call, transfer him to the person he asked for. But to tell him that the person he asks for is not likely the person to help him is beyond your scope, so either you know, or you don't, you cannot have it both ways. Therefore, I can see why he would get upset and frustrated with your lack of helpful courtesy. I have spoken with him a couple of times, the facility manager he asks for is away from his desk 98% of the time, but that is the way it goes, he just says, "thanks, I will call back", I do not have a problem with that. If you do not want to help find the person to talk to, that is your call and if that is a burden for you to do so, maybe you should do something else for a living. However, if you cannot help him, then perhaps you should transfer him to someone who can.

I believe I can help elaborate on how this man is rude to people.  
I've been working the switchboard for my company for over 2 years now.  I roughly estimate that I have spoken to him at least once every other month.  The first few times I remember him calling he would state his name and why he was calling then hang up as I told him I couldn't search titles.  He doesn't do that anymore.  Now, first words out of his mouth are 'I need to speak with your facilities manager.'  I tell him my directory doesn't search by titles, which is true and the limited departmental information I have does not include a facilities number.  Then he'll say something like 'Don't you know who that is?'  Quite frankly, no, and it's against company policy to just "hand out" names anyway.  I tell him no sir, I don't.  Then he starts to get smart-alecky.  He'll say some stuff then ask about another title, like maintenance manager and before I can respond will finish with, 'oh wait, you don't know who that is.'  I offer him the website address where he can find vendor information and he'll say 'I don't want vendor information, but you assume I'm selling something and that's ok since you don't know who does anything....'  Then he'll give me a couple names to look up.  This last time I spoke with him he gave me the name of someone in treasury.  I told him he's in treasury and it's not likely that person can help with facility maintenance.  He said, 'Well, you don't know who does that, or you do know and won't help me.  Are you going to transfer me or do I need to do that for you?'  
Look, he is blatant and to the point and that's fine. But when he doesn't get the information he wants he becomes very rude and insulting.  I offer what help I can and he gets snarky.  And he's done it nearly every time I have spoken to him.  There's no need for it.

There are different levels of  rude and or "pushy", alot of it stems from persistence more than actual rudeness. I can understand you are doing your job and screening calls, but if the caller has indentified himself and told you why he was calling, then you have done the biggest part of your job as far as answering the phone, the other part is to let the person he is calling for that they have a call, and not just by "buzzing" into their office and see if they are sitting at their desk; if your manager does not want to speak to anyone on the phone because he does not know them or it is a return call he has made, then HE might want to consider getting an unlisted phone number, you might even want to ask your manager if he is the who handles the facility maintenance, because if he does not, then of course he would not want to talk to someone about it. Now, if the caller is not telling the truth about who he is or why he is calling and you transfer the call and your manager speaks with him, then he is trying to sell him something, that is not your fault, a good reason to have all calls monitored and/or recorded.

So the fact that this man put the sound of a buzzer up to the phone means nothing and is a professional?

I never told my boss anything about roofing- the message was  simply "Bill Smith from ONS Construction would like to speak to you regarding facility maintenance."

I did my job. The caller(s) don't need to be rude because they continue to call and say they can never get in touch with my manager. I'm sorry this is true, but why be so rude and pushy towards me? I do get the message across.

Warned others about him? Did he threaten you? What is your definition of rude, since you did not elaborate how he was rude to you. Alot of times, receptionists/gatekeepers will classify someone who is persistent as rude and I believe he is persistent in his calling, not rude. The guy is not selling anything as I have talked with him, if you do like sales people, how does your company do business? And, like the last person who replied to you said, if you do not calls, you should do something else for a living.

I have had a few messages from my assistant that he has called me as well, and like your boss hired you, one of the reasons I hired her is to screen my calls, basically because of people trying to sale me items/services and what they do is fine as everyone has to make a living, my company depends on sales to stay in business. You are right, the maintenance manager is never at his desk, nor I am, but on rare occasions, that is why she is sitting at her desk to take messages for me and I call back the ones I want to call back, just like your boss. I can see why he would ask you if you can page him or if he takes calls only if he it at his desk, ( which again is a rarity), I am sure you do what my assistant does and ask who he is, what company he is with and what the call is about, and I can see that he did tell you that. Then, when he is not available, you ask him to take a message I am sure. What my assistant did that preturbed me was that she put HER OWN message in her notes saying he is trying to sell a roof to me, I looked at that and for grins, I called him back to see how one sells a roof over the phone, and he said that he was not selling a roof, asking me where I received that info, the jest of this man's call is simple: IF you have a roofing issue, he would like to offer a free inspection and a free, no obligation bid for repairs or perhaps a reroof as you have to get that done eventually; or if there is not a current issue, then there WILL BE in the future as there is not a legitimate "lifetime" roof, so he wanted to send me an email with a link to his website and contact info so I can have when, not if, the issue(s) come up. With the all capital letters and the "Doofus"  comment, it sounds like you "went on a rant" on this site, and I would venture a guess to say you were not very pleasant to him on the phone, something I would write my assistant up for.  I will say that he is not "brown nose" customer service material, but he is far from rude and sometimes salespeople tend to be "pushy", I know, we have them at our company and I am sure your company depends on sales as well, but he is not selling anything, and I think that his persistence in calling is what you consider rude and pushy. If you do not like that you have to answer calls and think it is a waste of time, then I suggest you find another job.

I've received numerous calls from this number but from two different gentleman. Today he called and asked to speak to the maintenance manager (who unfortunately is never at his desk, that's why he hired me) and the last time the other man called, he was rude and pushy saying "WELL WHEN CAN I GET A HOLD OF HIM. SO I CAN'T TALK TO HIM UNLESS HE'S IN HIS OFFICE? CAN YOU PAGE HIM? SO YOU HAVE NO WAY OF PAGING HIM. SO LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT, HE WON'T RETURN CALLS, SO HOW CAN I TALK TO HIM?" He went on a rant, and at the very end, this a***ipe put a recording of a loud buzzer sound with "Wrong answer!" Highly annoying and startling.

Well Doofus, if I give my manager the message and phone number and he doesn't call back, he doesn't want to talk to you. Stop wasting each others' time.

How was he rude? I have spoken to this man a few times, he is not selling anything nor is he wanting to gain you business, not that it is yours to give or not give. He is straight to the point and has to make many calls a day, so he does not beat around the bush, if that is rude, then you might want to consider crunching numbers for a living and not worry about the phone ringing. I am glad you do not work for my company as if you were to hang up on any calls coming in, I would fire you on the spot. I hope for your sake he does not call in to speak to your boss as you were more than likely as rude as you say he was to him.

how is he sexist? I have received calls from him as well, he is not a soft spoken fellow, but he is not rude like you were to him; the facilities mgr is rarely at his desk to receive a call, I do know he is not selling anything so you making a decision that the company you represent is not interested and hung up on him would be considered as rude and highly offensive. I am glad you do not work for my company and hang up on my potential clients/customers because YOU are not interested in doing your job answering and transferring calls.

This man was one of the rudest people I have ever talked to in my entire life. I tried to get his name and company so I could make sure we did not do business with this man. He called about our roof. He told me that his name is Bill but he refused to give me the company he worked for. I have taken his number down and already warned other employees about him. I have no idea how he thinks he can gain business with his personality. If he calls again I will just hang up.

Real sexist jerk - also asked for facilities manager - tried to help until he started to get sexist then I had enough and told him we were not interested and hung up on him

I received a call from this number asking for the facilities maintenance manager, specifically for roofing issues.  I work for an agency with buildings all over the state. He was very rude from the beginning stating that he had already been given ten different names.  I tried to explain our situation, and asked why he was calling.  He would not give me an answer.  He just wanted the one person in charge of our facilities maintenance.  There isn't just one.  We have different people for different buildings which he laughed at (but we aren't co-located).  He didn't like my answer and while I tried to be patient with him, he kept me on the phone, and kept repeating himself... saying all he wanted was the name of the "facilities maintenance manager".  He was very rude, and he left me shaking after our ten plus minute phone call.

I recieved a call from this number and asking for maintenance manager, I said let me check on it. Then he turned very very rude because i said i need check who should i transfer to.  Rude person dont want recieve any phone call from him,

I work for a pipeline company and this very rude man called to speak with Matt from Maintenance.  He's a solicitor.  He couldn't give me a last name and insisted that he was transferred to Maintenance "last time he called."  I don't have a number for Maintenance.  As I said, he was very rude and wasted almost two minutes of my time with his bs lies and insulting my intelligence.  My job would be heaven if I could tell off people like that.

This man called me from Acumen Contracting, asking for the facility manager...........From the previous posts, as well as what I was told directly from him, he is not selling a roof over the phone, he is offering a free, no obligation bid for roof problems we have currently. I do not "label" him as rude, but at the same time, he does not come across as a "brown noser" either.

This man is the rudest most argumentative person I have ever had the misfortune to speak with.  He said his name was Bill Smith with Accumen Contracting.

JD,

I have received a call from him as well, (see my comment), I will tell you that if the mm voice mailbox was full, then I can see why he did not want to leave a message. I do not "classify" him as rude, but as kind of a "to the point" person.

I received a call from this number asking for the facilities maintenance manager, after I transferred him to our mm desk, he came right back to me a few seconds later as he went to voicemail, ( I have to tell you, the maint mgr is NEVER at his desk), he asked me to page and I asked him his name and who he was with, he politely told me, and I paged, 2 minutes later, I told him he probably was somewhere that he could not hear the page, and he said, "thank you for paging" and hung up.

Got a call at our business from this number--he asked for our maintenance manager  and was very rude when he found the voicemail for maintenance was full. When I offered to take to take a message until the department could pick up their messages and clear the mailbox, he refused, did not identify himself and griped until his phone mercifully dropped the call.

This man called me from this number, asked for the building maintenance manager, I asked who he was, who he was with, and why he was calling, he answered all three questions. He is calling for a roofing company, seeing if we have any roofing issues currently and would like to offer a free inspection and a free, no obligation bid to get the roof fixed.

This man calls and says he is from a roofing company and wanted to speak with the building maintenance manager, to talk about our roof. If we have roofing problems, he would like to offer a free inspection and a free, no obligation bid for the work needed.

This is a guy calling for a roof contractor, said was not selling anything, wanted to speak to the person in charge of the roof to offer a free inspection and bid for the work needed if we have roofing concerns.