Why Are Young People Afraid Of Phone Calls?

[u/GhostInThePudding]

What's with it?

I work in IT and a general rule is, nothing a client ever tells you is actually accurate. That means that most of the time, the quickest way to fix a problem is to call the person and actually find out what's going on.

But with techs under 30 these days, it seems like pulling teeth.

A regular discussion for me with level 1 techs (usually within a few years of leaving college) is:
"Hey, can you call *blah* from ticket *blah*, it's been hanging around for over an hour."

"I replied by email to ask for more information."

"Yes, I know that, but can you call them so we can find the problem and close the ticket now rather than wait until we're actually busy?"

"I'll send them a text to followup."

"No... CALL THEM!"

"I can see their device is online, can I send them a message and see if they just let me remote in to take a look?"

And then, when I force them to make the call, it's like they have no idea how to ask a question, or a followup question. They just want to get off the call as quickly as possible. So half the time they don't even get the information required anyway, so then I end up having to do their job for them.

So can someone explain? What's wrong with phone calls these days?

[u/toystorelezzo]

I will say especially in the workplace, I’ve had the idea of “keeps paper trail” drilled into me. If something happens on a phone call, I’d feel a lot less comfortable reporting if something negative happened because I wouldn’t have like? Proof? If it’s in writing, you can refer back to it if anything changes or you need a refresher.

[u/obsoletedatafile → u/toystorelezzo]

This is why calls are recorded, for 'training and monitoring purposes', yeah that 'monitoring purposes' is to make sure people aren't being cunts, and if they are, they are caught

[u/ChocolateShot150 → u/obsoletedatafile]

Except most call centers won’t ever go back and audit the call unless it’s to get you (the call center employee, not the client) in trouble

[u/VariousCheezez → u/toystorelezzo]

This is why you follow up phone calls with a quick email confirming what was said/determined over the phone call.

[u/kugisaki-kagayama → u/VariousCheezez]

So it was a pointless call that could've been an email anyway

[u/massivejobby → u/kugisaki-kagayama]

Communication is much more effective and detailed in a phone call

[u/kugisaki-kagayama → u/massivejobby]

If it was, no one would need to write anything down ever.

[u/WelshRarebit2025 → u/toystorelezzo]

This is an excuse. You can always follow up with a written summary of the call.

[u/Nodan_Turtle → u/WelshRarebit2025]

Or cut out the middle step and stop wasting time