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My buddy's trick for getting answers out of city hall - call during lunch
I was trying to get a permit approved for a fence in Portland and kept getting the runaround. After 3 weeks of voicemails, a neighbor told me to call the permit office between 12:15 and 12:45 when the senior staff eats at their desks. First try, a guy picked up and walked me through the whole thing in 10 minutes. He said it's the quietest part of their day. Has anyone else found a weird time to call that actually works better?
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ward.jamie29d ago
Ha, that's genius. I once tried calling the DMV right at 8 AM when they opened and got stuck in a 45 minute automated loop before giving up. My neighbor swears by calling the health department between 3 and 4 PM because that's when the old school guys are winding down and more likely to actually pick up. I figure if you catch someone who's been staring at spreadsheets for 6 hours straight, they'll jump at the chance to talk to a real person. Probably the same reason I respond faster to emails when I'm bored at my desk eating a sad sandwich.
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garcia.tyler29d ago
@ward.jamie your "spreadsheets for 6 hours straight" comment hit home. I do the same thing with my own spreadsheets at work, I'll take any excuse to chat with a real person after staring at numbers all morning, even if it's just to tell someone their form is wrong.
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