Most people have call waiting. When you get a call while you are already on the line with a caller inquiring about your daycare, do you put them on hold to answer the other line?

We just had a death in the family. I was on the line with a daycare call inquiring about my daycare. My daughter, who NEVER calls me called while I was on the phone with the person who called asking about daycare. I asked if she could hold on while I answered the other line. She said 'yes'. I was on the line with my daughter for a short time and when I clicked back to the daycare call, she had hung up. I tried to call her back twice and she won't answer my call. It seems obvious to me that she was bothered that I put her on hold to get the other call.

So, do you guys put people who are calling to ask about your daycare on hold and answer another call or not? My thought is that many companies put callers on hold. So, I don't see why people would be upset about being put on hold when calling a daycare company (even though it's a small home business, it is a business.)

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I would if I felt the need to answer the other call. If the person couldn't wait that's their problem.

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No, because I haven't figured out how to do it with my phone and always end up hanging up on both people.

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Sorry, but I hate call waiting I feel it is best to just say, "I'm so sorry, but can I call you back in a few minutes?" I hate being put on hold (my sister does it all the time!).

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This. If I am on a call, they can leave a message. The one exception to that is this time of year when DD is at her church camp job. Usually in the evenings I am on the phone with DH when she calls, so I get off with him and switch over. I only do that because nobody really answers the phones out there so I can't call her back. And the chances of her calling me back are slim, and I miss her!

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I have myself hung up when put on hold. I feel that my time is just as important as another callers.
Call waiting was nice when land line callers were unable to leave a message while the phone line was busy. Now days, there are other forms of communications, such as texting and email that callers can send when lines are busy or not being answered. Even voice mail is easier with smart phone apps.

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I don't think it's rude. I was in reception for many years and I would always get annoyed when people would just hang up and then call back and basically continue to lose their place 'in line.'

I would say that if you know the other call is important and will take longer, switch back and take a message for a call back asap.

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Lol!

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Same here!

Even if I could figure out how to do it, though, I don't like being put on hold so, as a general rule, I wouldn't put someone else on hold. I would end my first conversation as quickly as possible and then return the second caller's phone call. If it were a dire emergency, I might reconsider.

Why your caller hung up is anybody's guess. If she was upset, the fact that so many companies do put callers on hold could be what caused her to hang up. She may be looking for a home day care because she wants a more personal, "home away from home" feeling. She may not want what she may view as the business feeling of a large center. She could also have been calling from work during her break, thought she had a couple of minutes to fit a quick call to you in but then had to get back to work before she could finish the call. You probably will never know why she hung up so unless you have to put callers on hold often, I wouldn't worry too much about it. You win some, you lose some.

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Yeah, I stopped worrying about it. I know the caller didn't know about it, but since we had a recent death in the family, I felt that I needed to answer the other line at the time. I tried to call her back, but she didn't answer and didn't call me back. I decided that it wasn't meant for me to watch her child.

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Nope. I don't know how.

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No I've never put anyone on call waiting. Friend, family or day care related. I hate call waiting! I used to have a friend put me on CW and I wanted to hang up on her!

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I would. If I'm talking to a prospective client and a current client calls, they are my priority. The first caller (prospective client) can wait.

Of course I am sure to ask politely that they hold for a moment and then I take the second call and get back to first caller as quickly as possible.

If they don't wait or just hang up... that's their option.
I don't care.

If they wait, I usually explain that part of my job is juggling things throughout the day as they happen/come up and then thank them for waiting.

As evidenced in this thread patience seems to be a virtue and if someone doesn't have the patience to wait on hold for a reasonable amount of time when they called a busy currently operating child care during business hours, then they wouldn't be a good fit for me/my program so by hanging up they'd be making my job easier.

I have caller ID (for both regular calls and call waiting calls) so if they do call back after hanging up... It makes it easier for me to say no.

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I'm sorry for your loss.

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Blackcat,

Thank you.

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