Rosi K. from Frechen asks: When I take a call for my boss and
he is not there, I offer to have him call back.
I say to the caller “Does he have your telephone number?”, but some of them get offended at this question. Am I saying something wrong?
No, you’re not saying anything wrong, on the contrary. But it obviously hurts some people’s egos to think the person they want to speak to may not have their number.
Try changing your question to “Let me take down your phone number again, Mr Jones.”
If the answer is “He has my number” you could respond with “Mr Pfeiffer sometimes calls in for his messages from outside the office. So I’ll be able to pass it on.”