Rhetorical questions, a peeve

[amyFB]

Top of my list of peeves today is this common question from customer service agents.

" do you mind if I place you on a brief hold?"

one of these days, I'm going to say "Yes I do mind" just to see what happens next.

[BrunoBlack]

My pet is when they say: "Is there anything else that we can do for you?" after they have failed to satisfactorily address the issue you are calling to have resolved. I do remind them that they haven't helped me at all yet.

[220volt]

Originally Posted by amyFB

Top of my list of peeves today is this common question from customer service agents.

" do you mind if I place you on a brief hold?"

one of these days, I'm going to say "Yes I do mind" just to see what happens next.

That question is mostly rhetorical anyway, becasue they usually simply put your on hold as soon as they ask the question. They don't even wait for your response.

[teleamp]

Cashier: Did you find everything ?

[teleamp]

When I order a hamburger and am asked if I would like cheese on it... I usually tell them that if I wanted cheese on it that I would have ordered a cheeseburger.

[Mr. Paul]

"I'd like a 16oz Latte, please"

"Any flavor with that?"

"Well Geez I should hope so"

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by amyFB

Top of my list of peeves today is this common question from customer service agents.

" do you mind if I place you on a brief hold?"

one of these days, I'm going to say "Yes I do mind" just to see what happens next.

I have tried that and they ignore you and do it anyway. In a way, it reminds me of this situation:

In a post, a person may say "Not to derail the thread, but ..." - and then do it anyway, even if it does derail the thread.

...or "Not to be gross (or whatever the person doesn't want to be or do>, but ...", and then the person goes right ahead and does it anyway even if doing so results in exactly what s/he said s/he didn't want to do (which the person knew would happen, otherwise s/he would not have prefaced it as such).

These things seem to be common practice, so as much as I agree with your sentiment, it seems people consider this sort of thing perfectly normal and acceptable.

Tony

[Looburst]

Originally Posted by amyFB

Top of my list of peeves today is this common question from customer service agents.

" do you mind if I place you on a brief hold?"

one of these days, I'm going to say "Yes I do mind" just to see what happens next.

I did that once, she said "what can do for you?" So if you persist, sometimes it pays off.

[frankmcr]

Originally Posted by amyFB

Top of my list of peeves today is this common question from customer service agents.

" do you mind if I place you on a brief hold?"

one of these days, I'm going to say "Yes I do mind" just to see what happens next.

Well, but on the other hand, your call is very important to them.

[cotten]

What if there were no rhetorical questions?

cotten

[cmd612]

When I hear the receptionist in my office do that, she's not doing it to be rude. She's doing it because she suddenly got multiple calls, and maybe someone walking in, almost simultaneously, and she's trying to help everyone in the order they arrived, in person or by phone.

Unless I'm calling 911 or an emergency room, I don't think I'd insist that I should get to skip to the head of the line.

[harmonics101]

Originally Posted by cotten

What if there were no rhetorical questions?

cotten

There'd be less dead air,

H

[harmonics101]

I got your back, how do you respond with that?

Thanks Man

H

[skinnerb]

Originally Posted by amyFB

Top of my list of peeves today is this common question from customer service agents.

" do you mind if I place you on a brief hold?"

one of these days, I'm going to say "Yes I do mind" just to see what happens next.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------You would do well to consider that the person on the phone with you has a fairly awful job. They have NO power and must feel pretty frustrated with others treating them badly. Sure, at times you run across one that has a poor attitude, but they are low on the pole and must do as they are instructed. Give 'em a break.

[ewalling]

Originally Posted by amyFB

Top of my list of peeves today is this common question from customer service agents.

" do you mind if I place you on a brief hold?"

one of these days, I'm going to say "Yes I do mind" just to see what happens next.

In Linguistics, the field of Pragmatics deals 'locutionary' and 'illocutionary force.' The first is what the words mean exactly. So, if we say "It's cold," the locutionary force of that statement is that the temperature is low.

The 'illocutionary force,' however, is what we intend the words mean, whatever their exact meaning might be. In certain contexts, if I say, "It's cold," the illocutionary force may be "Will you close the window, please?" Have you ever heard that example about the different meanings "I love you"? It can have a multiplicity of interpretations, depending on context and how it's said. Skilled language users have to be able to distinguish between locutionary and illocutionary force; otherwise, the world would descend into (perhaps hilarious!) chaos!

In this case, the illocutionary force of 'Do you mind if ..." is a polite phrase for requesting that you wait. If you focus on the locutionary (literal) meaning of the phrase, you're (perhaps willfully and roguishly! ) missing the linguistic point.