Working at a Tax Accountant's Office #3: Tax Accountant Offices Are Service Businesses
※This article is an episode essay based on events I actually experienced.
The names of the characters are pseudonyms, and there is absolutely no intention to criticize any specific individual or organization.
When I learned that "tax accountant office = service industry," I almost let out an "Eh?"
This is because, at the time, I was surrounded by a senior with a very strong personality who provided service that was far from what you would expect...
Episode 3 is about that shocking phone manner and the "service" I learned.
In surveys and the like, there is often a field to select your "industry," right?
When I had just changed jobs to a tax accountant's office, I didn't know what the industry was, so I sometimes chose "Other."
When I searched online, it actually displayed "Service Industry," and I was surprised, thinking, "Service industry!?"
The reason for this was...
It was because of the "ultimate phone manner" of Shiina-san, who loved radio, which I introduced in Episode 2.
Shiina-san, who was in charge of the phones, had such shocking manners.
Here, I will briefly introduce the characteristics of Shiina-san's phone manner.
Even when answering the phone, she doesn't state the office name or her own name. The first thing she says is just "Yes."
She doesn't call clients by their names. She calls them "you."
Even when the person in charge is absent, she absolutely never says, "I will have them call you back."
→ Instead, she says, "If you have business, call again."
I'm not exaggerating; it was really like this...
Her treatment of clients who came to the office was also quite "salty" (cold).
It was treatment you wouldn't think was for a customer-facing business (sweat).
Naturally,
it seems there were quite a number of complaints saying, "It's scary and hard to call..." (well, obviously...).
At a meeting one day after the tax return season had settled down.
In a place that also served as a debriefing session, the representative said quietly,
"Kokoroha-san, you take the calls."
Eh!? Why me???
I had only been at the office for a month and a half, was unfamiliar with the work, and couldn't even be a force for tax returns, so there was no way I had the option to refuse...
From the next day, my phone duty started.
Many clients were kind people who would politely and slowly restate their company name or name even if I asked them to repeat it.
...However, I struggled quite a bit with some clients.
The reason is that they wouldn't state their company name or their own name.
Suddenly on the phone,
"Is Mr./Ms. XX there?"
Even if I asked, "Excuse me, may I have your name?"
they would only reply, "Are they there? Or not?"
It was just like Shiina-san's manner... (sweat)
If the person in charge was in the office,
"There is a call for Mr./Ms. XX from an elderly man, but he wouldn't give his name."
I could say that and have them take the call.
However, the problem was when the person in charge was absent.
Even if I wanted to leave a message memo, I didn't know who the call was from, so—
"There was a call around X:XX.
They wouldn't give their name, but it was a middle-aged woman.
If you have any idea who it might be, please call them back."
...It would end up being a mysterious message.
You might think, "Why don't you just write down the phone number displayed on the screen?"
However, the phone we were using at the time was a "useless model" that for some reason didn't display incoming numbers...
Looking back on this, I suddenly realized.
Could it be that Shiina-san...
was dealing with these "clients who don't give their names" every day, and that's why she ended up with that attitude...?
Thinking about it that way, I felt like I could understand her feelings a little, just a very little bit.
I was surprised that even with phone manners that were said to be "too scary to call," it had continued for many years.
A tax accountant's office is surprisingly a "world that is hard to see from the outside."
Depending on how you move and how you learn within it,
my own drawer of skills increased one by one.
Working at a tax accountant's office is not just about handling numbers, but also dealing with "people" is a big part of the job.
That's why I realized it is a "service industry."
There are many people with strong personalities, but you can also train your heart in "situations" with strong personalities.
That was the reality of the slightly unusual workplace that is a tax accountant's office.