Office Message Slip and a Return Call
You are a Class XII volunteer at the school office. At 10:40 a.m. a caller says quickly: 'This is Mrs Lakshmi, mother of Arjun of XII-B. Tell the class teacher that the inter-school debate on the 28th has been moved to the 30th, same venue, 9 a.m. sharp; students should bring their own stationery. I tried the office number twice and nobody picked up - it is really inconvenient.' She rings off before you can read anything back, and you are not fully sure whether she said the 30th or the 13th. Office rules: every message slip must record the caller, her relationship to the student, the time of the call, the message, the action needed and your initials; any change of date must be confirmed by a return call before 1 p.m.; the class teacher is in an examination hall until 12:30.
1. Write the message slip in 40 words or fewer. Then name one detail you left off and say where it should go instead.
Read the worked answer
MESSAGE SLIP (37 words) Caller: Mrs Lakshmi, mother of Arjun, XII-B. Time: 10:40 a.m. Debate moved: 28th to 30th (to be confirmed), 9 a.m., same venue; own stationery. Action: return call before 1 p.m.; inform class teacher after 12:30. Initials: R.K.
Left off: her complaint about the unanswered phone. It is not part of the message for the class teacher - the teacher cannot fix the office phone - and putting it on the slip would make the teacher the recipient of a complaint she has no power to resolve. It belongs in the office's call log, and in your apology during the return call.
Notice what the slip does include: the doubt about the date is written on the slip, not hidden. A message slip that conceals the taker's uncertainty is worse than useless, because the teacher will act on a wrong date with full confidence.
2. Write the exact words you would use in the return call to confirm the date, and explain the politeness strategy behind them - why not simply ask, 'Did you say the 30th or the 13th?'
Read the worked answer
Script: 'Good morning, may I speak to Mrs Lakshmi? This is Ravi Kumar, a volunteer at St. Xavier's school office. Thank you for calling this morning, and I am sorry you could not get through. Before I pass your message to the class teacher, I want to make sure I have it exactly right: the debate has moved from the 28th to the 30th, at 9 a.m., at the same venue, and students bring their own stationery. Have I noted the date correctly?'
Strategy: the confirmation is framed as the taker's care, not the caller's unclear speech. 'Did you say the 30th or the 13th?' invites the reply 'I said it perfectly clearly', and the call becomes about fault. 'I want to make sure I have it right' takes the responsibility onto the listener, which is both politer and, in a school office, more accurate: telephone lines do break up, and no one is accused. The apology comes before the request, so the caller is not owed two things at once.
3. A second caller is angry that no one answered the office phone. From your knowledge of functional English, choose and justify two exponents you would use - one to acknowledge and one to act - and state what you would avoid saying.
Read the worked answer
Acknowledging: 'I am sorry you had trouble getting through - the office receives a heavy volume of calls between 9 and 10.30, and that is not your problem.' The apology is direct and comes first, before any explanation, because an angry caller needs to hear that the difficulty is recognised. The brief explanation is offered as context, and the tag withdraws it as an excuse.
Acting: 'May I take your number? I will ask the class teacher to call you back before 1 p.m., when she is free of invigilation.' A concrete commitment with a time in it converts anger into a wait; a vague 'we will get back to you' does the opposite.
Avoid: 'Nobody was at the desk, madam' or 'You should have called later.' Both transfer blame to the caller or to a colleague, and the caller escalates. Also avoid the word 'calm down' - it is an instruction, and it has never once calmed anybody. If the caller continues, use a holding exponent - 'Could you hold the line for a moment, please?' - rather than speaking over her.