Life On Hold

(A coworker of mine is on two separate phone lines with two people: one is an employee from our other office and the other is a client of ours. They are collectively trying to solve an issue, and it’s taking quite a while. My coworker has been off and on hold with the client for almost twenty-five minutes. Finally, she switches the line back to the employee from the other office.)

Coworker: “Hey, [Employee], is it okay if I just give you a call back? I’ve been on hold with them for almost twenty-five minutes now and it might be easier to just get back in touch with you when they have something for me.”

Other Employee: “Could you not? There’s a lot going on over here at our office, and I just don’t want to deal with it.”

Coworker: “…”