Unit 001: Enter Unit Title Here

Provide reception services

Worksheet 8: Dealing with challenging visitors

Detail how you would deal with the following visitors/circumstances.

1There are two people who have been waiting in Reception for nearly an hour for interview with a manager who is currently interviewing the first of the three candidates. The last person to arrive is clearly becoming agitated, looking at her watch and fidgeting. She approaches the desk, very distressed, and asks if you know how much longer it will be and explains that she didn’t expect it to be so long and hasn’t been able to contact anyone to collect her small daughter from school.

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2You have a queue of visitors waiting to sign in Reception and are currently preparing a badge for the visitor at the desk. Someone you recognise as a regular visitor enters, walks straight up to the desk, and asks you by name to let him have an entry token for the car park; at the same time he holds out a sheet of paper and asks you to do a quick copy for him. You see the visitor at the desk look sideways at the interloper and can feel a ripple of tension run through the queue.

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3A visitor arrives at the desk clearly stressed from hurrying. He states his name and who he is visiting. You check the list of expected visitors and his name does not appear; you ring the person he wishes to see but get no reply. The visitor is now impatiently drumming his fingers on the desk and looking at his watch. You try another extension in the department and someone answers to tell you that most of the department is attending a conference today, including the person the visitor wishes to see, and suggests you ask him to return another day. You relay this information to the visitor, and he is furious: he has travelled a long distance at considerable expense, has experienced travel delays and had to take a taxi from the station as he was so late. He has a busy schedule and is really in no mood to rearrange an appointment.

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4You arrive back from lunch and the junior receptionist looks very flustered. A smartlydressed visitor is at the desk, with hands on hips, saying, ‘… Well, do you think that is acceptable?’ You ask if you can do anything to help, at which she turns to you and says, ‘Well, that depends if you are any more competent than this idiot here! Thanks to her, I have just sat and waited for over 20 minutes because she forgot to ring through. What do you think you can do about that?!’

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