Multilingual receptionist for an IT shop

They rang in English with a laptop under their arm

Noon. A tower is on its side. Both hands are inside the case. The next laptop is already open beside it. The phone is on the counter, three metres away.

The caller did not search for your firm in Greek. They searched for a laptop repair, or they asked a colleague which shop takes machines, and the number they have is the one on the glass. They start in English because that is the language they have. They will walk into the next shop if this goes to a Greek greeting and a beep.

Nobody can pick up. The screw is over the board. If there is someone at the counter, they have a customer in front of them.

That is a normal weekday in a Greek one-bench shop that lists in English and keeps the van on the same number. The person in an office that works in English, the visitor whose laptop died in a hotel, the tenant who will not print: they start in the language of the card, or in the language they have. German, French, Italian and Albanian show up the same week, for the same reason. You do not need a plan per language. You need someone on that number who can continue the first sentence, and who will not name a board because they can say it clearly.

Two ways this call goes wrong

They hang up. That is the first way. They heard Greek, or four rings and a tone, and they went back to the street. You listen later and hear almost nothing, and you conclude that foreign callers write. Some of them do. The ones who rang wanted to talk today, with the laptop still under their arm.

They get an answer that is too helpful. That is the second way, and it costs the afternoon rather than a lead. An assistant that speaks German well will want to close the loop: yes, probably the charger, yes, around that figure, yes, bring it at two. Said slowly, it sounds like competence. It is still a fault you have not seen and a price you have not earned. The caller will keep the sentence. They will argue it at the counter.

A third thing sits next to those. People ask whether the files are still there, whether you can just format it, whether the machine is still under warranty. The assistant writes those questions down in the caller’s words and stops. It does not become a recovery lab because it can form the sentences.

Drop-off, on-site, or already here — in whatever they opened with

The opening is still drop-off, on-site or already with us. English on the line does not mean they want to leave a laptop. A German office with a dead printer, a visitor whose machine is already on your shelf, a tenant who wants you at the flat — they ring the number on the glass because that is the number they have. If the assistant treats every foreign caller as a drop-off, an office spends three minutes being offered a counter window.

If they name a device, write it down exactly — make, colour, what they see, the charger if they said they still have it. Do not add a fault you have not confirmed. Do not turn a vague English title into a different machine.

If they have not named the device, take what they can actually say: laptop or desktop, will not power or will not print, when they can come. “It is broken, can you fix it” is not something the bench can work from when you close the case. “Grey Lenovo, will not power, this afternoon” is.

On-site. Address, floor, who will be in — including a building code if there is one — and what they see. They may not know the word for the till. They will say the shop computer, the printer, the room. Write the phrases you actually hear, so the assistant does not book a server visit when they wanted a printer looked at, or a printer visit when you do not leave the bench.

A caller who left a machine Tuesday, wants to know if it is ready, or wants to collect Saturday, should not be asked whether they are bringing a laptop in, in any language. Listen for the ticket, the name, the word “ready”. Those calls belong to the mark you put on the job.

A remote session is still not a drop-off. A machine that will not power on cannot take one. The assistant does not invent a login hour in French either. It takes the request only if you wrote that you offer remote, and only on a machine that still starts.

The rule the assistant must obey

Same facts, any language.

It may repeat a line only when that line is the sentence you already say before you take a machine. It may book a drop-off against a free pair of hands at the counter. It may book an on-site against the van hours. It may read a ticket. It may do those things in 70+ languages.

It may not name a board, a screen, or “probably the charger” because the caller described it clearly. It may not convert a euro sentence into pounds to be helpful. It may not estimate. It may not say a laptop is ready, or that a charger is in the drawer, unless the ticket says so. It may not promise the files. It may not take a password on the line. It may not walk anyone through a format. It may not send a Greek text after an English call.

When the ticket is silent, the English sentence is the same as the Greek one: I do not have a status I can give you; I will leave a note. When the machine is unseen, the English sentence is the same as the Greek one: I cannot name the fault, and I cannot give a repair price, before someone has opened it.

What you configure first

1. English as a working language on the number already on the glass. Not a second line. Not a note that says if they sound foreign, transfer.
2. The same first question in every language you expect to hear — drop-off, on-site or already with us — written so it cannot be skipped.
3. The fields a bench can act on. Name, make, what they see, address if it is a visit, day they left it if it is a ticket. If these are not fields, the transcript is a story.
4. The two bans, written in the languages you actually hear, so a fluent model does not improve them only in English: no named fault, no invented repair price.
5. Two books. A drop-off is not an on-site. Saturday pickup is not a new drop-off.
6. The confirmation text follows the language of the call. Test this. It is the thing people forget.
7. A named path for files, format, wipe, password and warranty. Request, in their words, flag. No answer.
8. How a drop-off works — window, who is at the counter, that they should bring the charger — written down, so fluency does not invent a rule.

Then listen to the first twenty calls that did not start in Greek. You are not grading the accent. You are checking that the split happened, that the device and what they see are in the summary, that no figure appeared that is not on the wall, and that no fault was named off a description. If a call fails those, it failed, however smooth it sounded.

The office that will not print, in English

A lot of the English calls are not a person on your street. They are an office. They want you at the door. They want a window this afternoon because nothing in the room will print, or because the till is dead.

Putting them down for a counter drop-off, against a laptop they were never going to carry down the stairs, leaves someone at the glass with the wrong job and an office still waiting.

Offer the van book. Capture the address, the floor, what they see, and a number that works. Do not invent a remote session that would “do” if the machine will not start.

If they ask for a remote look, that is something you run only if you wrote it down. Do not let fluency invent a login hour you do not offer.

A visitor in a hotel at 19:30 is on your counter at 20:30 if you still take drop-offs then, and on Monday’s book if you do not. These are not odd calls you staff with “the English-speaking one, when he is free”. They are the same unanswered phone as noon, with a language on top.

A figure spoken on your number is yours

“What’s that in pounds.” “Give me a sense.” “Around eighty?”

If the figure is not the line you already say before you take a machine, the assistant does not say it, convert it, or agree that the caller’s guess is close. A number spoken on your number is your number, in any language. The caller will keep it. They will turn up with that number already written down.

Do not store a screen price or a board price in the notes. The assistant will read it out. If nobody should name a repair until someone has opened the case, do not give it that figure — not in Greek, and not in English.

A warranty asked from a description is the same trap, and it is worse when the description arrives in a language the bench will read later as a summary. Make and age are not a decision. The assistant takes the make, the age if they know it, and books the look. You decide.

A discount if they decide this week is a request. The assistant does not negotiate.

Data, passwords, and “just format it”

A caller asks if the files are still there. A caller wants you to reinstall Windows. A caller starts to read a password onto the line. A caller asks you to wipe the drive before their cousin picks it up.

The assistant does not promise the data. It has not seen the drive. The honest line, in any language, is: I will note that the files matter, and someone here will talk to you before any wipe or reinstall. That is a request. It is not a recovery.

Do not let it walk anyone through a format, a BIOS reset, or a reinstall over the phone because they asked in English and the steps came easily. That is how a drive gets emptied before you ever hold it.

A password does not belong on the recording. The assistant should ask them to bring it written down, or to wait until they are at the counter. It should not take the password as a string on the call. Fluency is not a reason to become less careful.

If they are unhappy about last week’s job, take the name and what they said. Do not offer to do it again from the phone. You look at the machine.

Two people, the phone handed across

Couples ring together. One speaks English, one speaks Greek, and they pass the phone. An office puts a colleague on. The assistant should follow the language of the sentence it just heard, and it should not lose the fields already collected when the language flips. “Grey Lenovo, will not power, today until 14:30” said in English is still the ticket when the next sentence is Greek. If the switch is messy, it reads the device and the window back once, in the language that is winning, and confirms.

If a third person comes on — a colleague who “handles the computers”, a parent, someone who has the password — take their name and whether the callback should go to them. Do not restart the first question. The drop-off or on-site answer you already have is still the answer. Still do not take the password as a string.

What you read when you get back to the bench

You do not need to speak German to use the fields. You need the fields. Drop-off, on-site or already with us. The device they named, in the form they used. What they see. Whether they asked for a window, a visit, or a callback. The number that works. The language for the text. Whether the files matter.

Check the book that matches the job before anyone offers a Thursday hour. The caller who said next month is not a drop-off this afternoon. The person already on your street with a laptop under their arm might be. Mixing those notes is how you pull yourself out of a case for people who are still on a plane.

Same first question. Same two books. Same two bans. Same text rule. The language is the only extra.

Put the assistant on the number already printed on the glass, the listing and the last invoice. One forwarding rule at the provider. Calls someone at the counter still picks up never leave the shop. You are not printing a second mobile “for international”. Several calls are answered at once. The bans do not change.

Rates live on the pricing section of the home page. They are not repeated here.