Each day we make and take countless business calls. Some we love, some we don’t mind, and some we just don’t want to deal with.

DISCLAIMER: I am NOT advocating that you should neglect calls you don’t feel like taking because that is bad business.

BUT, in an attempt to collectively appease our disdain for those unwanted calls, I have scoured resources far and wide to gather intel on the top 5 worst business calls we all take. If your boss is roaming the halls I would advise you to turn down your monitor’s brightness to avoid the #1 worst phone call. A phone call so bad we just couldn’t include it on a list of such lessor offenders: the your-boss-hates-you-and-your-canned phone call. Just writing those words makes the lightening bolt shaped scar on my forehead ache.

Here is a list of the five worst business calls we deal with:

1.) The call from your boss that is strictly business.

He/she wants updates, progress reports, and numbers (Read: $$$) all at the drop of the hat. You have 47 tabs open, haven’t updated your reports, and have a cold sweat dripping down the back of your neck. This profound discovery makes you go on a mental tangent at the thought that your scalp(?) is capable of producing this much sweat. Is that where it’s coming from? (Note: Google this later). Having been overcome with an insatiable scientific curiosity, you missed the last question. Too frazzled to ask them to repeat themselves you blindly agree. Hang up. Their follow-up email confirms that you just agreed to design a new website, learn a new language, and file their taxes. Time to get crackin’.

Luckily, if this were to happen to you with FluentStream Technologies, we have an amazing feature called Call Recording that would allow you to confirm your new commitments, should your boss fail to email you a recap.

2.) The client that you know well enough to have developed physic abilities that only work when they call.

You see their name pop up on your caller ID and smack your forehead remembering that you promised to do _____ for them by this afternoon. Plot twist: you forgot. Now you have to explain why you didn’t do it in the least “my dog ate my homework” way possible and drop your current task to get it done for them STAT. Also, after reviewing the other work you did for them earlier this week, you notice little things that need changes. They are definitely going to bring that up too. This phone call doesn’t even need to happen – just seeing their name unleashes a whole stream of information into your brain.

If only he would make the switch to FluentStream and use their SMS feature, the both of you could swap the call for a quick message – from your business phone number AND keep a log of the entire conversation. Save the time and telepathic strain.

3.) The OH-$#!+ phone call.

It’s late. A team member you don’t usually hear from is calling you. Immediately, you assume something is wrong. Hopefully, it is a minor issue and not an emergency. If it does happen to be the latter, this phone call is not going to be fun.

Again, we have your back. Our Call Routing feature allows you to add emergency routes to your My FluentCloud in case you aren’t there to take the call.

4.) Conference Calls.

That’s all I have to say about that.

No, but seriously, conference calls deserve their own blog post for the suite of annoyances that come with them: (1) they take…a while, (2) if one party participating is in a particularly acoustic room it is near impossible to hear what they are saying (#awkward), (3) if it is a call that requires your participation for 3% of it’s duration (#boring), (4) if it is a call that requires 100% of your participation, get ready to repeat yourself like you have never repeated yourself before. Cue water and throat lozenges. Also, if you get dropped from the conference call, it can be very hard to get back on it.

At FluentStream we make this whole process quite a bit easier with our Conference Bridge feature. Check it out!

5.) You had this call scheduled for at least a week and you are not even in a 100 mile radius of your desk.

Panic is setting in. This call totally slipped your mind and you are currently at a business function on the other side of the country. You have your cell phone, but they are planning to call your office phone as real, working human beings do. What do you do?

We have a feature called Virtual Office that allows you to take that business call no matter where you are, on whichever device you choose.

Although we do receive some phone calls that we do not enjoy, FluentStream has some amazing technology to make them slightly less painful and a lot more productive. Check out the rest of our features here! For your phone usage, fun or not, FluentStream has got you covered.