Telephoning- Communication Breakdown Roleplay

You are put through to the wrong person

You don’t know who to speak to

You don’t know which extension number

The receptionist mispronounces your name

The person you want to speak to has left the company

Your mobile battery is running out

Nobody with the name you are asking for works in the company

There is a lot of background noise your end

You are put on hold for so long that you have to hang up and phone again

Someone phoned and left a number on your answer machine, but you couldn’t understand any other parts of the message

You can’t pronounce the name of the person you want to speak to (“Mr. Rousseau”)

You have dialled the wrong number

You can’t hear the person’s voice very well

You can’t understand their pronunciation

You can’t understand about 50% of what is being said

You have a bad signal on your mobile

The person you are speaking to won’t stop speaking and finish the conversation

You are being asked to agree to something but still don’t really understand what is being proposed

The person you are speaking to talks quickly and says numbers and names you need to write down without pausing

The person who phones you starts talking about an urgent matter but you have no idea who is speaking

The person you are speaking to tries to bring the conversation to a close without giving you information they promised.